Sandra Lee's Snack Mix...Fun Treats

During the summer snacks are very much in demand, however we try not to use the oven on hot days.  (We do not have central air conditioning.)  So over the years, I have had to come up with a few special treats that do not involve baking of any kind.  This snack has quickly become one of our favorites.  It is a snack mix recipe that I found in one of my favorite magazines, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.   

The recipe calls for a huge bowl of crunchy snack items like Crispix cereal, Cheerios, pretzels, peanuts and golden raisins are a nice surprise in this recipe.   My board of ingredients is lost...so I will be forced to make it again and take a new picture of all the ingredients.  The kids are pretty happy about that.

Step one, put everything in a big bowl.   You might want to half the recipe or put the ingredients in two bowls so there is enough room in the bowl for mixing.

Next in is the melted vanilla flavored candy coating.  A whole recipe calls for two pounds of candy coating.  I melted the first package in the microwave poured it over the snack mix and mix it in right away.   

This is what it looked like after the first pound of candy coating.

The second pound of candy coating looks much better.  If you waited to mix both packages of candy coating into the snack mix together, then the first pound of coating would start to harden and you would not get a nice even layer like you have here. 

Now for the fun part.  Adding a little personality to the treat is a really great way to make this treat perfect for so many occasions.  I made this batch for the 4th of July.  I have used orange and black sugar for Halloween, pink and red for Valentine's Day, red and green for Christmas, orange and yellow for Thanksgiving and all sorts of colors for various parties throughout the year.  This snack is not just for the kids either.  I brought this along to a 4th of July party and the adults were as happy with it as the kids.  The sweet/salty combination along with the crunch is just fantastic.  I love this recipe. 

First add one color of sugar and mix it into the snack mix. 

Then add the second color of sugar and give it all a good mix.

The color is not super bright, but it just adds a fun touch to the snack.  I love fun food.

Then you need to let the candy coating dry.  Divide the snack mix up and spread it out.  You will need to break it apart after it dries so spread it as thinly as you can.  I divided a whole batch up into two jelly roll pans as well as leaving some spread out in the bottom of the mixing bowl.  

When the coating had dried and we had broken up the large chucks, we measured out one cup servings and put them in folding sandwich bags.  Zip lock bags would have worked, but they are more expensive. 

I tied the bags shut with red, white and blue ribbons and piled it all up in this awesome bowl.  I think it was the perfect {easy} treat for the weekend. 

Last year I had a more Americana theme for the 4th of July and I tied the treat bags with twine and red and blue ribbon.  I loved the way it looked.  I took an old cookie tin from Christmas and used a little scrap book paper and some stamps to make a cute little container to hold all the treat bags. This snack mix is so versatile.  It is only limited by your imagination.  Happy snacking!

For the original recipe from Sandra Lee click here.