It’s that time of year again! Time to get out the decorations, bake some cookies, and get ready for Santa! And we can’t forget about the reindeer! While you’re making cookies for Santa or just making Christmas cookies (I recommend these Andes mint cookies) in general, try out this fun reindeer chow snack mix to change things up this holiday season! Plus, it’s so easy to make the kids can even help. They’ll love thinking about magical reindeer flying overhead while making this yummy Christmas snack mix! It’s a great snack to enjoy during a little Christmas movie night (try watching while playing this Christmas movie bingo!) or as a snack during a big Christmas games competition. Or even to have out while playing one of these gift exchange games – a good consolation prize for someone who gets their beloved gift stolen right out of their hands. You could even put it in a cute Christmas tin or jar and give it to neighbors with these cute Christmas treat tags!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Christmas muddy buddies – if you like muddy buddies, this recipe just takes it one step further with the addition of some of a reindeer’s favorite snacks! Super easy – if you can melt chocolate, you can make this fun Christmas snack mix! It’s just melting, mixing, and eating!Keeps well – this reindeer chow can keep up to seven days making it a great Christmas snack to make once and enjoy for days to come!
Reindeer Chow Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Chocolate chips – you can either use chocolate chips or chocolate melting wafers, either one works! You just need to have melted chocolate to make the mix. Chex Cereal – you can use rice, corn, or both. I don’t recommend wheat, that’s better in this homemade chex mix. Peanut butter cups – you want to use the mini peanut butter cups, either the wrapped ones or even the really little unwrapped ones work too! M&Ms – I like the Christmas colored ones since this is a Christmas snack mix, but you could really use any colored M&Ms you want if you can’t get Christmas ones. Or just pick out the reds and greens from a regular bag! Cheerios – Honey Nut Cheerios are best for the added sweetness but if you want, you could also use regular Cheerios.
You can also mix it up and add any of your other favorite snack ingredients – nuts, cornflakes, popcorn, etc. Just make sure you keep a good balance of sweet and salty!
How to Make Reindeer Chow
This recipe is one of my favorite Christmas recipes because it’s just so easy and so quick to make. I love letting my boys help me combine the ingredients and make this yummy reindeer chow. Best of all – it’s not that big of a deal if they pour a little too much or don’t add enough, it’s a snack mix so anything goes! Start by combining the Corn Chex, Rice Chex, and Cheerios in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter then microwave for 30 seconds and stir. If everything isn’t completely melted, microwave for an additional 30 seconds, stir until it is completely melted and smooth. You can also do this with a double boiler on the stove if you don’t have a microwave (like me). Next, pour the melted chocolate mixture over the cereal and mix well, evenly coating the cereal. This is the muddy buddies part, except with a few little tweaks. Now combine the powdered sugar and cocoa in a large gallon sized ziplock bag. Once they’re both in there, put all the chocolate coated cereal into the bag and zip closed. Toss the cereal in the bag until it is all coated with the powdered sugar mixture. Chocolate muddy buddies at their best! Once all the cereal is coated, pour it out onto a baking sheet to cool completely. You want the melted chocolate to harden and want the cereal to not coat your hands completely when you pick it up. To finish the chow, combine the M&Ms, mini peanut butter cups, and pretzels in a large serving bowl. Then add the cooled cereal mix and carefully stir to combine. Pour everything into a large bowl and serve either in a large bowl or spooned into individual cups. Christmas cupcake liners make great cups for this kind of Christmas snack mix!
Expert Tips
Make this for any holiday by changing out the M&M colors inside! Everything else works great for other holidays and the name can just be changed. Cupid chow, Easter bunny chow, you get it. Mix gently so you don’t break all of the peanut butter cups and pretzels. You want the mixture to be mixed but not broken up.
More Easy Christmas Treats
If you liked this Christmas snack mix, make sure to check out these other popular holiday treats!
Cranberry orange bread – this is the most moist, most delicious Christmas bread ever!Grinch cupcakes – these darling cupcakes are not only super flavorful, they look just like the Grinch! Mini sugar cookies – these yummy sugar cookies are even better when enjoyed in mini form!Sugar cookie fudge – a fudge that tastes just like a sugar cookie, seriously!White chocolate cranberry macadamia nut cookies – the most amazing Christmas cookies with all sorts of flavor and crunch!
