Yummy Peppermint Snack Mix

The DIY Showoff is having a Holiday Food Edition Party , so I thought it would be a good time to show you a quick snack that's really, really yummy. When I'm in a hurry for a treat, whether it be for a party, a gift for a friend, or just something good to munch on,

Peppermint Crunch Mix
is my go to snack.
And besides that, I have a party to go to in the morning, and this is what I'm taking, so the timing was perfect.

Can't you just taste this? Yum, yum, yum!

Wanna make some of your own?

Here's what you're gonna need:
6 cups of popped popcorn (I use the Vic's brand pre-popped cuz it just easy and quick)
4 cups of Honey Nut Chex cereal
1 10-12oz jar of Marshallow Creme
About 20 peppermint candies (red, green, or both)
OPTIONAL: chocolate peppermint bark and/or milk chocolate morsels
Cookie Sheets (this amount will use 4 cookie sheets)
Large bowl x 2 (for the popcorn and cereal mixture)
Medium bowl (for melting marshmallow creme)
Spatula
Non-stick Spray

Here we go:
Gather your supplies.
Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350.

Grab your large bowl. (I actually split mine between 2 bowls so I have room to toss the ingredients.)

Mix your popcorn and chex cereal ONLY.

Set the mixture aside, and grab your peppermints. If you want a stronger peppermint taste, use about 30 peppermints instead of 20. Put them in a double bagged ziplock. Grab your hammer.......or an equilivent tool

for breaking up the mints. Put a towel under your bag so you won't get little holes in the bag as you hit it.

Be sure to break them up really good, but not so much that you end up with a lot of powder.

They should like this.

Now, grab a microwave safe bowl, put your marshmallow creme in it, and pop it in the microwave for 1 minute. (Tip: If you run hot water over the outside of your marshmallow creme jar, it'll be easier to get it all out.)

When you take the creme out of the microwave, put it in the mixture right away. Take your spatula and toss it around until you have all of the popcorn/cereal mixture covered.

Get your cookie sheets out and coat them with a non-stick spray. Spread the mixture so there is only one layer. Once you have the mixture on the pan, grab your peppermint crunch and spread it over all of the mix. Remember, you'll have to do this for 4 pans, so be careful to ration it out.

 

Now you can put the pans in the oven. I prefer to do them one at a time because the lower pan always seems to get too brown.

Let them bake about 5 minutes. Be sure to keep your eye on them because they'll get brown before you know it.

After 5 minutes, open the oven and move the mix around a little to keep it from burning on the bottom. Bake for about 3 to 4 more minutes.

Take them out of the oven and put the mix on some wax paper or foil, and let them cool.

Once they're cool, you'll want to break the pieces into smaller parts.

These are great to put in treat bags, OR, if you need it to feed a large number of people, scoop it out into cupcake sleeves since it won't take as much to fill those up.

When you're all done, here's what you'll have.

Remember I told you in the beginning that you can use some optional ingredients?

I made one batch of mine the way I described above, and I made the other batch this way:

For the chocolate lover, instead of using only the marshmallow creme, you can take about 10 pieces of peppermint bark, a tiny amount of milk in the bottom of the bowl (do not cover the whole bottom), and one large mixing spoon of the marshmallow creme. Use that to toss the popcorn/cereal mix in.

I just happened to have these on hand, so this is what I used.

Notice the color difference of the ones in the pan, and the ones in the cupcake sleeves. If you make both, it's super easy to tell the differenc in the ones with chocolate and the ones without.

Another option is to melt the chocolate morsels, put in an icing sleeve, and drizzle lightly over the mixture after you've separated it into the cupcake sleeves.

Ok, time to go make your own. I have to pack mine up for my party in the morning.

Be sure to head back over to The DIY Showoff and see what everyone else is cooking up today.