Christmas Party Mix

Looking for a gift for those people on your list that you know you should get something for, but you don't want to spend too much on? Like your postman, neighbor, or maybe just a friend that you don't see very often?

Well look no further than my Christmas Party Mix!

Its a thoughtful homemade gift that you can eat! And who doesn't like stuff to eat around the holidays? It's a pretty simple little recipe that doesn't take too long to prepare. And you can switch it up and add your favorite snacks and try different combinations too.

For mine, I had:

• No-name Cheerios (Oatie-O's)
• Shreddies
• Goldfish
• Pretzels
• Hickory Sticks
• Peanuts

I wasn't sure about the last 2 ingredients as some people are allergic to nuts and I just thought the hickory sticks might have been too much, so I left them out of the first batch but after some reconsideration, I added them to my second batch. 

For the sauce, it was:

• 2/3 to 1 cup Butter (melted)
• 4 tbs Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 tbs Garlic Salt
• 1 tbs Salt

I'm not very good at measuring so I just winged it for the sauce. So the measurements above are just approximate. You can make it sweeter by adding more sugar, or more savory by adding more salt. But I would caution that most of the snacks are already pretty salty, so be careful not to add too much salt.

      

Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients together.

Pretty easy. Open the bags and dump them into a bowl. I didn't have a big enough bowl, so I did 2 trays.

Mix well.

         

Step 2: Mix Sauce

Melt the butter and add all the other ingredients to it. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

At this point you should probably turn on your oven to about 200* F to preheat it.

Step 3: Pour Sauce over Mix

Pour the Sauce over the dry mix and stir well. There should be an even coating of the butter sauce over everything.
If your mix isn't already in a roaster, transfer it into one now.

Step 4: Bake
Put the roaster in the oven without the cover on.
Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until toasty.
Check on the mix every 15 minutes and give it a good stir each time to make sure the mix is evenly baked.

It will still be a bit sticky even after they are done baking, but will harden up to a nice crunchy snack in a few minutes after being out of the oven

Step 5: Place in Containers

As I mentioned above, the mix will still be a bit sticky after you pull it out of the oven. It won't take long before they start to set and get hard and crunchy. I found it easier to scoop it into the tins while they were still in their warm sticky stage, so I would pop it back into the oven between filling each tin. If not, the mix becomes brittle and hard to scoop without breaking the snacks.

I found these Christmas tins down to the dollar store for $1.50 each so I got 9 of them. 

I also lined the tins with some wax paper.

Tada!! A little munchy crunchy tasty gift!

I was able to get 6 full tins out of my 2 batches...plus a little left over for our table. 

Thanks for reading!