Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Muddy Buddies are the perfect answer to the age-old question What kind of muddy buddies should I give my kids with nut allergies? Okay, maybe not age-old, but still important since nut allergies are typically pretty serious. And since we just landed in the ER last week with our first accidental nut ingestion, I love treats like this even more. Because I’m pretty sure no one likes rushing to the hospital with a sick kiddo. {Two of my older kids developed food allergies this year! This is a whole new world for me since it doesn’t run in our family. Tips and advice are WELCOME in the comments!}
When I wanted to make Muddy Buddies the other day, I realized they were on the bad list because they are traditionally made with peanut butter. I started thinking of all the things I usually sub for peanut butter…cashew butter, almond butter, occasionally Nutella…all of which are a no-go.
A day or two later, out of nowhere, COOKIE butter popped into my head! Perfect. So I tried Cookie Butter Muddy Buddies with a little pumpkin spice and extra chocolate thrown in, and life was suddenly a little sweeter. I haven’t made peanut butter muddy buddies with the pumpkin spice, but in my brain it’s amazing, so try that if you don’t have cookie butter!
Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Muddy Buddies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup cookie butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 9 cups Chex cereal (I used corn, but rice is great too)
- 1 1/2 cups box brownie mix
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Directions:
- Add chocolate chips, cookie butter and butter to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 minute and stir. Heat for another 30 seconds, if necessary, until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla.
- Place cereal in a large bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture evenly over the cereal, gently stirring until evenly coated.
- Combine the brownie mix and pumpkin pie spice, set aside. Divide in half.
- Add half of the cereal mixture to a gallon-size zip top plastic bag. Add the spiced brownie mix and shake until well coated. Spread on a silicone mate to cool (parchment or wax paper work as well).
- Repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Notes:
- I prefer the Trader Joe’s cookie butter to the Lotus cookie butter. They are very similar and either will work great, but TJ’s just tastes better to me. And it’s cheaper (at least where I live). Winning!
- I happened to have some leftover brownie mix from another recipe I was working on, so I used that instead of powdered sugar. It’s good both ways…we’ve tried!
- If you have a 2-gallon size bag, you can coat the cereal all at once. I never have that size on-hand, so I always just divide in half and repeat.
