Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Critter Crunch

.

...or not, as the case may be.

This snack mix recipe is a favorite of my children. For many years it has been known as Critter Crunch, which I think was the original name on the recipe. If my memory serves me (although it usually doesn't) it came from a Taste of Home magazine, but I could be wrong on that.

When the boys were younger they really enjoyed this recipe as written, with the animal crackers and Teddy Grahams. I admit, the grown-ups liked it too (and still do). But now, I just as often, if not more, make it with whatever I have on-hand (and we still call it Critter Crunch). The sweet cinnamony butter glaze makes any old stale cereal taste good again. For this batch, I only used Cheerios, Life cereal and pretzels, and then I added some candy corn because I just can't resist candy corn.

You can make it just as written, or substitute the dry ingredients for any cereal or snack you have around. I always use part sweet, part salty. It would be good with peanuts also, but we have allergies so I don't use them.



Critter Crunch

¼ c. butter
3 T. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 - ½ c. Crispix or Chex
1 ½ c. Cheerios
1 ½ c. animal crackers
1 ½ c. Teddy grahams -- honey-flavored
1 c. Life cereal
1 c. pretzels


Melt butter, sugar and cinnamon in the microwave or on the stove. Mix well. Combine cereals and cookies. Toss with butter mixture. Place on 15 x 10 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees F. Stir every 10 minutes.

4 comments:

Margaret in Minnesota said...

So we're talking basically eight cups worth of dry ingredients, right? Baked at 350?

PS. My word verif. is "scopersh". I had scopersh once. I didn't like it.

Barbara said...

Sorry bake at 300 degrees -- change noted. Yes, about 8 cups -- I don't measure very precisely (gasp!)-- more dry goods yield less sweet crunch, less yields a sweeter crunch.

Sarah said...

My kids will *love* this! And what's nice is that there are no peanuts or nuts of any kind. (We have a child with an allergy.) And I like how you added the candy corn. I cannot resist candy corn either!

Oh, I just made a mix with Quaker Oat Squares, pretzel sticks, craisins and (minus) almonds. (I added sunflower seeds.) It was blended with a similar butter mixture. Really yummy! And fallish ...

Lenetta said...

Thank you for linking over to this! I'm doing snacks for our 3YO preschool co-op this month and am having way too much fun deciding what to make... this just zoomed up the list!