Hi Everyone! Is it spring where you are yet? After over a week of 70-degree weather and two severe storms here, we got almost an inch of snow this weekend! 🙁 Don’t get me wrong – I love the winter and snow, but now that we’ve had a taste of spring and field work is ramping up, I think I’m done with cold weather for a while. So, to bring a little bit of that spring feeling back into this weekend, I decided to start baking up some Easter-y treats.
This first one is super simple, and doesn’t actually involve any baking. It’s a snack mix based on a treat my mom always makes at Christmas. Many of you have probably had something similar. It’s often called White Trash, or Texas Trash, or we call it White Stuff. It’s basically cereal, pretzels, nuts, and M&Ms mixed together with white chocolate.
I thought it could use a little color, and maybe a twist on the flavor, so I added a box of pistachio instant pudding mix into the melted chocolate. That added a little flavor, but not much color, so I did also add a few drops of green oil-based candy coloring. This is totally optional, but if you’d like to use it you can find the coloring at baking or hobby stores, or it’s easily found online. Don’t use liquid or gel coloring in your chocolate, as it contains water and will cause it to seize.
I also prefer using vanilla almond bark, since I don’t care for the flavor of white chocolate, but you can use whichever you prefer. I used rice Chex, but corn Chex or Crispix work well, and you could probably even try corn flakes. Use any salted nuts you like, even mixed nuts would be great. You can also throw in a handful of dried fruit – raisins, cherries, cranberries, whatever sounds good to you. And of course, you can leave out the pudding mix, or choose a different flavor. Cheesecake would probably be great, and lemon would be really interesting, too. Essentially, this is a really basic recipe that can be customized in endless ways! I hope you give it a try!
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- 1 pound vanilla almond bark or white chocolate
- 1 3.4 oz package pistachio instant pudding mix
- 3 to 4 drops green oil-based candy coloring optional
- 4 cups rice Chex cereal
- 1 1/2 cups pretzels
- 1 cup salted peanuts
- 1 cup milk chocolate spring M&Ms
Ingredients
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- Melt chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave, being careful not to overheat. For the almond bark, I microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time.
- Add the pudding mix into the chocolate and stir well. Add the green food coloring, if using.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a very large bowl and mix,
- Pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal mixture, and stir gently until everything is coated with the chocolate.
- Spread onto waxed paper or parchment and let sit until chocolate is set. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Use any cereal, nuts, and candies you like. Add in 1/2 to 1 cup dried fruit if desired (raisins, cherries, cranberries, etc.).
Omit pudding mix, and food coloring, or use any other flavor like lemon or cheesecake.