Leaving out reindeer food is an important part of our Christmas traditions each year. This special recipe ensures the reindeer have enough energy to pull Santa and the sleigh full of presents to the rest of the world after he leaves our home!
I was honored to work on this post in conjunction with Chex to tell you about some of the family traditions we do each year at Christmas!
Do you have foods that you have to make every holiday season? I know I do! For Thanksgiving it is my mom’s apple pie, and though kind of untraditional I have to have mac and cheese on the spread at Thanksgiving dinner. For Christmas it is mostly sweet stuff. We always make grew up making these crackers with peanut butter sandwiched in between them then covered in chocolate and the kids get to decorate with sprinkles. We have a few cookie recipes that we can’t live without and my personal favorite that ALWAYS had to be made as soon as the season hit (and sometimes a few times more before the season ended) was Chex Muddy Buddies!
Of course growing up, I eventually left the house, but I still always made my favorite peanut butter and chocolate covered Chex Mix. Eventually I got married and my husband became addicted to my favorite holiday treat too (it would have been major issues if he didn’t like it ha!) and then we had kids!
I think it was about two years ago that I was making the Muddy Buddies with my little ones and my son (then about 3 years old) looked at it and said, “Oh mom, this is the reindeer food! We have to leave it out for them so they don’t get hungry!” He explained to me that the brown stuff was the dirt and the white was the sweet snow and that the reindeer liked it so much because it was crunch like hay, but tasted much better because it as sweet.
I thought this was just the most fun thing I had ever heard so of course we made sure to leave plenty out for the reindeer. We even ended up making a special plate so Santa wouldn’t get confused and eat it, because we know how much he likes the sweet stuff! {See how to make your own Reindeer Food Plate here}
One of the best (or most enabling, ha!) parts about this is that you can make this recipe super easily with just a few ingredients and it is perfect for kids who love to help in the kitchen.
For the FULL CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEX MIX RECIPE go here! But the basic idea is that you melt the butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter together in the microwave. Then pour it over your cereal and pretzel mixture and mix to coat.
Right after you are done mixing you spread it out over a cookie sheet in a thin layer. I cover the sheet in foil for super easy clean up. Then pop it in the fridge to set. Once it cools, you can break it apart into pieces and put it in ziplock bags with the powered sugar. Give it a few shakes and add the chocolate candies and you are good to go!
I told you that we can’t keep our hands off of this stuff and that we put it out in an abundant supply for the reindeer to nibble on to get them through Christmas night, but it also makes a great idea for a christmas gift for teachers, neighbors, friends, bosses, coworkers and whoever else is on your list this year! Just put it in a mason jar with a big pretty red ribbon and it is stunning, easy, and delicious. The trifecta of Christmas gifts!
Now I want to hear YOUR Christmas must haves! I would love for you to leave me a comment letting me know your favorite in the comment section below. And if you want to make a batch of reindeer food with your kids make sure to hop on over to the Chex Recipe site and grab the full recipe there! For more great holiday inspiration, check out Chex on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Leaving out reindeer food is an important part of our Christmas traditions each year. This special recipe ensures the reindeer have enough energy to pull Santa and the sleigh full of presents to the rest of the world after he leaves our home!
I was honored to work on this post in conjunction with Chex to tell you about the family traditions we do each year!
Do you have foods that you have to make every holiday season? I know I do! For Thanksgiving it is my mom’s apple pie, and though kind of untraditional I have to have mac and cheese on the spread at Thanksgiving dinner. For Christmas it is mostly sweet stuff. We always make grew up making these crackers with peanut butter sandwiched in between them then covered in chocolate and the kids get to decorate with sprinkles. We have a few cookie recipes that we can’t live without and my personal favorite that ALWAYS had to be made as soon as the season hit (and sometimes a few times more before the season ended) was Chex Muddy Buddies!
Of course growing up, I eventually left the house, but I still always made my favorite peanut butter and chocolate covered Chex Mix. Eventually I got married and my husband became addicted to my favorite holiday treat too (it would have been major issues if he didn’t like it ha!) and then we had kids!
I think it was about two years ago that I was making the Muddy Buddies with my little ones and my son (then about 3 years old) looked at it and said, “Oh mom, this is the reindeer food! We have to leave it out for them so they don’t get hungry!” He explained to me that the brown stuff was the dirt and the white was the sweet snow and that the reindeer liked it so much because it was crunch like hay, but tasted much better because it as sweet.
I thought this was just the most fun thing I had ever heard so of course we made sure to leave plenty out for the reindeer. We even ended up making a special plate so Santa wouldn’t get confused and eat it, because we know how much he likes the sweet stuff! {See how to make your own Reindeer Food Plate here}
One of the best (or most enabling, ha!) parts about this is that you can make this recipe super easily with just a few ingredients and it is perfect for kids who love to help in the kitchen.
For the FULL CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEX MIX RECIPE go here! But the basic idea is that you melt the butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter together in the microwave. Then pour it over your cereal and pretzel mixture and mix to coat.
Right after you are done mixing you spread it out over a cookie sheet in a thin layer. I cover the sheet in foil for super easy clean up. Then pop it in the fridge to set. Once it cools, you can break it apart into pieces and put it in ziplock bags with the powered sugar. Give it a few shakes and add the chocolate candies and you are good to go!
I told you that we can’t keep our hands off of this stuff and that we put it out in an abundant supply for the reindeer to nibble on to get them through Christmas night, but it also makes a great idea for a Christmas gift for teachers, neighbors, friends, bosses, coworkers and whoever else is on your list this year! Just put it in a mason jar with a big pretty red ribbon and it is stunning, easy, and delicious. The trifecta of Christmas gifts!
Now I want to hear YOUR Christmas must haves! I would love for you to leave me a comment letting me know your favorite in the comment section below. And if you want to make a batch of reindeer food with your kids make sure to hop on over to the Chex Recipe site and grab the full recipe there! For more great holiday inspiration, check out Chex on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of ChexTM. The opinions and text are all mine.
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