Christmas Chex Mix

Every December (for the past 6 or 7 years) Andy and I host a Christmas Cookie Party for all our friends, meaning we get to bake all our favorite Christmas cookies, and our friends come help us eat them all! It's a win-win situation. Last year I found a recipe in Food Network Magazine for a holiday Chex Mix, and it reminded me of a mix my Aunt Cindy used to make for holidays. I thought I'd give it a try. Little did I know the power of this mix. At our party people posted up around the big bowl on our coffee table and spooned in scoop after scoop. It's sweet, a bit savory, and incredibly addictive. This year for the party I almost forgot about the mix, since it doesn't fall within my usual cookie category, but several friends mentioned it before the party so I knew I needed to find this recipe again and try to not disappoint their expectations. All you need to know is this mix takes about 15, maybe 20 minutes to make, and is so yummy and always a hit. It also makes for a good gift in treat bags for coworkers or friends. You can also vary based on taste.

What's in it
1 box Chex cereal (I prefer the rice or the kinds with all three mixed together)
1 jar (smaller one, not big one) Nutella or other chocolate nut spread (TJ's has a chocolate almond spread)
1 stick butter
1 to 2 cups confectioners sugar
red and green M&M's
optional:
colored sprinkles
chocolate covered peanuts
yogurt covered raisins
any other tasty bit you think would be good in the mix

How it's made
In a large microwave safe bowl melt Nutella and butter at 50% power until you can easily stir to mix together. Stir in Chex cereal to coat with chocolate mixture. If you think you have too much chocolate mix, you can add in peanuts as well, or another nut, and coat with chocolate. Transfer mix to large ziplock bag (may need to do in two batches). Add confectioners sugar to bag and shake to coat (I add in increments). Transfer to a large bowl and add M&M's and any other additions, and toss to combine. Enjoy!

Note: you can also sub Peanut Butter for the Nutella, and coat peanuts with the chocolate/PB mixture as well.