Cornbread Puppy Chow

A sweet and buttery puppy chow snack flavored like classic cornbread.

Another holiday season, another puppy chow recipe.

Wait, that’s not the motto in your house? Because it is in ours.

You cannot be surprised! I am, after all, the puppy chow queen.

I actually have a whole list of holiday puppy chow recipes, one for pretty much every month, but instead of writing anotherrrrr cookbook (although my husband keeps telling me I should– #slowdownbuddy), I’m going to share a couple of them on the blog this week.

First up, we’ve got Thanksgiving. I’m coming for you, Christmas, on Wednesday.

I brainstormed a ton of different flavors for Thanksgiving, keeping in mind that turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes were probably not great choices for puppy chow flavors.

Gross.

I strayed a little from “normal” here and decided on cornbread. I’m not sure about traditions on your Thanksgiving table, but ours always includes my mother-in-law’s famous cornbread. It’s to die for. I’ll get the recipe up here someday (oh, but don’t worry– I’ve failed at tweaking it several times this year. Stay tuned for 2015’s version of this!).

This cornbread puppy chow is incredibly easy. You’ll use white chocolate for the coating, which is melted with just a bit of butter to give that, duh, buttery taste.

And to get the corn flavor? Cornmeal mixed with powdered sugar seals the deal and gives every little piece of cereal this sweet and savory flavor.

Plus, the cornmeal adds the texture that reminds you of the crumbly yet moist feeling you get when you bite into a piece of perfect cornbread.

To kick the corn flavor up a few notches, consider using corn Chex! I always have a family size box of the rice Chex on hand (totally normal), so I went with that. If you try the corn flavor, let me know how you like it!

I brought this cornbread puppy chow into work, not sure myself at first if I was in love with it. But every nibble I took, I realized that it was, indeed, quite a tasty little treat. And my taste testers agreed– it fits the holiday puppy chow bill for sure! 

It’s definitely nowhere near the sweet level of my cake batter puppy chow, but it’s got just enough to satisfy that dessert craving and will have you going back for more.

Try it out for yourself! It might even help get you in the holiday spirit. And remind you that Thanksgiving does exist. As much as I loveeee Christmas time, Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday and I feel bad it often gets glazed over and treated as “pre-Christmas.”

Celebrate turkey day with me, won’t you?

Print Recipe

Cornbread Puppy Chow

A sweet and buttery puppy chow snack flavored like classic cornbread.

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Servings: 5 cups

Ingredients

• 4 and 1/2 cups Rice or Corn Chex® cereal
• 1/2 cup corn meal or cornflour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 2 pieces
• 4 ounces white chocolate coarsely chopped

Instructions

• Pour the cereal into a large bowl and set aside.
• Pour the cornmeal and powdered sugar into a large zip-top bag or large container with a tight fitting lid. Shake until mixed.
• In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and white chocolate, stirring constantly until completely melted. Remove from heat.
• Immediately pour melted mixture over cereal and stir gently to coat.
• Pour cereal into prepared bag or container. Shake 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.

Use your corn meal to make Baked Taco Casserole next!