Crunchy party mix; a tasty, inexpensive, holiday
gift for friends and neighbors.
One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season was to make party mix with my Mom. My siblings and I got to choose 1 box of cereal, and dump the whole thing into the large lobster pot my mom used to bake her party mix in. The pot-still used today, is low and wide and holds a lot of cereal, pretzels, and nuts. A throw away turkey roasting pan also works great and is what I used for the following recipe.
Using my mom’s recipe, original Chex mix recipes, and a lot of tasting, I came up my version of
party mix. I modified the recipe to suit my tastes and budget; substituting
canola oil for butter, peanuts instead of fancy mixed nuts, and generic cereal
instead of Chex brand. Wheat chex are my favorite, I add more than the rice and
corn chex. The mix is salty, garlicky, and heavy on the worchershire sauce. In the past, I have added corn nuts instead of
peanuts in the past for a nut free alternative. 
Party Mix
(Yield 24 cups)
Ingredients
¾ cup canola oil
4 teaspoons garlic salt
4 tablespoons garlic powder
4 tablespoons onion powder
6 tablespoons worchershire sauce
2 cups roasted salted peanuts
2 cups mini pretzel rods
2 cups cheerios
1 14oz box of wheat chex or generic
About ¾ of a box corn and rice chex or generic
Method- Pre heat oven to 250 F. Add ¼ cup of canola oil, 2 T garlic salt, 2 T garlic powder, 2 T of onion powder, to the pan and place in the oven to warm up for 5 min.
- Remove pan from the oven. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients (cereal, nuts, pretzels) to the pan and toss gently with a wooden spoon to coat. Put back in the oven for 15 min.
- Remove pan from the oven. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients (cereal, nuts, pretzels) Pour ¼ cup of canola oil, 2 T garlic salt, 2 T garlic powder, 2 T of onion powder, over the dry goods then toss gently to coat. Put back in the oven for 15 min.
- Repeat step 3.
- Mix should bake for an hour total. Let it cool and package as desired.
I ended up with about 24 cups of mix, that I divided into 6
quart sized (4 cup) ziplock holiday design bags ( a little disappointing design
wise but practical,) and added a bow. The quart sized bag is a good
amount of mix, not too much and not too little, it makes a neat little sack
that people love to receive, especially friends traveling for the
holidays-plane and road snacks are a must!
What are your homemade holiday gift ideas?
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