Puppy Chow

Today, we made our first Christmas season treat. Every year, before I was married, we would have Erwin Baking Day at Melbo & GG's. This consisted of making lots of candies and treats that we would give to friends, family, teachers, etc. and then of course, eat during the month of December. A few recipes I remember include: million dollar fudge, divinity, buckeyes, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut patties, Texas trash, and then one of my favorites: Puppy Chow. I love it. I want to make it as soon as December starts. And I can only make it in December. I made some a different time of year one time and it just wasn't nearly as good as in December. It is also one of those really terrible treats. I mean, it is kind of messy and not super pretty so it's not always something I think is good to take to a party. But, I like to have it on hand for when I need a sweet treat. It's one of those things that you can walk by and grab a bite of without getting a fork and plate, anytime you want. The bad part is...you can walk by and grab a bite anytime without getting a fork and plate. Terrible for your waistline. Its just so delicious. And GG always taught me to look for the piece that is the most clumped up because it is the most chocolaty and tastes the best. Hmmm. Delicious!

Anyways. After I got married, I used to go nuts buying ingredients and trying to have my own personal baking days to make as much food as possible to give away and take to parties and to recreate what I grew up enjoying on our family baking days. The problem was I would get overwhelmed and end up with way more ingredients stored in the pantry and sometimes try to do way too many recipes. Last year, for the first time, I went simple. I made my favorites, attempted a new one or two and just enjoyed a little baking. The nice thing about staying home with the kiddos is that we can still do that and be stress free. Atticus loves to "cook" aka eat batter, so it is fun to bake with him.

So, today, we made Puppy Chow. Atticus keeps calling it Chex Mix or Puppy Snack, but either way he loves it too. I remember last year, giving him a bite for the first time. That was some of the first chocolate he really ever had. We already gave a bag to the neighbors and I've already found lots of clumpy chocolaty pieces. So, day one of baking has been a success!