Recipe: Vegan Puppy Chow

Who can resist the pull of puppy chow? Nobody (well, except for my friend who doesn’t like Chex. More chow for me!) I make this for most parties and gatherings because it’s quick to whip up and always gets devoured. It’s vegan and can also be made gluten-free if you use gluten-free Chex.

I’ve also made it while babysitting – it’s a recipe that’s really kid-friendly and there’s lots of ways they can help out, even if it might get a little messy. That’s part of the fun, right?

Ingredients

• 9 cups Rice/Corn Chex or Crispix
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips (Enjoy Life is a good choice if you can’t find any in your trusty bulk bins)
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup Earth Balance buttery sticks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups vegan powdered sugar
• 1 gallon size Ziploc bag

Directions

Pour the cereal into a large bowl, big enough that you’ll be able to toss around the cereal freely.

Put the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and buttery sticks into a microwave-safe bowl and nuke for about 1 minute. You could also melt these on the stove. Add in the vanilla when melted and stir. Drizzle half the melted mixture over the cereal and toss around with a spoon, then mix the rest of the melted chocolate in. Keep flipping the cereal until the melted chocolate has coated everything well.

Take 2 cups of powdered sugar and pour into a Ziploc bag. I find the vegan powdered sugar I buy has a bad tendency to clump together, so if you run into this problem as well, sift it first before putting into the bag.

Spoon the cereal into the bag and shake it up! Make sure the bag is well sealed; we’ve had a couple accidents and I wouldn’t want you to have one, too. Shake the bag from several different angles to make sure the powdered sugar is coating it all. You might want to add some extra powdered sugar on top and shake that in, too, if you’re finding it’s not coating near the top of the bag.

Pour puppy chow into clean bowl and let set to room temperature. Who am I kidding, you won’t be able to resist for that long.