Cookie Thursday is a Thing 12/7/23-chex mix

The December theme of the month is Holiday baking.

And the “cookie” to start the month off with is Chex mix.

I make vats of it every year. I give it out for Christmas presents. There is always a dish of it at holiday events. I make a gluten-free version for my sister and give her bags of it.

I always start gathering my supplies at different times of the year.

I ordered, yes, ordered the Chex cereal in October! 8 boxes of it. 3 family-sized each of Rice, and Corn Chex and 2 Wheat Chex boxes. I mean, have you seen cereal prices?

I also ordered the nuts and gluten-free pretzels at the same time. I like the Planters Pistachio blend with almonds, pistachios, and cashews as I don’t really care for peanuts in the Chex mix. This is where the savings really were.

Funny thing about the butter this year. Butter prices remain astronomical, especially since I insist on using more than the standard recipe calls for. When I was at Aldi, in October, I noticed that the price of their Aldi-branded Irish butter was $2 for 8 oz. This is the CHEAPEST I’ve found a pound of butter all year.

I bought them out. I spent $30 on butter and got an entire refrigerator crisper drawer full.

No regrets.

The recipe I tweaked is

1 box each of Rice Chex, Corn Chex, and Wheat Chex, if you aren’t doing gluten free
roughly 6-8 oz of nuts
roughly 2-4 cups of pretzels
any other mix-ins you want

Magic spice mixture (all spices are approximate and subject to change, depending on your mood, double down on some, less of others, it is where this recipe is REALLY customizable)
3 sticks butter
1-2 tbs garlic powder
1-2 tbs onion powder
1 tbs Lowry’s Seasoning Salt (I tend to use less because I don’t care for it being too salty)
2-3 tbs Worcestershire powder (If you have it, if not, add more Worcestershire sauce)
6-12 shakes of Worcestershire sauce

Mix the magic spice mix over medium-low heat until melted. Pour over cereals and pretzels and mix-ins.

Bake at 225 for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

Be nice to hospital personnel this time of year. In the US, insurance deductibles have been reached and people therefore think that surgery is *FREE* for the rest of the year. And the units are full because of respiratory illnesses. It is exhausting.