People are passionate about cereal snack mixes. For our annual Desperation Holiday Recipe Contest, we asked readers to share their favorite "customized" party nibbles. And did they ever! After munching our way through a variety of recipes, the most important thing we learned is: You can do practically anything to a bowl of cereal and nuts and it will taste fantastic.
That's probably why this recipe has stood the test of time -- and evolved. Google "Chex Mix recipes" and more than 103,000 entries pop up. The Chex.com website includes 70 recipes, not counting variations.
"Probably the most unusual party mix we've seen contained wasabi peas and chow mein noodles," said Cheri Olerud, food editor in charge of Chex cereals for the General Mills test kitchens. "But there are thousands of recipes with different names and one or two different things about each one. That's the beauty of it -- you can make it your own."
The party mix phenomenon started more than 50 years ago, when the wife of a Ralston Purina executive (her name is unknown, Olerud says) brought a cereal mix to a holiday gathering. In 1953 the original recipe for "Party Mix" appeared on the side panel of a box of Wheat Chex, owned by Ralston Purina at the time. Since then, home cooks have added everything from chocolate to chili powder in search of the perfect party snack.
Picking our Desperation winners was difficult, and we're grateful to all who shared. For today's column, we settled on two recipes, one savory and one sweet.
Today's sweet sensation comes from Nancy Neel of Little Rock, Ark., who glazes a mix of pecans, pretzels and cereal with brown sugar and butter. While we got several variations on this theme, Nancy has added a little something extra -- a sprinkle of hot pepper -- and wow!
Amy Brown of Leawood, Kan., adapted the "original" Chex Mix she'd been making since the 1970s after she developed high blood pressure and her husband suffered a heart attack.
"Instead of butter or margarine, I now use light olive oil and unsalted nuts," Amy said. "The seasoning salt, usually omitted in my recipes, is a concession to holiday eating. Our family wouldn't think it was Christmas without this sitting on the counter for nibbling!"
