christmas gifting ~ white christmas mix

The temperature is dropping and my df girl is chomping at the bit to see some snow. So far we haven’t seen but a few flakes one morning. They sparkled on the lawn for a little while but managed to disappear while we weren’t looking.

Christmas preparations are beginning. We have lots going on with our church family and the plans are being solidified for the trip to our ‘other home’ where most of our family lives.

As we are a church plant, we are a fairly small group. I’ve tried to make a little something for each person or family the two Christmases we’ve been here. The first year, I made Christmas canvases and signs. Last year, knowing there were a few more added to our numbers, I made White Christmas Mix. I didn’t get around to sharing last year–so I figured I’d do that now. When we get closer to the holidays, it’s sometimes hard to keep up! I find that, unless you’re looking for something last minute, it doesn’t help to inspire your planning, so I wanted to share early. This year, I think I’ll make some tree slice ornaments. Our church family has been growing and I don’t want to be too overwhelmed by the task!

White Christmas Mix has been a family favourite for years. My kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on it–unless, of course, I snuck in some raisins. I like to have the chewy texture with the crunch, but they do not agree! Trust me when I tell you…make a big, big batch! It’s so delicious, so easy and so addictive!

White Christmas Mix

Like many of the things I share, this is more of a formula or guideline, rather than a recipe. If you’re worried about exact proportions there are several variations on Pinterest. You’ll find it listed as White Trash, Gorp, Puppy Chow, Reindeer Crack, among other names. Our favourite mix ingredients are:

Golden Grahams cereal
Rice Chex cereal
Peanuts
M&Ms or Smarties (the chocolate kind, not the candies, for my American friends)
Pretzels
White Chocolate (you can use melts, Baker’s or chips. I like chips best.)

Use your imagination. You can add almost any snack you like, as long as the proportions are similar. There’s no science here, just thrown-together yumminess. Choose whatever cereal you like: Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a variety of Chex (corn, rice, or even honey, as we used last time as plain was not in stock). Don’t like pretzels? Use Bugles or add another kind of cereal. As I mentioned you might like to add raisins or dried cranberries if you’d like something chewy. You could use any kind of nuts. You could use chocolate covered pretzels for more chocolatey goodness. You could add chopped candy canes for a minty addition. You could add Reece’s Pieces instead of/in addition to the M&Ms. You could drizzle dark chocolate over the whole thing when you’re done. Yum! So any options–maybe try a few different combos and see what you like best.

So, without further ado, here’s the basic formula:

10 cups cereal + 2 cups pretzels + 2-3 cup nuts + 2-3 cups candy + 4 cups white chocolate
OR
12 cups base + 4 (up to 6) cups add-ins + 4 cups white chocolate

Combine the base with the add-ins in a very large bowl or even a roasting pan.

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, microwave, or you can live on the edge like me, and take your chances melting it on low heat straight in the pot. (If you choose my risky way, be careful. If you cook it too quickly, it could burn or seize up. As soon as the chips begin to melt remove the pot from the heat and stir until it’s all melted. If you’ve read other posts, you’ll know I’m infamous for taking shortcuts that don’t always work out well for me!). You could also add a spoonful or two of oil to make it a little easier to combine.

Pour the melted chocolate over the mix and stir with a wooden spoon. Stir. Stir. And stir some more. Carefully, so as to avoid breaking all your ingredients into dust. The more you stir, the more evenly distributed the chocolate will be. If you prefer more chunky mix with delicious gobs of white chocolate, just don’t mix as much. I suppose you could put it all in a bag and shake it, but then you wouldn’t be able to scrape the mixing bowl!

I like to spread it all, fairly thinly, out on parchment-covered cookie sheets for easy clean up. Don’t let it set up in the mixing bowl. You’ll be sorry. A whole lotta extra work to break it apart. At this point you could drizzle dark chocolate over all, toss on some sprinkles, if you’d like. Let it set up at room temperature, or if you have lots of room in your fridge (that’s never a thing at my house), you can speed up the process by putting it in there.

When it is completely set, you can break it up a little and store in an airtight container. Or if you’d like to make some neighbour gifts, or package some up for giving, you can keep reading to see how I packaged them up to give to members of our church.

I divvied it up by filling some zip-lock bags with my White Christmas Mix. This will keep it fresh–but not so pretty…I put the baggies into some brown paper lunch bags, folded a paper doily over the top and added a cute tag.