Jessica Hamby, Itty Bitty Bakers
Every day, without fail, I hear: “Mom, what do we have for a snack?” Or the neighborhood kids are over and they're asking, "Mrs. Jessica, can I have a snack?" It's usually in the afternoon on weekends or after school on weekdays when I'm the snack lady. I guess that's how I arrived at making a new Chex mix each month.
It started in October. For some reason we had candy corn in the house, and my child and the neighborhood kids saw it. In a very dramatic, Oliver Twist sort of way, they asked for some: “We're huuuunnngry! Pleeeease can we have some?” Of course, I didn't want to give them a handful of candy corn for a snack, because I knew they would be hungry again fairly quickly and—cover your ears to avoid the sound—asking for another snack. So, I decided to combine the candy corn with peanuts. I saw a box of Honey Nut Chex in my pantry and added that, thinking the flavor combo would be good. Wanting to stretch the candy corn even further, I added some mini pretzels. I put all the items in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shook it up. Then I got out snack-size Ziploc bags and portioned out some for everyone.
There was quite a bit of the mix leftover, so I dumped it into a beautiful glass jar on my kitchen countertop. My husband came home from work, tried a handful, and was in heaven. (I think he's the culprit for the candy corn being in the house in the first place!) I had to admit, the mix was good. Salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy—it was the perfect snack. However, when October ended, that was also, in my opinion, the end of the countertop Chex mix. Frankly, we were all a little sad to see it go.
My son and my husband begged me to make more, and I told them sorry, but candy corn season was over. The beautiful glass jar sat empty, and there was no longer a quick-and-easy snack for kids or adults.
I started brainstorming how I could fill the jar for with the colors and flavors of Thanksgiving for November. Reese’s Pieces (orange, brown, yellow), Bugles (which look like a cornucopia), pecans (pecan pie is a Thanksgiving dessert)—and, well, you see how a new mix was formed. It was such a hit (again!) that I thought I'd try to make a new mix each month until I had one for every month of the year. The key was keeping each mix just a mix.
Most Chex mixes require a little bit of labor. Even standard Chex mix has to be baked. But I didn't want to fool with all that. If I was going to do this every month, there had to be no measuring, no melting, no microwaving, no baking. I wanted to mix it up one time, with premade products, and be done. I started calling these my "just-mix Chex mixes."
When I began this endeavor, my goal was that each mix would be theme-based and have the following elements:
Chex cereal
Something sweet
Something salty
Something with protein or nutrients
I couldn't always make that happen, so a few months ended up being less healthy than I wanted, but still a delicious treat. If you’re tired of brainstorming snacks for your kids all.year.long., then this is for you. These mixes are great for after-school snacks, awesome for parties, perfect for weekend treats, help reduce daily snack stress, and fun for kids to help make. Whether you try one month or all 12, these mixes are guaranteed to bring more joy—and a lot less drama—to snack time.
For the complete list of monthly Chex mixes, visit ittybittybakers.com/blogpost/12-month-chex-mix-calendar.
Sweet-and-Simple Valentine’s Chex Mix
Vanilla Chex
Milk chocolate chips
Cocoa-roasted almonds
Freeze-dried raspberries