Family Cookbook- Debbee's Ooey Gooey Chex Mix

Remember when cereal snack mix only came in one flavor? That savory salty Worcestershirey crunchy mix was a staple in my family for the holidays. I'd always pick out the wheat cereal squares, or the Cheerios, because yes, we sometimes broke the recipe rules and added Cheerios in there as well. They were so good, they always soaked up the seasoned buttery sauce and turned brown and super crunchy, and don't forget the pretzels. I always crunch off the salt first before munching the pretzel. Yum.....memories.

Sooooo gooey and yummy

Then sometime later came the delightful "Muddy Buddies" or "puppy chow"- chocolate and peanut butter coated cereal shaken with confectioners' sugar to coat. So decadent and chocolaty and oddly enough, fairly nutritious with the fortified cereal and protein packed peanut butter. Lots of variations came around with different nut butters and added goodies like candies and sprinkles. Lots of fun, lots of holiday themes.

Measuring out alllll that crunchy cereal

Fast forward to the Pinterest Era where recipes evolve and take on new versions, new ingredients and new names. Oddly enough there seems to be a trend on Pinterest to nickname recipes "crack." If it tastes good it must be crack? I'm not a fan of this trend but I'm a fan of many of the recipes, like this chewy and gooey cereal snack mix recipe my daughter Debbee shared during our family baking day this past Christmas. She found it on a couple Pinterest pins called Christmas Crack but since we don't like to name our food after street drugs, we don't call it that. It's ooey gooey because it really stays a bit gooey after it cools, and it's so buttery and delicious you can't stop eating it. Plan on making more than one batch because you will be addicted!

Oooey Gooey Chex Mix

6 cup corn Chex Cereal

6 cups Golden Grahams cereal

2 cups coconut

2 cups slivered almonds

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter

Combine cereals, nuts and coconut in a large bowl.

In medium saucepan mix syrup, sugar and butter. Bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes. Allow to cool for two minutes. Pour over cereal mixture, stir to coat. Spread out on sheet pans to cool.

Store this mix in airtight containers or zip top bags. You can jazz it up a bit by drizzling the cooled mixture with melted chocolate too.