Muddy Buddy Samoas Recipe

I’ve discovered the delight of Muddy Buddies.

It didn’t occur to me before 2014 that “muddy” would mean anything except bathed in chocolate —
which means a lot of chocolate by the sounds of it — and it just didn’t sound tasty.

Too much chocolate.

Mud = chocolate

~grin~

Last year, two friends [Cathy and Tyler] joined me for a crafternoon in the form of a bakin’-noon.

[That’s actually this year’s photo of our bakin’-noon. Surely love those two.]

We made three very tasty, crunchy morsels of yum.

Much to my delight and surprise, nothing resembled mud.

Delicious.

I’m including links to the recipes just in case your mouth is watering: Nutella, Lemon Bar, and Cinnamon Churro Muddy Buddies.

Just in case.

We decided to get together again and try our hand at three more Muddy Buddy flavors.

[The other two flavors will make their debut in the very near future, for sure, for certain.]

This one’s a Pinterest find waiting to be added to your list of snacks definitely worth trying.

The source for the recipe is here–the photos are wonderful!

[I need some new bowls.]

The snack is called “Samoas {Caramel DeLite} Chex Mix” on her blog.

We intended to simply use her recipe and see how it turned out.
Cathy–the master chef who put this one together–ended up making a couple of modifications.

Here’s the 411 on the Muddy Buddy Samoas Recipe.

Muddy Buddy Samoas Flavor Recipe

7 cups Rice Chex

7 oz bag of sweetened, shredded coconut
[She used one bag.]

12.5 oz bottle salted caramel sauce

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
[That’s what she kindly used because I don’t like the ~~barfy~~ semi-sweet chocolate chips.]

First of all, preheat your oven to 350 F.

_______

Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Spread the coconut on the baking sheet.

Bake the coconut until it’s toasted — at least 7 minutes.

[Ours took 9 minutes.]

Use a rubber/plastic spatula to ‘flip’ the coconut 3 – 4 minutes into toasting it. It will cook more uniformly.

Unless [pause] it truly doesn’t matter to you, and if that’s the case, don’t even think about it.

Yum.

Your house will smell fabulous right about now.

While the coconut is toasting, measure the Rice Chex into a large mixing bowl.

[fyi — I tried using Corn Chex instead once and didn’t like it because of the stronger flavor —
which is great for a bowl of cereal but a little overpowering for Muddy Buddy treats.]

Once the coconut is toasted, let it cool just a bit so you don’t burn your fingers off, and then add it to the large bowl of cereal.

Don’t sqwunch up the aluminum foil because you’ll use it again in a few minutes.

Heat up your caramel so that it pours evenly.

But not with the lid on it.

[It shouldn’t take more than 10 – 12 seconds in the microwave unless the stuff is frozen or has cement mixed in with it in which case I wouldn’t be using it anyway.]

Pour the caramel over the cereal and coconut mixture.

Toss carefully.

Not the empty bottle, though that would make sense.

The cereal mixture.

Toss it carefully.

[If you start maniacally mixing you will crush those tasty squares into tiny particulates that will make this treat less palatable.]

Make sure your aluminum foil covers the bottom of the baking sheet.

Yes, you can certainly use parchment paper.

Spread the cereal/coconut/caramel mixture onto the aluminum foil on the baking sheet.

Bake that gooey, yummy mess for 5 more minutes — until it gets a little bit bubbly.

Emphasis on a little bit.

Pull that deliciousness out of the oven and let it cool.

While it’s cooling, grab a small microwave safe bowl and and add the chocolate chips.

Cathy melted the chips in the microwave.

A good rule of thumb is heat for 30 seconds and then stir.

The photo below was taken after the first 30 seconds and it doesn’t look like much happened.

Look closely and you will notice chips that are a little bit shiny and melting on the side of the bowl.

We stirred them even if it didn’t look like it would do any good.

They were definitely melting.

Heat for another 30 seconds and stir.

If you still need a bit more melty, add smaller increments of time — such as 10 seconds — and remember to stir.

That’s when you have the perfect consistency for pouring.

[I should have stirred it just a tad longer for picture perfection.]

Once your chocolate is melted, grab the cooled cereal/coconut caramel mix — still in the pan — and drizzle the chocolate over the top.

Spell your name.

Do a complicated math problem.

Or just drizzle it.

Yum.

One delicious snack recipe down — two to go.

Just from the look of things, which one would you grab? Left, right, or middle?

What’s your favorite Muddy Buddy/Puppy Chow flavor and is your recipe Top Secret?