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Home » Recipes » Desserts & Baking

classic 15-minute puppy chow

January 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

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Homemade Puppy Chow is one of the easiest treats to make! All you need is 5 simple ingredients – chocolate, peanut butter, butter, chex cereal, and powdered sugar. It makes a great edible gift, and you can dress it up with any mix-ins you like!

A dish of puppy chow, a bowl of chocolate chips, and a bowl of peanut butter on a light surface this recipe

Puppy chow (or muddy buddies, as some like to call this snack) are SO simple to make. First, melt together a mixture of salted butter (it has the besttt flavor), semi-sweet chocolate chips, and creamy peanut butter. Then, stir in your corn chex cereal. It’s important to use just the amount specified in my recipe, and not more, so that you end up with a good ratio of chocolate pb filling to cereal, and so you get those nice big clumps!

A mixing bowl of chocolate coated chex cereal

Lots of recipes for puppy chow have you toss the chocolate-coated cereal in a bag, but I found that to be impractical and messy (and I ended up with lots more broken cereal bits that way). I muchhhh prefer tossing the cereal with powdered sugar in a tupperware! It’s reusable, so you won’t have a wasted plastic bag after words, and it’s just easier and coats the cereal better, without breaking tons of pieces.

A tupperware container full of the chocolate cereal mixture and powdered sugar

Voila! Perfection. You can adjust the powdered sugar up or down a smidge too, depending on how thickly you want the cereal to be coated.

A tupperware filled with powdered sugar coated puppy chow

Once you’ve dusted it in powdered sugar, pour the puppy chow onto a lined baking sheet to let the chocolate solidify. Once it’s set, dig in! (Or, before, really haha.) Just don’t store it before you’ve given the chocolate a chance to set up.

Two sheet pans filled with puppy chow

You can mix in some festive m&ms to give this a fun flair for Valentine’s Day (or for any other holiday!). Add in some chocolate chips too, if you want it to be a complete chocolate overload.

A spoon scooping puppy chow out of a bowl

It’s just the most classic + easy treat! And I bet you have all the ingredients on hand already. It’s great when you’re craving something chocolatey but don’t want to spend lots of time or effort making a dessert.

A dish of puppy chow with m&ms, a bowl of chocolate chips, and a bowl of peanut butter on a light surface

This makes a great superbowl snack too – m&ms optional. You can also double the recipe if you want a bigger batch – I just recommend tossing it in the powdered sugar in two batches.

A close-up on the sheet pan of puppy chow

A close-up on a spoon scooping puppy chow out of the bowl

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A metal tray filled with puppy chow.

Classic 15-Minute Puppy Chow

All you need to make this easy Puppy Chow is 5 simple ingredients - chocolate, peanut butter, butter, chex cereal, and powdered sugar. It makes a great edible gift, and you can dress it up with any mix-ins you like!
5 from 1 vote
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Dessert
Keyword: Easy Snack Recipes, Easy Desserts
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Stephanie Simmons

Ingredients

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup salted butter 4 tbsp, or 1/2 a standard stick
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 5 and 1/2 cups corn chex cereal
  • 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • optional mix-ins like m&ms, chocolate chips, etc.

Instructions

  • Make the Puppy Chow: Add the chocolate, butter, and peanut butter to a large mixing bowl. Melt this together in the microwave until completely smooth, using 30 second intervals and stirring between each.
    Add the chex cereal to the bowl and toss with a spatula to coat in the chocolate. Add the chocolate-coated cereal mix and the powdered sugar to a large tupperware container with a lid. Close the lid tightly, and gently shake the container to coat the mix in powdered sugar. Add a little more powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup more) until it's coated to your liking.
    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and gently dump the chex out in an even-ish layer. Let the puppy chow set up before storing it in an airtight container, but you can start enjoying it as soon as you like (just know the chocolate won't be set right away).
  • Serve + Store: Enjoy as is, or add in some festive m&ms if you want to add a flair for any upcoming hoilday. Store in an airtight container at room temp for a week.

Notes

Note: I HIGHLY recommend using a tupperware rather than the traditional bag to shake up your puppy chow - it's less messy, doesn't waste a plastic bag, and coats everything nicely without you accidentally breaking the cereal into a bunch of tiny pieces by handling the bag too much. You'll get nicer clumps this way!
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