Is There a Healthy Recipe for Puppy Chow / Chex Muddy Buddies?

When I was teaching in the classroom, one of my students introduced me to Puppy Chow (sometimes called Muddy Buddies Chex Mix). I had never had it before and fell in love with it.

I hadn't made it in a few years when LJ came home from school asking for it a few days ago. We trotted out to the supermarket to buy Chex and got the last box. (I'm guessing there are a lot of people serving Chex Mix this holiday season!)

Once we got back home I began wondering - is there a healthy recipe for Puppy Chow?

In a word - no.

There really isn't any way to make this low calorie and still have it taste good.

However, you can make it a little less bad for you with a few easy substitutions. Here's the original recipe:

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

9 cups Chex cereal (rice or corn)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

I made a few substitutions:

• I used 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips and 1/2 dark chocolate chips. It doesn't cut any calories but dark chocolate has antioxidants and by mixing them the taste does not really change


• I used 1/2 cup Smart Balance peanut butter. It has less sugar and healthy omega-3 oils.


• I substituted Earth Balance Spread for the butter. It cuts the saturated fat quite a bit and adds in more healthy oils.


• I used Wheat Chex instead of corn or rice. They are slightly higher in calories but have much more dietary fiber in each serving.

Based on the way it is disappearing, I would say that there are no complaints from the other members of the household!

Again, there is no real way to make this a truly healthy snack, but this recipe makes it a little less naughty. If you try it, please stop back and let me know what you think.