Brownie Batter Puppy Chow
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A rich chocolate take on classic puppy chow made to taste just like brownie batter.
At first glance, you might think this is your traditional puppy chow, but it’s not. Ohhh no, it’s not at all. This, my friends, is cake batter puppy chow‘s devilish counterpart.
I say devilish, because if cake batter puppy chow is the rainbows and butterflies and ultra sweet and sprinkley variety of this snack, this brownie batter version is of the rich, chocolatey, decadent, and almost slightly gooey variety.
It may not be as pretty or colorful as the cake batter version, but my oh my is it full of all the right kinds of chocolate flavor.
And of course… There are sprinkles involved. Because life is better with sprinkles– can I get an “AMEN” to that?
Let’s start from the beginning, because apparently, there are still some of you out there who don’t know what puppy chow (also referred to as Muddy Buddies) is.
And YES, this is a no bake treat– because this is, in fact, February’s installment of No Bake of The Month!
You start with Chex cereal, coat it in chocolate and peanut butter, and then shake it up with some powdered sugar.
I grew up snacking on this treat, and it blows my mind that some of you didn’t! And if you are currently very intrigued, I have a cookbook for that!
Anyway, people all over the internet (and in my cookbook!) have made all kinds of flavors based off of the original.
My book has over 20 puppy chow recipe variations, but just on the blog alone, I have:
•cake batter puppy chow
•candy cane puppy chow
•pumpkin spice puppy chow
•cornbread puppy chow
•Biscoff puppy chow
•red velvet puppy chow
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I bring you crunchy brownie batter.
You’ll start with chocolate Chex cereal, which by the way is SO GOOD. Some squares are chocolately, and other squares are just sugary.
It’s the perfect amount of chocolate for a cereal (those Cocoa Pebbles and cereals of the like make my stomach turn just thinking about them) but you’re going to throw that ALL out the window and cover every single square in melty dark chocolate.
If you don’t like dark chocolate and prefer semi-sweet, by all means use that. I just would advise against milk chocolate because you’ll lose the “brownie” flavor we’re going for here. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of sugar to make up for it!
You’ll use the entire box of chocolate Chex (the flavored boxes are smaller than the plain rice Chex).
In typical puppy chow recipes, you’ll coat your cereal and then get right to the powdered sugar. You’re going to do things a little different this time…
Before you even melt your chocolate, you’ll make a mixture of brown sugar, white sugar, and cocoa (I have used Dutch processed and traditional unsweetened cocoa here– either is fine). This sugar + cocoa powder mixture is going to act as the “batter” flavor.
A heavy dose of chocolate sprinkles, your sugar + cocoa mixture, and then a little bit of powdered sugar to seal the deal, and you’re ready to start snacking.
Watch out, guys. This snack is hard to stop eating.
It’s crazy chocolatey with just enough sweetness to make you come back for more.
The white and brown sugar create an almost sticky exterior that really mimics the thick and gooey nature of brownie batter.
And the sprinkles just add a little fun!
Whenever I bring this places, I usually bring about a handful home with me, because no one wants to be the person who takes the last little bit (unless it’s a toddler)… But trust me when I tell you, you’ll want to be that person.
Seriously, savor every last sprinkle, friends. Life is too short for leftover handfuls.
Brownie Batter Puppy Chow
Ingredients
- 1 12.8-oz box (362g) Chocolate Chex® cereal1
- ½ cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (32g) Dutch processed or unsweetened cocoa powder2
- 8 ounces (227g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- ⅔ cup (126g) chocolate sprinkles optional
- ¼ cup (30g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Pour the cereal into a large bowl and set aside.1 12.8-oz box (362g) Chocolate Chex® cereal1
- In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cocoa powder. Set aside.½ cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar, ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar, ⅓ cup (32g) Dutch processed or unsweetened cocoa powder2
- Place the chopped chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave for 20 seconds on HIGH, stir, and heat again as necessary in 20-second increments until completely melted.8 ounces (227g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate
- Immediately pour melted chocolate over cereal and stir gently to coat.
- Pour cereal into a large zip-top bag or large container with a tight-fitting lid and add the sprinkles. Shake until all of the sprinkles are evenly dispersed.⅔ cup (126g) chocolate sprinkles
- Add the sugar and cocoa mixture and shake again until everything is coated. Add the powdered sugar and shake one last time until everything is coated. Spread onto baking sheet lined with foil or parchment and allow to cool. Discard excess powder. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to one week.¼ cup (30g) powdered sugar
Notes
- Chocolate Chex®: if you can’t find chocolate, you can use 8 cups of regular Rice Chex® or other crisp rice cereal.
- Cocoa powder: you can use Dutch processed or traditional unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutch processed simply has a less bitter taste.
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Yum Yum Yum!
I have a party to go to this weekend and this is what i will be bringing! My party friends thank you in advance!
Haha, enjoy, Trisha!
Wow!!! I can see why this would be hard to stop eating! We don’t really have ‘puppy chow’ here in Australia. We do have a savoury version called ‘nuts and bolts’ that uses curry powder, but it’s not very common.
Obviously I need to rectify this situation Down Under. I’m going to find a good gf cereal that will work and then it will be raining puppy chow down here!!
Thanks Lynn, and good luck with the Kickstarter 🙂
Curry powder? Interesting… Well how about this? When you come to Philly, I’ll make you some puppy chow!! 😀 Thanks for the luck, Amy!
Sounds like a sweet deal to me 🙂
Yeah I was wondering whether this was for dogs 😛 So I clicked and figured we wouldn’t feed dogs this 😀 It looks good and super easy to do. I have some cocopops chex at home and might give it a try.
I hope you do! 🙂
Oh dear…this looks *dangerously* addictive! I’m going to have to invite people over to have an excuse to make it, because otherwise I’ll just inhale the whole thing by myself 😛
Yep, sounds about right! Haha!
Well, I’m late to the party. I’ve never made puppy chow of any sort. So I just finished a batch. It’s is yummy. But I have a question…the sprinkles didn’t stick to the cereal. Is it supposed to or is it just served with it?
Haha, welcome! Most of the sprinkles should stick to the cereal pretty nicely, but no, not all of them will.
I can’t wait to try this as my husband and grandson are allergic to peanut butter which is what most recipes call for to make puppy chow. Thank you for such a great altrnative idea
You’re so welcome, Candy!
I wanted to love these.. but save your time. There was so much waste with the ingredients. The sprinkles don’t stick at all so I ended up with a pile of sprinkles and extra sugar/cocoa powder on the wax paper that I threw away. The taste is fine.. but honestly, this had a ton of wasted ingredients.
Hi, Amanda– bummer to hear this was your experience. In the case of any puppy chow recipe, there are ingredients that won’t stick completely. No need to toss it! It just becomes part of the snack. However, in my experience, most of the sprinkles do stick, so it’s possible your chocolate was hardening too quickly.