Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local
The last weeks before Christmas are here, and the air is filled with sweet anticipation — and sweet everything. Forget visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, we’ve got plenty of other holiday treats to dream of!
Gingerbread men, chocolate crinkles, monster cookies; peppernuts, decorated sugar cookie cut-outs, snickerdoodles. Chocolate-covered this and that and the other thing. Candy canes, peanut brittle, and hot chocolate…does the list of possibilities have an end?
Now I’ll admit, Christmas baking in the Miller household has been extremely lacking so far this year. We are not a big desserts family — we, as in Brian and me; our poor children would love to be — and we struggle to finish up a batch of anything, especially baked things like cakes, cookies, or crisps. (Dairy-based desserts such as ice cream, custard, and pudding are the exception, and chocolate goes without saying.)
So we’re not actually feeling the absence of all these holiday sweets; it just seems unfestive to not be working on a stockpile of such goodies. I like to make Christmas cookie plates for the neighbors, but that’s going to be a bit more difficult this year since I haven’t baked a single cookie!
There’s still time, I know. I also know that we will be driving to Ohio for a quick Christmas trip, and I’m sure my mom has been hard at work making the classics, so our cookie deprivation is only temporary. In addition, since my kitchen time this week will be devoted as much as possible to a Christmas party I’m catering, I would need a sudden surge of motivation (and time) to get many cookies done…which is unlikely when it doesn’t seem necessary to add more sugary things to life at this point anyway.
That said, I did have more motivation to bake up some crunchy and munchy things that are sweet and salty. Although not traditional Christmas baking per se, Chex mixes are very popular during the holiday season; I thought if I do get around to cookie plates, the addition of something not quite so buttery and sugary would be a pleasant counterbalance. If cookies don’t happen, a bag of snack mix is always a nice little gift to share, too.
And in the meantime, I can snack on it.
I felt my enthusiasm wane slightly when I researched the history of Chex mix. Wheat Chex was created in 1937, followed respectively in the ‘50s by Rice Chex, a recipe for Chex party mix, and Corn Chex. That’s all fine of course; the mildly disconcerting part being that the creator of these cereals was the Ralston-Purina brand. If you read that and think, huh, Purina sounds like the pet food brand, well, you’re right. The “chex” name even comes from the red-and-white checkerboard on Purina’s labeling, which I think is still a step of improvement considering the cereal was originally called Shredded Ralston.
The more you think about those brown Wheat Chex squares in comparison to dog food kibble, the more uncomfortable it gets. I suggest you simply pocket that information away as holiday party trivia, and then continue happily munching on your Chex party mix.
That, or stick to your cookies, while I gladly finish off the Chex.
Brown Butter Honey Mustard Chex Mix
THE party mix recipe is on the back of all the Chex boxes, and of course it’s a classic for good reasons. But I wanted something a little more unique, without having too strong of flavors that would be off-putting gifted next to a snickerdoodle (goodbye, dill pickle and ranch flavor mixes). There are tons of good ideas out there, but when I saw a honey mustard version, I knew that was the right idea. I tweaked it to fit what I wanted, and I’ll admit it was very hard to stop snacking on it while I bagged it up.
Prep tips: the base mix is endlessly customizable, so throw in what you want: wheat thins, cheez-its, bugles, other nuts, etc.
12 oz [8 c] total of Chex cereals of choice: wheat, corn, rice
2 oz plain Cheerios
4 oz pretzels
4 oz cashews
4 oz butter
4 oz honey
3 oz dijon mustard
1 T dry mustard powder
½ – 1 t salt
Mix the Chexes, Cheerios, pretzels, and cashews in a large bowl; set aside. Lightly brown the butter in a steel skillet, then whisk in the honey, mustard, dry mustard, and salt. Pour this over the mixed Chex. Transfer to two rimmed baking sheets, and bake at 275° for about 45 minutes, stirring a few times.
