Sweet and Salty Snack Mix

eclairekat's Note:

A yummy snack mix that I created for my husband because I couldn't find a mix that did not use corn syrup. This makes a smaller batch than most snack mixes out there.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 14

Yield: 0.5 cup

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 cups Crispix cereal
• 1 cup pretzel
• 1 cup salted peanuts
• 1 cup M&M's plain chocolate candy

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine Crixpix, Cheerios, pretzels, and peanuts in a large bowl.
3. On the stove in a medium saucepan, melt the butter on low heat.
4. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon to the melted butter.
5. Cook until butter bubbles slightly.
6. Pour over the dry mixture and toss (or mix) so that everything is coated evenly.
7. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. Bake in oven for 8 minutes.
9. Stir mixture and then bake for another 8 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and spread out onto waxed paper.
11. Allow mixture to cool, stirring and breaking up pieces as necessary.
12. Once the mixture is cool, add the M&Ms.

Reviews

[Chef summerlover]

My best friend loves the combination of sweet and salty flavours, so when I was invited to 'tag-along' for a 2 day working road trip, I was determined we should have something to munch along the way and this sounded perfect. Needless to say, we loved it! I made a few minor changes to suit my preferences ... 1 1/2 cups each pretzels and peanuts, so I upped the butter to 1/2 cup and the sugar to 2/3 cup. I also used reese pieces instead of M&M's. So-o-o-o-o good! Thanks for sharing!

[m4corgi]

What an easy and flexible recipe! Wanted to make some Christmas Crunch for co-workers, so used popped microwave kettle corn, corn chex type cereal, and mini pretzel knots. After it was cooled down mixed in 1 c of WalMart "Great Value Indulgent Trail Mix" (butterscotch, chocolate, and white chips with cashews, almonds, white raisins, and dried cranberries) plus 1 c of Christmas M&Ms. I also added 1/2 sea salt to the caramel mixture to up the "salty" factor. Just amazing! I doubled the recipe and have 20 1-cup Christmas bags to distribute.

[Nsoos]

Did anyone notice that the recipe calls for cherios but did not list it as an ingredient or amount. I estimated 2 cups. The recipe itself was good. I served it as a "salty snack" for a group of ladies and leftovers to my kids. All said that I should make it again.