Peppermint Bark Seven-Cup Crunch

I have seen snack mixes like this for sale and I decided to try making it myself. After a bit of experimenting, I came up with this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Rice Chex
• 1 cup Corn Chex
• 1 cup Honey Nut Chex
• 1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios
• 1 cup pretzel sticks, snapped in half
• 1 cup mixed nuts
• 1 cup sunflower seeds (honey-roasted, if available)
• 1 pound (16 oz.) white chocolate (can use 1 1/2 lbs. if you prefer more)
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes
• peppermint oil (NOT extract!), to taste. 3 - 5 drops to start

Directions:

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave at 50% power or Defrost, 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time, stirring well after each time interval, until chocolate is melted. Chocolate will scorch quickly! Keep watch over the microwave or it could be disastrous. After chocolate melts, add crushed candy canes and peppermint oil and mix well. Then pour melted chocolate over dry ingredients and mix everything carefully until everything is well coated, taking care not to crush the cereal.

Spread mixture out on a big cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (sprinkle extra crushed candy canes over the top if desired) and let the chocolate set up in the refrigerator for 15 - 30 minutes. Break the big chunks up into bite-sized pieces and store in the fridge in an airtight container. Makes 7 cups of mix.

Get creative with the ingredients - use milk chocolate or different kinds of cereal, dried fruit, Teddy Grahams, etc. Just be sure the dry ingredients add up to 7 cups. Delicious!

Variation: Omit candy canes and peppermint oil from the mix. It is just as delicious without it!

By Marie from Idaho Falls, ID