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Looking for an easy, fast treat for your Valentine? Red Hots Muddy Buddies are the perfect blend of spicy and sweet!
I’m Red Hot For You Valentine!
Oh Valentine, You Make Me Sizzle.
Valentine, You’re Spicy Sweet!
Okay, sorry. I couldn’t resist. I mean, it’s a Red Hots treat for Valentine’s Day, after all. Believe me, I had a lot more sayings. None of them entirely appropriate for a food blog, either. Ahem.
Have you seen all the muddy buddies (aka puppy chow) around blogland lately? I’ve been inspired! But, with all the inspiration, I had the hardest time coming up with a flavor to make. And then I had it: Red Hots! The ultimate Valentine candy! Well, at least, I remember them being Valentine Candy. Now, you know, they aren’t. And, I guess they aren’t very popular, because I had to go to three stores to find them. (FYI, Walmart and Walgreens carry them, in boxes, movie-theatre style.)
I’m not a huge Red Hots fan; they are too strong for me. So I wondered what would happen when I made these into muddy buddies. And I was very happy with the result!
These are so simple to make. First, you need to crush your Red Hots. I didn’t do this for my first batch and they didn’t melt very much. So, put them in a plastic bag and whack away with a glass. Just be sure to put the bag on a paper plate first – holes appear quickly and you don’t want to clean Red Hot dust out of your grout.
Then you simply melt candy melts and the red hots together with a bit of oil. Be sure to stir it often – the candy hardens quick. Spread the melted mixture over Chex mix, shake it in powdered sugar, and you’re done! Just be sure to pull out any Red Hots that didn’t melt all the way before serving – you don’t want anyone to break a tooth!
The sweetness of the vanilla candy cuts the cinnamon flavor quite a bit. You get a hint of cinnamon, and mingled with the sweetness, this is quite a tasty treat.
So you can serve it up to your Valentine and say, “I think you’re Red Hot!”
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Red Hots Muddy Buddies
Ingredients
- 4 ounces vanilla flavored almond bark or candy melts
- 3 1/2 cups Chex cereal
- 1/3 cup Red Hots crushed
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Place Chex in a large bowl. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Place powdered sugar in a large zip-top plastic bag.
- You can crush your Red Hots in a plastic bag. Place the bag on a paper plate and bash the bag with the bottom of a glass.
- Place candy melts, oil, and Red Hots in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for about 2 minutes, stirring well every 30 seconds. The Red Hots will stick to the side of the bowl so be sure to scrape it when you stir.
- Once candy has melted together (there will still be small pieces of Red Hots evident in the candy) pour it over the Chex and stir well. Pour the cereal in the plastic bag. Seal (be sure it’s sealed) and shake vigorously, to coat all the cereal with powdered sugar. Turn out onto cookie sheet and let cool. Pick out any whole Red Hots before serving. Those are too hard to chew!
Recipe Nutrition
Click here for my complete list of Valentine’s Day Recipes!
More snack ideas for your Valentine:
Sweets from Friends:
Nutella Almond Muddy Buddies by Something Swanky
Cookie Butter Muddy Buddies by Kristin’s kNook
Mocha Cappuccino Puppy Chow by Inside BrewCrew Life
when I was a kid, my favorite candy was red hots. My grandmother always had an apothecary jar full of them so we could grab handfuls when we visited her house. Love this!
I’m curious how these turned out for the rest of you because I was disappointed with what I ended up with. I started trying to crush my Red Hots on the counter and made so much noise and shook everything I moved to the floor. There I proceeded to tear through the baggie I had them in (surrounded by a newspaper), and decided to try the food processor. That made just as much if not more noise than before. I finally got to where I had had enough and went with the pieces that I had. Most of them were a quarter of the size of the original candy so I thought that would be small enough. But when they were mixed in with the chocolate and then onto the cereal, the red hot bits mostly just ended up coated on their own, not stuck to the cereal. My sister in law suggested freezing them the next time, perhaps I’ll put them in a cloth bag of some kind or maybe I’ll just stock up on cinnamon candy canes after Christmas.
Yes, I remember they were quite hard to crush! I mentioned putting them on a paper plate or something in the post, because they do rip some holes in the bag. I just whacked and whacked until they were some chunks, some crushed. It was a good workout. 🙂 Freezing might be a good trick – I’ll have to try that next time. And I love the cinnamon candy cane idea!
Hi Dorothy! I stumbled onto your blog and I am LOVING it! In fact I loved your Red Hots Muddy Buddies recipe so much that I featured it on my blog’s ” Top 15 Valentine’s Day Treats”. I am a HUGE fan of anything sweet and spicy so I was SO excited to find your recipe! I can’t wait to make it! Anyways If you’d like to check out the post you can find it here:
http://nickieslittlebubble.blogspot.com/2014/01/top-15-best-valentines-day-treats-2014.html
Happy Weekend!
I can’t wait to make these! Every V-day there is a standing order in my house for Red Hot Rice Krispie Treats, and now I can’t wait to add this to V-day recipes. Thanks!
Yay! I really, really liked this mix, way more than I thought I would!
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