Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow

Oh Target- how do you do it?  I enter with a short list: facewash, socks, contact solution. I leave with face wash, socks, a mini Christmas tree, mini ornaments for the mini Christmas tree, a winter hat (that I'll probably never wear) and a bag a Chex Mix Peppermint Bark Muddy Buddies. And no contact solution.

I can not enter that store without dropping at least $50.  It's a disease.....a wonderful, cute accessory and unnecessary goody filled disease.

However, the latest trek did provide inspiration for my latest creation- Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow.  The muddy buddies I bought were great, but they didn't quite meet up to my expectations.  In my mind, peppermint bark should be the lovely marriage of white AND dark chocolate with the addition of peppermint.  The muddy buddies totally skipped over that dark chocolate part.

I, of course, had to correct this and make a proper peppermint bark puppy chow.

Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow

Insprired by Chex Mix

What You'll Need
6 cups Rice Chex, divided
1 cup White Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp Vegetable Shortening, divided
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips
1 tsp Peppermint Extract, divided
1 cup Powdered Sugar, divided
1/2 cup Crushed Candy Canes (I used ~15 mini canes), divided

What To Do:
1. Prepare 2 zip-top bags with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in each bag. In a medium, microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate and 1 Tbsp of shortening in 30 second increments, stirring in-between, until smooth. Once melted, stir in 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. Then fold in 3 cups of cereal, and stir to coat cereal completely. Fold in half of the crushed candy canes.

2.  Add coated chex to one pre-prepared bag of powdered sugar and shake until fully coated. Set aside.

3.  Repeat with semi-sweet chocolate, and the remaining shortening, extract, Chex, candy canes and the 2nd pre-prepared bag.  Combine both flavors in a large bowl  Stir to mix flavors together.

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