Thanksgiving is almost here! I have a fantastic trail mix recipe that is perfect for munching on while you are waiting for the turkey or during the big game. This recipe has been in my collection since my Bunco days. (Does anyone still play?) One of my Bunco buddies would set a bowl of this at each table in some adorable way. It is salty and sweet and ridiculously addicting…..not exactly healthy, but hey, it does have peanuts! 🙂
The Recipe
Here is what you need:
You will want a VERY large bowl for this. (Two smaller ones might work better.) The recipe makes a large quantity. Start off by combining your pretzels, cereal and peanuts.
Then you make your glaze. (The recipe is below.) That is poured over your pretzel, cereal and peanut mixture until it is evenly coated. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. I poured all of in in at once, and it was not terribly easy to evenly coat everything. I should have done it in batches, but you do have to work fairly quickly.
Then you pour your mixture onto two jelly roll pans and bake it at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Stir it up and bake it for another 5 minutes. Let it cool. Break it up and dump in your M&M’s.
Isn’t it gorgeous with the glaze baked on?
Sweet and Salty Trail Mix
Ingredients
- 1 one pound bag small pretzels
- 1 17 oz. box Crispix cereal
- 1 16 oz. jar lightly salted peanuts
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1/3 cup white corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 family size bag M&M's
Instructions
- In a VERY large bowl (or two smaller ones), combine pretzels, cereal and peanuts. In a small saucepan, bring brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil at a low temperature. Boil 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn.Add vanilla, baking soda and cream of tartar. Bring back to a boil. Your mixture will almost look light and fluffy. Remove from heat and pour over your pretzels, cereal and peanuts.....coating as evenly as possible. It may be necessary to do this in smaller batches.Bake on 2 jelly roll pans at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Stir and bake another 5 minutes. Cool. Break apart and mix in M&M's. This is SOOOOO good!
Now the Fun Part
I decided to have a little fun packaging my trail mix. We have a beautiful cousin in the hospital recovering from a car accident. I thought this cute turkey might make her smile. These would make a darling place card at your Thanksgiving table as well. You could just make them a little smaller and tie on a name tag.
I dug through my craft drawers and found fuzzy, colorful pipe cleaners, some bright yellow feathers and googly eyes. Score! I formed the pipe cleaners into “feathers” and used hot glue to bring everything together. I just used another small piece of pipe cleaner to attach my turkey feathers and to close up the bag. Some googly eyes and a beak cut from construction paper made it come to life. A happy turkey. 🙂
I hope he makes you smile!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone. We have so much to be thankful for. Every. Single. Day. God bless.
GB
How fun! What a clever idea. The trail mix is so addictive it SHOULD be kept in ZipLOCK bags! With real locks! 😉
Karen Carlson
Ha! Ha! Clever! Thank you. 🙂
Karen Carlson
Thanks for sharing!
Barbie
What tempature do you bake this at please?
Karen Carlson
I have not been actively blogging recently and came back to my site to check on it. I was looking at old posts and noticed your comment from LAST YEAR!!! I am extremely embarrassed, and you have probably already figured it out, but bake this at 350 degrees. Thank you so much for noticing that I had omitted that! I will update. Have a great day!