Julie Clark
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Easter Bunny Bait
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Your kids will love helping make this Easter Bunny Bait! Easter Muddy Buddies chex mix is made festive with spring M&M candies.
Spring is here and it’s all about Easter!!! I love when the Easter candy hits the shelf. All of the pretty pastel colors catch my eye every time. I’m not much of a jelly bean person, but give me allllll of the chocolate peanut butter Easter candy.
When I see colored M&M candies, my mind always runs to muddy buddies. Since you all loved our Cupid Chow and Christmas reindeer food, we thought we’d give you an Easter bunny bait idea to catch that silly rabbit!
Easter Bunny Bait
Now I know Easter isn’t about the Easter bunny. Don’t send me hate mail. We celebrate the Easter season as the time when Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and raised again to life, conquering sin and death forever. THAT is the most important thing not only about Easter, but about our whole lives.
But we also allow ourselves to have a little fun with the Easter bunny. We’ve always done Easter baskets or a small gift for the kids for Easter, but they’ve never really believed in the “Easter Bunny”. If your kids do, you can have some fun with this Easter Bunny Bait. Try to trap that bunny…or at least feed him a snack while he’s at your house!
Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies?
How did this crazy snack get its name? Muddy Buddies is the official name used by General Mills cereal. The “Puppy Chow” is a little more complicated but so intriguing. You can read the story here, but it does have ties to dog food! General Mills are said to have created the recipe in 2002. And in 2011 was when you could buy it prepackaged.
We 100% believe that homemade is always best.
Is puppy chow a midwest thing?
Yeah…that’s where it became popular, for sure. And I’d say if the midwest is known for its Puppy Chow, that’s not a bad thing. Go to almost any party in the heartland of the United States and you’ll find a bowl of muddy buddies!
How to Make Muddy Buddies
Muddy Buddies {or Puppy Chow} is one of my snacks, but you know what? I hardly ever make it. I mooch off everyone else when they make it. When I do decide to make it myself, I’m always amazed at how easy it is.
It’s dangerously easy, really.
Here’s how to do it:
- Melt chocolate and peanut butter together in a microwave safe bowl. Make sure you melt the chocolate slowly. It will scorch if you overheat it. 30 second intervals, then as it gets more melty, 10 or 15 second intervals in the microwave should do the trick.
- Add the chex cereal to the chocolate. We like to use rice chex, but you can use corn or wheat chex cereal if you’d like!
- Mix to coat the cereal.
- Get a large zippered bag and put the powdered sugar in it. Add the chocolate coated cereal.
- Seal the bag closed and shake to coat the cereal. This is what you should end up with:
- After this, we like to spread the mix on a lined baking sheet so that the mixture can “set” and dry.
- Lastly, add the colored M&Ms. You can add anything you’d like, really. Add peanuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, pretzels or another favorite candy of yours.
Does puppy chow need to be refrigerated?
If you’re keeping puppy chow for any length of time, you’ll want to seal it well (squeezing all the air out of the bag) and refrigerate or freeze it. (And it’s actually AMAZING when eaten cold.)
Puppy chow is ok left at room temperature for 1-2 days.
Can you freeze puppy chow?
Yes! Freeze in an airtight container. When you are ready to defrost it, be sure to allow it to come to room temperature completely before opening the bag for maximum freshness.
Other Easter Recipes
- Easter Chick Cupcakes
- Easter Bunny Cupcakes
- Italian Easter Bread Rolls
- Empty Tomb Rolls
- Traditional Easter Dinner
Easter Bunny Bait
Your kids will love helping make this Easter Bunny Bait! Easter Muddy Buddies chex mix is made festive with spring M&M candies.
Servings 15
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Ingredients
- 7 cups chex cereal
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar (if you don't want as thick a coating of powdered sugar you can cut it back to 1 ½ cups)
- 2 cups spring colored M&Ms
Instructions
- In a large microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter for 30 seconds and then stir. Continue microwaving in 15 second increments, stirring after each time, until chocolate is completely melted.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Gently fold in chex cereal being careful not to break up the pieces until it's evenly coated.
- Add powdered sugar to a large zip top bag and then add cereal mixture. Seal the bag and shake well until each piece is evenly covered with powdered sugar.
- Transfer chow back to a clean bowl and fold in M&Ms.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
The calories shown are based on the recipe serving 15, with 1 serving being 1/15 of the recipe. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 258mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 490IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 9.5mg
