puppy chow

i'm a sleeper. a big, long sleeper. my naps take a minimum of two hours. i fall asleep no later than 11pm on a regular night. i do not get up until after 8am if i can help it. i sleep. a lot.

last night when 12am rang around and i was still wide awake, i was puzzled. by 1am i was just plain baffled- bamboozled even!

 on sunday, i opened my recipe file. i wanted something sweet and nostalgic. i thumbed over a few cakes, but they just seemed unnecessary. french maccaroons would have been torture to make, but puppy chow sounded perfect. chocolatey, buttery, and deliciously perfect.

so i made some, and last night i ate a lot of it. more than should be legally aloud, and around 2am i realized what i had done.

i was agonizing over what i would do if someone attempted to break into my apartment (you know, the usual thought process of a 1am emily) and cursing my self-induced sugar coma. hopeless and hours from sleep, i distracted myself by modifying my old recipe.

here's it:
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract
7 cups of chex cereal (i used the wheat, yum.)
2 cups  of powdered sugar

1. combine the butter, peanut butter and chocolate in a quart-size microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute or until melted. add the vanilla and stir well.
2. pour the chocolate mixture over the chex cereal, stirring until the cereal is coated evenly on all sides.
3. pour the cereal mixture into a 2-gallon resealable bag and add the powdered sugar. gently shake until well coated.
4. spread the mixture out on wax paper to cool.
5. store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

YUM.

photo via gimme some oven.