Bready or Not: Churro Chex Mix
Churro Chex Mix is addictive. It is dangerous. It might cause a sugar high that keeps you awake for a full day.
This stuff has made the rounds on lots of food blogs. I looked at about five different recipes, read the comments for more tips, and threw together my own version. I was concerned that some of the recipes featured a lot of Chex that looked, well, naked.
I wanted my mix to be slathered in happy sugar and cinnamon. I soon discovered that the pale pieces still have a lot of sugary-ness. It’s just invisible. Subtle. Ninja-like.
Note that Nestle cinnamon chips melt in a very thick way. It might be necessary to add a lot more butter (because these things weren’t unhealthy enough already) to make it easier to stir the melted goop into the cereal.
Also, depending on the ingredients you use, this can be served-up gluten free! Heck, you could even use Cinnamon Chex or the Cascadian Farms cinnamon cereal and just decrease the amount of added cinnamon.
Just be warned: this makes a LOT. Be ready to share it with a lot of friends!
Bready or Not: Churro Chex Mix
Ingredients
- 9 cups Rice Chex cereal about 1 cup less than full regular box
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 bag cinnamon chips
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Pour Chex cereal into a ginormous bowl. Combine sugars and cinnamon in small bowl so that it's ready to go. Also set out a few large rimmed cookie sheets; line them with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
- In a microwavable bowl, melt the 1/4 cup butter, cinnamon chips, and white chocolate chips. Heat for 30 seconds, stir, then 30 seconds, then stir, continuing in small careful bursts until the chips smooth out. Be careful: the chocolate burns fast! Nestle-brand cinnamon chips tend to melt extra thick, so add another 1/4 cup butter (or more) if needed to make it more fluid.
- Pour some melted mix over the cereal. Stir. Add more melted goop. Sprinkle in some sugar mix. Stir. Keep adding more melted mix and sugar mix until it's all gone and things are mostly covered. (Note: it's okay if some Chex still looks kinda naked, because it's still likely covered in sugar!)
- Shift the Chex out onto the cookie sheets and spread it out so it's not too chunky. Let set an hour or so, then throw it in a sealable bag or a few big plastic containers.
- OM NOM NOM!
Giftmas Bready or Not: Cake Batter White Chocolate Fudge (Microwave)
I’m offering a holiday-favorite Bready or Not recipe again to help kick off Rhonda Parrish’s Giftmas Blog Tour. Rhonda lives up in Edmonton, Alberta, and she’s hoping to raise funds for the Edmonton Food Bank. I’m all about helping to feed people! Please donate if you can. Note that funds are listed in Canadian dollars.
Rhonda is also doing a giveaway as part of the tour. She’s making a crocheted throw. The winner gets to choose the color, and she is shipping it anywhere in the world!
Wander around to other stops on the tour over the next week. I’ll post another favorite recipe at Eileen Bell’s site on the 10th!
This is a sweet cause, so here’s a recipe to make something especially sweet: microwave fudge that uses cake mix!
Eating this fudge is like licking the paddle after mixing up cake mix batter. If you prefer savory over sweet, this recipe isn’t for you. This is for the people who love fudge and frosting and all things sweet.
I didn’t limit myself to sprinkles in this. I had some Christmas candies, the type for topping cupcakes and such, that had been sealed away for a year. It had been a great post-holiday clearance buy. I wanted the containers GONE, so I pretty much dumped the contents into this fudge. That’s why you see little light bulb shaped candies in there.
This is obviously a great Christmas recipe, but it’s an easy one to customize year round depending on the colors you mix in. Make fudge to support your favorite sport team, or pink and red for Valentine’s Day, or pastels for spring. Cake mix goes on sale all year round, too, making this a pretty cheap recipe to throw together.
Whatever you add in, I’m sure it will be pretty. And delicious. So very, very delicious.
Modified from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Bready or Not: Cake Batter White Chocolate Fudge (Microwave)
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp white or yellow cake mix any brand, sifted
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1/2 cup salted butter cut into chunks (or use unsalted and add a pinch of salt)
- 1/4 cup milk almond milk works
- 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles/non pareils/jimmies
Instructions
- Line an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside. Measure the white chocolate chips and the sprinkles in separate dishes so they are ready to add quickly.
- Mix sifted cake mix and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add milk and butter, without stirring, and microwave for 2 minutes.
- Promptly mix ingredients until the butter is fully melted and incorporated. The batter will be very thick. Fold in white chocolate. Add the sprinkles last and stir gently so they don't leak too much color.
- Scoop into prepared baking pan. Level it across the top. Chill the fudge in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before cutting into small blocks.
- Fudge will keep upwards of a week in the fridge, if it lasts that long.
OM NOM NOM
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Sunday Quote should make cookies
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~Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young
Bready or Not: Soft Gingerbread Bars
We’re kicking off the Christmas season with a recipe that’s been a favorite of mine since 2003: Soft Gingerbread Bars!
My original recipe was clipped from the inside of a Land O Lakes butter box. Before trying that recipe, I had associated gingerbread with dry, hard cut-out cookies.
Land O Lakes enlightened me. They taught me gingerbread could be rendered into soft, chewy bars that were a sugary equivalent to crack cocaine.
These bars have been a household favorite ever since. You can cut the gingerbread into fancier shapes, but I prefer basic bars. These bars are soft and luscious, embodied with the divine scent of Christmas itself.
Plus, this is the perfect recipe when you’re low on time–it mixes together quickly and bakes in under 20 minutes. No standing around the oven for an hour, waiting for batch after batch of cookies to be done.
As soft as these bars are, they are surprisingly durable. When my husband was deployed in the Navy, I mailed several batches to him overseas. I packed them in Gladware with napkins for padding, and they survived the journey, intact and tasty.
Modified from the original recipe at Land O Lakes Butter. Originally posted at Bready or Not back in 2012 on Live Journal.
Bready or Not: Soft Gingerbread Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 egg
- 3 Tablespoons molasses
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
Topping
- 2 - 3 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a jelly roll or large bar pan with aluminum foil.
- Combine the 1 1/4 cups sugar, butter, egg, and molasses in a large mixer bowl. Mix until creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, and spices and mix until just combined.
- Press the dough evenly into the pan. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of sugar across the top. Dust the sugar with your fingers to fill the nooks and crannies.
- Bake the pan for 16 to 20 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely. Cut into bars or other shapes. Try to resist eating them all.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Sunday Quote summons Bradbury
Read More“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
~Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing
