Peanut Butter Chocolate "Muddy Buddies"

For my friend's birthday, I found a recipe on Pinterest for Butterbeer Muddy Buddies, a perfect snack for/from a fellow book worm. The recipe called for (so I only bought) one bag of butterscotch chips. And of course I screwed up the sauce. After another 15 seconds in the microwave, it managed to turn from almost perfect to resembling cat food. What have I learned from baking? Try again! 

Being able to improvise is an important skill to have as a baker, so I have learned. What do you do when you're running out of time or supplies? You quickly find a solution which will work well enough. So after my butterscotch sauce catastrophe, I dug out some peanut butter chips (sorry peanut butter pie, you'll have to wait), and started over.

Basically, I continued to follow the recipe, altering things as I went. For instance, the recipe called for the use of toffee bits-which I had on hand, but I didn't think it would go as well-so I substituted that with chocolate chips, resulting in the flavor being peanut butter chocolate. 

I had also originally purchased some gold sprinkles, because the recipe called for lightning bolt sprinkles-close enough. When I read this I thought hey, you probably created this recipe just because you had lightning bolt sprinkles. I doubt you can pick up lightning bolt sprinkles at any store. But hey, if you've got 'em, take advantage of 'em. Anyway, I added these sprinkles in anyway because they still went well with my new plan.

I'm glad that I decided to make these around this time of year. This type of snack is not too hard to make and is great for any gift. But more than that, it's perfect for road trips. And because it's summer time, everyone is going on road trips left and right. Snacks will need to be in plentiful supply.

For the gift, I simply put some in a mason jar. Then, I used a cloth piece instead of the round layer for the lid, and tied on a decorated label.

This could also be a great dish to bring to a summer barbecue or pool party, as something for people to shove in their mouths in between jumps into the pool, or to chow down on as the meat cooks.

This recipe was fun, and is also a great base for other flavor ideas-tell me yours down below! Enjoy :) Until next time...

Peanut Butter Chocolate "Muddy Buddies"

Ingredients

• 8 cups of rice chex cereal
• 1 bag of peanut butter chips
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups of powdered sugar
• As many chocolate chips and/or sprinkles as desired

Directions

1. Transport all of the cereal into a gallon sized bag.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, put in butter, vanilla, and butterscotch chips.
3. Melt on 50% power for thirty seconds, then take out and stir.
4. Continue to melt on 50% power for 15 seconds at a time. You should do this 3-4 times, before it is close to perfect. 5-10 more seconds may be needed before it is perfectly smooth. Be careful and don't overshoot!
5. Pour sauce into bag and shake to cover all of your cereal, before laying it out on a sheet to cool and harden for about 20 minutes.
6. Put the cereal into a clean bag, pour in powdered sugar, and shake to cover.
7. Add in any chips or sprinkles which you desire, and shake them around to spread it all out.
8. Serve and enjoy;)