Extra Good Puppy Chow

What Is Puppy Chow? (Ingredients)

For those who are young or non-Midwesterners, Puppy Chow, also known as Muddy Buddies, is a snack (dessert? prized possession? Wiki calls it a “homemade candy” – lol) that is made by coating crispy cereal like Rice Chex in melted chocolate peanut butter mixture and tossing it with powdered sugar. It’s meant to be eaten by the handful, like a dessert-y version of Chex Mix.

It is one of the great Midwestern food contributions of the 80s and 90s (my roots!) and because of my strong opinions on freezing it, I’m making my case today that it’s the perfect sweet snack / fun thing that you should be making to bring joy into your life for these last few weeks of summer.

I’m calling this “Extra Good” – it only differs from the recipes on the back of the Chex boxes by having a lot more of that chocolate-peanut-butter coating, therefore making it extra thick, extra clustery, extra delish.

How To Get A Better Puppy Chow Cluster

Puppy chow is best when it’s:

• EXTRA COLD
• EXTRA CRISP
• EXTRA CHOCOLATEY
• EXTRA CLUSTERED

Let me present to you how I think puppy chow should always look:

Beautiful, chunky clusters.

The puppy chow I grew up with was more like individual pieces of cereal that were completely coated with powdered sugar. It was served room temperature and you ate it one piece at a time.

But do you know what’s even more fun? If you go for MORE chocolate and MORE peanut butter and MORE butter, you’re going to get MORE sticking-together, and that’s going to create magical little clusters. And if you make it very cold, it’s… well, it’s a thick and crispy little bite that is just super delicious.

That jumbo cluster you’re looking at in that picture is just a grown up’s version of the original. This stays true to the basics but just dials up everything good: the chocolate, the peanut butter, the butter. It gives just a little more excitement with the texture, the shape, the temperature. It makes for supremely satisfying grazing. It’s a real delight.

How To Store Puppy Chow

Absolutely store this addictive bounty in the freezer. I keep it in airtight containers (like a lidded plastic food storage container, for example) or just in a Ziplock bag.

Yes, the fridge works, the counter will even work. But the freezer is WHERE IT’S AT for an extra crispity satisfying crunch. Plus, it travels well and makes it last longer.

Puppy chow (especially out of the freezer) is the absolute perfect snack to grab for:

• cabin weekends
• road trips
• bonfire snacking
• pool days
• kids and teenagers in general (we don’t often have teenagers in our house, but recently we did and when we brought the puppy chow out, there were actual cheers and then it was pounded)
• just grabbing a cluster or five for a little cool crunchy treat after dinner