"Caramel Corn" Chex Mix

Every time I go to a San Francisco Giants game the two things that are a must are 1. getting garlic fries and a beer and 2. making a special baseball treat to take to the game. Oh and don't forget screaming loud for Buster, baby giraffe and Stamos. That's always a must. If you're a true Giants fan, you'll know exactly what I am talking about with the latter two.

For Christmas, my momma, sister and I surprised my dad with tickets to opening weekend. It was the perfect time to cheer on the Giants and to see my dad's brick. After they won the World Series back in 2010, they had a special offer to buy a personalized brick that would be placed around the park - my mom surprised him with his own brick for his 50th birthday last year. Way cool if you ask me! Nevertheless, we all met up in the city (Jeffy and the captain too!) and enjoyed a beautiful day in the bay. It was sunny, warm and although they lost, we had a great time. Here is a view from out seats!

view from the bleachers!

view from my parents weekend condo in the city! helloooo AT&T park.

Last time the captain and I had a weekend in the city and went to the Giants game, I made caramel corn. You can find the recipe here. It was pretty darn good, but it makes a lot of it. Since that was such a hit and a yummy sweet treat after the garlic fries, I thought I'd try to make a variation of it. Earlier in the week I bought a box of chocolate chex on a whim. Well, maybe it wasn't on a whim. I was starving after the gym and well, let's just say going to the store hungry is never a good idea. I snacked on about half of the box during the week and then it came to me - caramel corn chex mix! Sounds good, right? I thought so. On the back of the box there was a link to their website (who knew there were so many varieties of chex mix you could make!), and I found the perfect recipe. Caramel crispy chex. This recipe called for M&M's, but I decided to make it more caramel corny- take out the M&M's and add in peanuts. Too bad I totally forgot to put those in. Oops. At least my addition of Cheerios and pretzels made in it mix. 

The results - it was crunchy, it was sweet, and it was salty. It was the perfect baseball treat! Of course you don't have to wait to go to a ball game to make this. In fact, you shouldn't. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and everyone is sure to love it. I packed individual bags for everyone - one for mom and dad, one for Jess and Jeffy and then one for the captain and I. Everyone woofed their bag faster than I thought they would. Guess I should have packed more!

ingredients

dry ingredients mixed together

butter + brown sugar + all the bad stuff that makes it taste so good

caramel goodness

coating the dry with the wet

coat and cook in microwave for 5 minutes (stirring every minute to prevent burning)

finished and cooling!

 Caramel Corn Chex Mix (slightly adapted from chex.com)

4	cups Rice Chex cereal
4	cups Corn Chex cereal
1	cup packed brown sugar
1/2	cup butter or margarine
1/4	cup light corn syrup
1/4	teaspoon baking soda
1	cup cheerios + 1 cup salted pretzels

	1. In large microwavable bowl, place cereals and pretzels.
	2. In microwave safe bowl, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on high about 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
	3. Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 6 minutes, stirring and scraping bowl after every minute, just until cereal begins to brown. Cool 5 minutes; stir in candies. Spread on waxed paper to cool; break into bite-size pieces. Store in airtight container.

 If you remember, make sure to stir in about 1 cup of peanuts before you spread the mixture on the wax paper to cool! It's like cracker jacks, but way more addicting.