Valentine’s Day Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddies)

Love is in The Air

Valentine’s Day is all about spreading a bit of love to those around you, from friends to partners to family members, and what better way to share the love than with a sweet snack to share? Especially a snack that’s made at home by you especially for those you love most? This year I’ve made a big batch of Valentines Day puppy chow to share. It reminds me of school Valentine’s Day parties from when I was younger, bringing out a nostalgia for the holiday that makes me wish I had little Valentine’s Day cards to pass out to my friends in little homemade mailboxes.

This treat is a perfect combination of sweet, salty, and crunchy and is relatively customizable for whoever you’re making it for. For the grown-ups in your life, use a darker chocolate in the mix. To appeal to the kids, add an extra scoop of M&M’s for a colorful pop. A cup of this Valentine’s Day puppy chow would be so cute packaged into individual bags. Share the bags with your friends and family for Valentine’s Day with a pink ribbon tied across the top!

Valentines Day Puppy Chow Recipe Tips and Tricks

When you make these Valentine’s muddy buddies, here are a few tips to make sure they’re delicious:

• When picking a chocolate, pick a type of chocolate you would like best on its own or in a chocolate chip cookie.  I like a slightly darker chocolate to balance out the sweetness of the peanut butter and powdered sugar.
• Similar to the chocolate, opt for the peanut butter you would shop for otherwise. My only recommendation would be to go for a brand that doesn’t have too much oil separation. It will melt into the chocolate easier and you’ll have a less greasy end product.
• If you want your coated puppy chow to cool faster, spread the mixture onto a large tray rather than leave it in the bowl. It will be cool enough in about 5 minutes to add the powdered sugar.

Puppy Chow Recipe Details

This Valentine’s Day muddy buddies recipe boils down to two essential steps: melt and then mix. For the melting step, you’ll melt chocolate, peanut butter, and unsalted butter in a glass measuring cup. Go for an option that has a spout if you can, just to make it easier to pour out once it’s melted. To melt the chocolate mix, add everything to the bowl of your choice and warm it in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Give it a good stir between each each time, as the residual heat from the glass will help it melt even faster.  Once everything is melted together, set the bowl aside for a moment to get your dry ingredients ready.

In a large mixing bowl, at the Crispix or Chex cereal, the mini pretzels, unsalted roasted peanuts, and the Valentine’s Day mix of M&M’s. Give them a quick shake or stir for an initial mix. Slowly pour half of the melted chocolate mix over the cereal. Stir it to give every piece of the dry mix with a little bit of chocolate. Pour the second half of the chocolate mixture over the top and stir it again to give every piece a full coating of the chocolate. Let it sit in the bowl for about 10 minutes in the bowl until the mixture is at room temperature. Alternatively, you can spread the mixture onto a large tray to speed up the cooling process.

Once the puppy chow is at room temperature, you can start sprinkling in the powdered sugar. Start with a quarter cup at a time, sprinkling the sugar over the top and mixing it between each time. The first couple scoops will almost dissolve into the mixture. As you layer it on you’ll start to get the coating of sugar that you expect to see in a classic bowl of puppy chow.

Store the puppy chow at room temperature in an airtight container for up to one week. Serve in bowls or divide into goody bags to hand out to your loved ones!

I hope you love this Valentine’s puppy chow as much as I do! Enjoy a big bowl with all of your loved ones this Valentine’s Day.