Tag: chex mix

Tahini Puppy Chow + Sesame Chex® Party Mix

So we survived Passover. Eight days of gluten free, minimally processed food with no legumes, beans, seeds or bread! But most importantly, NO CEREAL.

I don’t know if the no cereal thing is harder on me or my kids. I’m a huge cereal fan – not really as a breakfast thing, but more of a “I don’t feel like eating dinner” afterthought. My kids are definitely into the cereal breakfast thing, and that was probably the hardest part about the holiday. So much so, that instead of a post Passover pizza party, we skip the lines and head to a large grocery to stock up on all sorts of cereal. Then, we go at it, one bowl after another of crunchy sweet goodness in ice cold milk. Really, is there anything better?

Well now that you ask, there kinda is. And that’s cereal coated in chocolate, butter and powdered sugar – also known as – MUDDY BUDDIES or PUPPY CHOW! Puppy chow is a seriously addictive treat, and I love to make it using one of my all time favorite cereals, corn Chex®.

The problem with making classic muddy buddies is that my son is allergic to peanut butter, and keeping sugar coated anything away from a toddler is pretty impossible. So, I opted for the next best thing – tahini! Tahini makes an amazing substitute for peanut butter, and in it’s purest form (which you can get a taste of at Tahini King in the Machane Yehudah shuk), it kinda tastes like it too. Case in point: I made this batch and my tahini-hating kids gobbled it up! But my tahini-loving sister totally got the sesame notes, and when I told her there was tahini inside, my 9 year old perked up with, “What??? This has tahini???!!!”

So yeah – this ones a crowd pleaser – kids and adults alike. Tahini lovers and haters. Plus all the gluten free and vegan people too. In a word: ALLERGY FRIENDLY party food, yayyyyyyy!


Now you can’t make puppy chow without at least thinking about party mix – that classic, fun worcestershire-laced finger snack filled with Chex® cereal, pretzels, nuts and bagel chips. Of course I never manage to make the stuff, but now that I had the tahini puppy chow on hand, I couldn’t resist putting together a sesame mix!

So, what do you add to a tahini-coated cereal mix filled with sesame? Well round sesame pretzels of course. And then those addictive cracker-coated peanuts with sesame, called kabukim. And if we’re talking sesame, you can’t leave out the most classic sesame snack – halva! Put them all together and you’ll be in sesame heaven!

Party on my friends, party on.


Related Recipes:

speculoos puppy chow
halva krembos
sweet tahini dip
halva and ricotta stuffed figs

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Speculoos Puppy Chow


It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about my (not so) little obsession with speculoos. I first made Lotus cookie cinnamon buns with speculoos cream cheese frosting and then I moved on to speculoos pancakes. As the speculoos obsession began to die down, I nearly forgot about the fantastic spiced cookies, until my brother brought me back a few samples that he got on the plane to Israel. One bite and I was transported back to speculoos heaven. So…I decided to transport you all as well, with this amazing speculoos Chex party mix that I made back during my Lotus-cookie-addiction-days.

If you’re not familiar with speculoos, it’s a spiced shortcrust biscuit, or what Lotus (a popular manufacturer of speculoos cookies) calls, “The Original Caramelized Biscuit.” Speculoos cookies have been a popular treat in Belgium for years, and are sometimes referred to as Lotus or Biscoff cookies. Their popularity reached new heights, when a few years ago, a woman won a television contest for inventing a sweet spread made from the cookies. Speculoos spread went viral, with many companies, like Trader Joes, selling their own versions.

Have you ever had Chex Muddy Buddies (also known as puppy chow)? You know, that addictive cereal snack with chocolate and peanut butter that’s covered in powdered sugar? Well, I decided to create a speculoos-flavored version, coating the cereal in toffee and dusting it in ground up Lotus cookie powder. I don’t even have to tell you that it tastes even better than it sounds, because you can practically see for yourself.

If you’re drooling over the screen wondering, “How on earth does she expect me to make these if I can’t get my hands on kosher Lotus cookies?” I’ll tell you how. Because I feel for all you speculoos-deprived people, I asked my cousin in The Netherlands to send me over some kosher-certified speculoos goodies (thanks Chaya!) and I’m going to generously share them with you in my SPECULOOS GIVEAWAY!

You will win:

1 jar speculoos cookie butter
1 package Lotus cookies
1 jar speculoos spice mix

To enter:

1. Like Busy In Brooklyn on Facebook.
2. Leave a comment letting me know your favorite BIB recipe.

Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be chosen at random at 10:00 AM EST on October 18th, 2013.


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