One of the best parts of the holiday season is the meals.
While the conversations during those meals can get messy, the food itself rarely disappoints. And for the college student, weary from a semester of meal plan options and TV dinners, no part of these holiday feasts is better than dessert.
Waiting entire semesters for this sweet and fulfilling conclusion to a delicious meal is a form of torture. So why not learn how to make some yummy desserts over the break to prepare for the ever-looming Spring Semester?
One of my favorite easy homemade holiday desserts is called “Muddy Buddies.” It requires a lot of Rice Chex cereal, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter/margarine, some vanilla and powdered sugar. While a version of this recipe can be found on every box of Rice Chex, in my family we have found it requires one minor adjustment for true deliciousness: double the peanut butter.
Here is the recipe:
9 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy is best)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
You can always halve the recipe (or quarter it for personal use since the full recipe uses a lot).
1. Place cereal in large bowl (really, really large).
2. Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter/margarine and put the mixture in a microwave for one minute. Stir until melted and smooth (if the mixture won’t mix, put it back in the microwave. Chocolate chips burn easily, however, so use the microwave sparingly and be sure to stir carefully). Add vanilla.
3. Immediately mix these ingredients into the cereal; you don’t want the chocolate to harden before you have coated the cereal. That means you can’t stop stirring until your arms are burning.
4 . Add powdered sugar. In my family, we use an unused trash bag for this bit to ensure full coating. Pour the cereal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, butter/margarine and vanilla mixture into the trash bag. Then pour in the powdered sugar and close the bag as tightly as possible. Shake the bag until every piece of your mixture is coated in a fine layer of powdered sugar. You can also do this in the bowl with a lid securely fastened (which requires way more shaking and is a lot less fun).
At this point you should taste the muddy buddies. If you like the flavor, you’re done! If you think it could use more powdered sugar, though, add to your heart’s content.
Remember, cold weather makes you shiver. Shivering requires energy. Energy requires calories, and what better way to get that energy than to enjoy holiday muddy buddies?