Chocolate Chex Mix

My husband's family has a New Year's Eve tradition of making large batches of Chex Mix, and watching movies all afternoon and evening. He looks forward to that Chex Mix and relaxation. Try as I might, I haven't been able to get the Chex Mix recipe. It's not quite the original, which easily can be found online, but my mother-in-law has been making it for so many years that she no longer uses a recipe and doesn't know the measurements. So I've been unable to replicate the tradition. I've tried several substitutes -- Barbecue Chex Mix (FAIL!), Chex Muddy Buddies (too sweet and not munchy enough), and others. This year, a friend gave us some white chocolate Chex Mix as a Christmas treat. It was pretty good. Mind you, Ben does not like white chocolate at all, and since we've been married, I've lost my taste for it because it's so rarely, if ever, in the house. But this snack was really good. We gobbled it up almost entirely in one night.

So I decided to try to make it for New Year's Eve this year. I thought that Chocolate Chex might be a yummy twist on an original, so I bought that.


I also did little pretzel rods, dry roasted peanuts, M&M's, and, at the last minute, I added marshmallows.





I thought I had a bag of white chocolate chips in the cupboard, so I didn't buy any with the rest of the goodies. I'd forgotten that I had used about 2/3 of the bag on a yummy cookie recipe for a church activity at the beginning of the month. I still had a little less than 2/3 cup left. I also had about half a bag of vanilla-flavored white baking chips in the freezer. I'd asked my friend about her white chocolate coating. She said she just heated the white chocolate in the microwave with a little oil.

It didn't work. Not for me. For one thing, the baking chips are most definitely not the same as white chocolate chips (despite the ingredients being just about the same). They cooked differently, and I ended up burning the whole thing.

Crap.

My husband suggested that I just make a chocolate coating instead.

Duh.

I decided not to take anymore chances (read: waste anymore chocolatey goodness), so I Googled "chocolate candy coating recipe." The first hit was a dipping recipe from Hershey. Chocolate chips and shortening. Not oil. Not butter. Not margarine. Shortening. I wasn't sure I had any. The last time I remember buying any was probably two years ago.

Fortunately, that stuff has a shelf life longer than Twinkies. Yay!



So I made the chocolate coating -- in a double boiler, instead of in a less reliable microwave -- and poured it over the dry mix. I spread the whole thing out on parchment paper on two cookie sheets and stuck them in the fridge to solidify quickly, since it was already about 7:00pm on New Year's Eve.



Verdict: It was really good, but a little too sweet. I think my mix would have been fine if I'd been able to go with the white chocolate coating. The chocolate chocolate was good, but I'd have made a few modifications if I'd known I was going that route. First, I wouldn't have used Chocolate Chex. Second, I would have used less M&M's and more peanuts and pretzels. Either way, I should have used more marshmallows. The world can always use more marshmallows. I might also add a little peanut butter to the coating. Mmmmm...

8 cups Chex (though by the time I was done snacking before adding the chocolate coating, this may have been down to 7 cups...ssshhhh!!!)
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
2 cups pretzels (I'm a little anal and didn't want big pieces, so I used mini rods and broke them in half first)
2 cups plain M&M's
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups chocolate chips
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp shortening

Mix the cereal, peanuts, pretzels, M&M's, and marshmallows in a large bowl or roasting pan. In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together. When smooth, pour over dry mix. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the boiler bowl and get every bit of yummy goodness! Mix the wet and dry ingredients together thoroughly, until all the dry goodies are well-coated.

Line two rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spread half of the Chex Mix on each one. Leave out to harden, or put in the fridge to harden more quickly. I think it only took 20 minutes for me in the fridge. Break into pieces and store at room temperature.


(Sorry I didn't get a dry picture -- the coated pictures are still while the chocolate was hot and melty.)

Root beer float ice cream cupcakes

Last year for my husband's birthday, I made a really yummy root beer float Bundt cake from Joy the Baker. Her recipe is a chocolate cake with root beer in it. It's really moist, and the longer it sits out, the more the spice and kick of the root beer comes out. This year, I thought I'd be a little adventurous and try making root beer float ice cream cupcakes. I found a recipe for root beer sherbet, which sounded also really yummy, and different than just plain vanilla. My plan was set.



Later in the week after I decided to make this creation for my husband's birthday, I came across a post on Scoopalicious about an ice cream cupcake contest (with -- yes -- a prize!). I thought it was perfect that I already had a plan. The contest is co-hosted by Scoopalicious and Cupcake Project (click links for contest info).



His birthday was on Sunday, so I made the cupcakes on Friday, hoping to let as much of the root beer flavor come out as possible. With the soda in the cake batter, it's really moist, so two days left out (if covered, even with a paper towel) won't dry them out terribly. Having only made the cake once, and never in cupcake form, I wasn't sure how much it would rise. It turned out that I used more batter per cup than I would have liked to, but there still ended up being a good enough balance.

Saturday night, some friends had us over for a barbeque and they gave my husband a lemon meringue pie (his favorite) for his birthday. Into the freezer went the cupcakes. I was hosting a book group discussion at my house on Thursday, so I decided to use them for that.



On Wednesday, I tried to make the sherbet. My ice cream bowl had been in the freezer for two or three days, so it was good and cold. My root beer had been in the refrigerator for two or three days, so it was also good and cold. I'd read the recipe in advance, and it said to leave the bottles (I used cans) open to let them go flat a bit first. Being that I'd originally planned on making the sherbet sooner than I did, I'd opened them and stuck them in the fridge. By the time I used them, they were completely flat. I mixed the root beer with the sweetened condensed milk and the half-and-half, and poured it into the mixer. After 30 minutes, there was absolutely no change in consistency. I think that I needed a little bit of fizz. Whoops. I poured the "sherbet" into a bowl and stuck it in the freezer anyway, and stirred it a few times during the day and evening. It ended up freezing, but it was too icy for me to use. (The flavor is really great, though, and I would definitely not be opposed to making it again. With fizz.) To the store I went that night for some plain vanilla ice cream.



Thursday morning, I left the ice cream out on the counter to soften a little. By the time I got back to it, I was glad I didn't wait any longer. The top was really soft, but just under it was just soft enough but still hard enough to allow me the time I needed to work on the cupcakes. I filled them each just to the top of the liner (I used jumbo cupcake liners...normal jumbo, not grotesque jumbo). Then back into the freezer they went.

I made up the frosting (which has root beer, melted chocolate, and cocoa powder in it, among other things) and scooped it into my bag. It was the first time I'd ever used my frosting bag. I've never piped frosting onto a cake or cupcake before. Welcome to the big league.



So, by the time I actually got around to eating one (last night), it just tasted like chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, with frosting. There was a little more to it, but not enough that I could tell there was root beer involved. I took pictures today, and rather than sticking the starting-to-melt cupcake back in the freezer to re-freeze in a sad and wimpy state, I ate it. :) Today I could taste a little more of the root beer. Maybe it was that the cake part of the cupcake was bigger than last night's. Maybe it was that the frosting had had longer to germinate, so the root beer was coming out in it. Either way, I could definitely taste it today.



This afternoon I looked at the contest post over at Scoopalicious for the rules. I clicked over to the entries from 2008 and 2009 and found that I wasn't nearly as original as I thought. In 2008, Coconut & Lime entered this contest with a root beer float ice cream cupcake entry, albeit a different recipe. Last year, a sponsor of the contest was justJENN recipes (who has made root beer float ice cream cupcakes too -- using the same recipe that Joy the Baker used!), which, ironically was where I found the sherbet recipe, just doing a Google search. If the authors of either of those blogs read this, know that I wasn't trying to steal an idea. I thought I was mostly original, but I guess not.


For friends reading this: while this is a contest, only entrants can vote in the first round. If I make it to the second round, the public can vote, in which case I'll be soliciting your vote. :)

Chocolate Biscotti

Got the recipe out of the parade magazine in the paper.

Chocolate Biscotti
2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c dried cranberries
3/4 c mini chocolate chips

Sift together dry ingredients. Beat butter and sugar together until very smooth, then beat in the eggs. Mix in dry ingredients until blended. Fold in cranberries and chips.

Divide dough; put pieces on opposite sides of a parchment lined baking sheet. Shape each into a 12-inch-long, 1/2-inch-thick log. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes; cool 20 minutes.

Slice into 1/2 inch thick cookies. Stand them up on the baking sheet; bake for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Makes 48.

I'd give them 4 stars. Kiddo didn't like them but she doesn't like cranberries, but the husband liked them and they were good enough I gave some away. I haven't heard back yet from the recipients though.

Challenge Ingredient: Chocolate

Chocolate. Really, what is there to say? It comes in many forms:

Molded, themed treats

Cupcakes

Cookies

Pies

Bars

Dipping

Brownies (amazing brownies)

If you are a self-proclaimed chocoholic, you need this cookbook:
So, as I'm sure you can tell, the challenge ingredient this week is chocolate. You can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, cocoa powder, or any other variation you like.

Next week's challenge is candy, which although technically different and separate from chocolate, can piggyback with it. If you choose to piggyback, please label your post with both.

(all photo credits mine)