December marks the most wonderful, yet most stressful, time of year! A full social calendar with holiday parties leaves little time for decorating, shopping for that perfect gift, and not to mention baking!
You should always bring a hostess gift when attending a house party, be it a bottle of wine or a dessert. (Actual dishes are tricky since all dishes should complement each other, unless it is a potluck.) Here’s a quick and easy homemade holiday treat that will leave you exclaiming, “PRAISE PEPPERMINT!” while you eat/serve it! It tastes AMAZING and only takes about five minutes to make with minimal clean-up time! (Cue the ‘Praise Peppermint’ or even ‘Praise Holly Would Life!’ haha)
It is important to stress this is also a Gluten Free (GF) sweet, which is a necessity in my house. (Yet, another reason to love this holiday miracle of a dessert!) Enough of me going on and on about how fabulous this Peppermint Puppy Chow is… you can make it too!
Need:
1 gallon sized freezer bag (I use Hefty since it has a reliable sliding closure)
.5 box Rice Chex cereal (should highlight GF on the front)
1 box Bakers white chocolate (contains 6 small bars inside)
.25-.3 cups powdered sugar
4 peppermint candy canes
1 sandwich bag
Hollyized Steps:
To minimize the mess and clean-up efforts, the Peppermint Puppy Chow will all be made in the freezer bag. Just put the bag inside the bowl from your mixer to catch anything that may fall out of the bag while you’re in hectic holiday mode. Add in your Rice Chex.
Next, unwrap the candy canes and put them in your sandwich bag. Seal the bag all the way except for an inch. I use the flat side of my reversible meat tenderizer to get the crushing job done quickly! (Side note: if you don’t already have one of these, I highly suggest you invest in one — it is great for SO many baking recipes in addition to cooking meats!) You’ll want the candy cane pieces to be fairly small so they can be in each bite of the puppy chow. Add them to the cereal.
Next, unwrap the six bars inside the white chocolate bowl and put them in a microwave safe bowl. (I’m using white chocolate since it’s a little easier to melt than other chocolates so feel free to substitute for the chocolate of your choice.) A rubber spatula will be your best friend for this part: after about a minute in the microwave, stir the white chocolate blocks and add additional seconds if needed. Be careful not to burn the chocolate as it will smell and also form little brown chunks. Once the chocolate has melted, use the rubber spatula to add it to the gallon bag along with the candy cane bits and cereal. Be careful since your bowl will be hot!
Carefully close your gallon bag inside your mixer bowl. Then shake as part of your holiday dancing to make sure all the Rice Chex are coated in white chocolate and candy canes! Your bag will look a bit like a holiday version of a Pollock painting!
Finally, add in the powdered sugar. (Powdered sugar is VERY messy, so to keep this culinary fairy dust to a minimum, just snip a tiny corner of the bag to help control pouring it.) Just add in .25 cup at first, then shake. You can always add more to your liking, but keep the amount you use to a minimum in order to keep this treat low cal.
Lastly, shake up your mix again to spread the powered sugar and then add it to a serving bowl and you are done! Clean-up should be fairly easy as you can toss the gallon sized bag and then just wash the bowl and spatula from the chocolate. Enjoy this GF Peppermint Puppy Chow dessert and have a very merry Hollyday! Let me know if you praise peppermint after trying this recipe!
praise peppermint
Equipment
- 1 gallon sized freezer bag (I use Hefty since it has a reliable sliding closure)
- 1 sandwich bag
Ingredients
- .5 box Rice Chex cereal (should highlight GF on the front)
- 1 box Bakers white chocolate (contains 6 small bars inside)
- .25-.3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 peppermint candy canes
Hollyized Steps:
- To minimize the mess and clean-up efforts, the Peppermint Puppy Chow will all be made in the freezer bag. Just put the bag inside the bowl from your mixer to catch anything that may fall out of the bag while you’re in hectic holiday mode. Add in your Rice Chex.
- Next, unwrap the candy canes and put them in your sandwich bag. Seal the bag all the way except for an inch. I use the flat side of my reversible meat tenderizer to get the crushing job done quickly! (Side note: if you don’t already have one of these, I highly suggest you invest in one — it is great for SO many baking recipes in addition to cooking meats!) You’ll want the candy cane pieces to be fairly small so they can be in each bite of the puppy chow. Add them to the cereal.
- Next, unwrap the six bars inside the white chocolate bowl and put them in a microwave safe bowl. (I’m using white chocolate since it’s a little easier to melt than other chocolates so feel free to substitute for the chocolate of your choice.) A rubber spatula will be your best friend for this part: after about a minute in the microwave, stir the white chocolate blocks and add additional seconds if needed. Be careful not to burn the chocolate as it will smell and also form little brown chunks. Once the chocolate has melted, use the rubber spatula to add it to the gallon bag along with the candy cane bits and cereal. Be careful since your bowl will be hot!
- Carefully close your gallon bag inside your mixer bowl. Then shake as part of your holiday dancing to make sure all the Rice Chex are coated in white chocolate and candy canes! Your bag will look a bit like a holiday version of a Pollock painting!
- Finally, add in the powdered sugar. (Powdered sugar is VERY messy, so to keep this culinary fairy dust to a minimum, just snip a tiny corner of the bag to help control pouring it.) Just add in .25 cup at first, then shake. You can always add more to your liking, but keep the amount you use to a minimum in order to keep this treat low cal.
- Lastly, shake up your mix again to spread the powered sugar and then add it to a serving bowl and you are done! Clean-up should be fairly easy as you can toss the gallon sized bag and then just wash the bowl and spatula from the chocolate. Enjoy this GF Peppermint Puppy Chow dessert and have a very merry Hollyday! Let me know if you praise peppermint after trying this recipe!
