Christmas Chex Mix

I do most of the cooking around these parts.  My husband cooks when called upon.  He is best known for his scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, and man can he make a mean grilled cheese.  The world's best.  Someday I will ask him to reveal his secret.  It's revolutionary.  But, his real claim to fame is his Chex Mix.  This stuff is unbelievable!  The original recipe (as far as we are concerned) hails from his Aunt Cheryl.  But he has tweaked it and it makes all the difference.  For the record, this is a sweet not a savory chex mix.  If you only make it at Christmas time, you are really missing the point.  The only thing that makes this "Christmas" Chex, is the fact that you use "Christmas" M&Ms.  Want to make Easter Chex?  Awesome.  Buy some of those pastel M&Ms with bunnies on them.  Want Fourth of July Chex?  Red white and blue M&Ms.  You get the picture.  It's so good that you will want to make it once a week.

Grab a big bowl, a big spoon, and a medium sized saucepan and let's get to work!

It's pretty easy.  Just follow the recipe below.  Pour your dry cereal into a large bowl.  We like to use all rice chex.  But if you want to live on the wild side, you could substitute corn or wheat for part of the rice chex.  But,  don't even think about skipping out on the frosted flakes.  Or substituting them with corn flakes.  Your average old corn flakes will not cut it.  It must be frosted flakes--in the words of the immortal Tony "They're Great!"

Now, put your butter in the saucepan and melt it slowly.  The secret to the chex success is you absolutely MUST use real butter.   Be careful.  Butter burns very very easily.  Add your sugar and your corn syrup.

Turn your heat up to medium and let that syrup come to a boil.  Once it comes to a full boil, turn on your timer for three minutes.

When the buzzer rings, pour your hot syrup over the dry cereal.  Be careful--this stuff is hot!  Pour as much as you can.  I never scrape the pan.  You don't want those nasty crystals that have built up on the sides.  Now put your pan in the sink and stir your chex mix well.  You want every last chex to be coated in yummy syrup.  Once it is well coated, add your coconut and your nuts.  Feel free to add whatever nuts you like.  We have found that we like almonds best.  Add your m&ms very last.  If you add them when the cereal is too warm, they will melt.  If you wait too long they won't stick.  There's a bit of a learning curve.  But it tastes good no matter what.

Now it's ready to eat!  Or package up cute for the neighbors.  I've been saving these little take-out containers for months.  They worked perfectly.

Tie them up with a bow and add a tag and you are good to go.  Cellophane bags also look beautiful when filled with this delicious treat.  I bet Santa would even enjoy some with his plate of cookies on Saturday night.

Here's the recipe--enjoy!