Cake Batter Chex Mix? Oh C'mon, You Know You Want Some!

Also known as 'puppy chow', 'cake batter buddies', 'muddy buddies', etc. Hey, I don't know why it has so many names, but it apparently does. Anyway, I made some of this earlier today, & considering that it was mostly just things that happened to be chillin' in my pantry, it was pretty dern easy.

Wanna make it? You're going to need the following things:

1 box of Corn Chex (I used the 'big' box.)
1 bag of white chocolate (You can use almond bark, but I like chocolate.)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of heavy cream (I'll be honest, I used way, way more than one tablespoon, but I blame that on the fact that I am Southern & cream is never put to use in the 'recommended' quantities.)
1 cup of powered sugar
2 cups of yellow or white cake mix (Not the batter!! The dry mix.)

Ready? Here we go:

Throw your white chocolate chips, butter, & heavy cream in a bowl. 

Pop said bowl into the microwave & do 20-30 seconds at a time. Watch carefully, because nothing is more awful than having to throw out burnt chocolate. Love the chocolate, pay attention to the chocolate. I beg of you...

When it all starts to melt together, it will happen fast. I think I threw this back in the microwave another 25 seconds & it was totally melted & ready to go.

You can also melt this down using a double boiler...but seeing as I have no double boiler in my life, I have no photos or opinions of making in it one. 

In a different bowl , throw in your Chex cereal. 

Slowly pour in your chocolate mix & stir it all like it is going out of style. You need to coat everything. I'd say to coat things evenly, but I am *so* not able to actually do that in my kitchen. Hey, I never said I was perfect...

Put your cake mix & powered sugar together in a bowl. Mixing them together so that they're  not just cake mix with powdered sugar on top is probably a good idea. I spent like...30 seconds mixing them with one another.

Know that bowl of chocolate coated Chex you've got just hanging out waiting on you to give it some love? Go get it. Dump, fold, drop, or any other version of 'add' your cake mix & sugar mixture on all that chocolate-y goodness.

I guess you could technically stir it all together, but I took the easy way out-I put it all in a Tupperware bowl, snapped a top on (tightly!), & shook it like I was at the Chex Shaking Olympics. No, I have no photos of myself shaking the Tupperware, you're just gonna have to trust me on this one.

And then.....you get this:

Store these bad boys in an air tight container, and nom whenever you're in the mood for some cake tasting goodness.

Crock Pot Sugared Pecans!

So I posted this on my Facebook yesterday, but forgot to put it here.

I made sugared pecans yesterday. Hey, I'm a girl from GA, using pecans for stuff is kinda required. More than one person asked for the recipe, so I'm going to share it with all of you.

It’s easy peasy. For the most basic crock pot version that doesn’t get all spice rack intensive:

• 1 lb pecans (or walnuts, cashews, any nut)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (I totally melt it in a cup in the microwave & dump it into the crock pot.)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (let’s be real, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar is like…not enough. This is pretty much the ‘minimum’ amount to make this work)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use more, but I kinda love cinnamon.)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (because I show up in a lot of recipes. All of you are welcome.)

Preheat your crock pot for about 15 minutes or so (on high).

Once you’re pre-heated throw in your pecans along with your butter. (Yeah, stirring the butter/pecans would probably be a good idea, since the sugar needs something to cling to.)

Add your powdered sugar, & mix the crap out of it so there is sugar on ALL the things. Cover your crock pot & let it cook on high for around 15-20 minutes.

Reduce your heat to low & keep the lid off your crock pot. Let your pecans get all crispy & junk. (Usually between 2-3 hours.) Stir this some along the way, otherwise you’re going to get some funky pecans stuck to the bottom of your crock pot. That would be a tragedy, so stir! (I usually do every 20-30 minutes or so.)

Take the nuts out & put them in a bowl. *nomnomnom*

Oh wait…I normally start nomming then, but technically you’re supposed to add in the other spices & make sure they coat evenly & let them cool before eating. I don’t wait for those bad boys to cool, I’m an adult, so I nom before I’m ‘supposed to’.

Here's what mine looked like once they were all done yesterday: