Sweet 'n Crunchy Mix

I'm not sure if the following treat could be classified as 'baking'. No offense to the contestant who submitted it to the Taste of Homes cooking contest. It's just that it's soooo simple. I can't believe that I didn't think of it myself. Again, no offense intended. Really. 

These are highly addictive. I made them "for the kids". And the kids loved them - and so did I. So simple, and nut free for my little kiddo with the nut allergy. 

You can tweak this to include any of your favorite cereal or munchie-type snack. I'm thinking plain goldfish crackers would be good in there...some more salt to counter-balance the sweet. The options are endless. I started with a mixture of mini pretzels, multi-grain Cheerios, Crispex, Teddy Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

The original recipes says to simply add the sugar to melted butter but I thought it would be grainy if I didn't cook it into a syrup first. So that's what I did.

The original recipe also calls for 4 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon but I thought that was overkill. Plus I only had 2 teaspoons left, which incidentally was a good thing. Pour the syrup over the cereal.

Then bake it for 20 minutes at 275 degrees F. Give it a good mix half way through.

When you first take it out, the Teddy Grahams seem soggy, but once they cool off they become crispy again. It's not rocket science for sure (no offense), but it's yummy. 

Recipe for Sweet 'n Crunchy Mix
(Source: Taste of Home- Special 2011 Collectors Edition)
2 1/2 cups Crispex (or Chex)
2 cups Mulit-grain Cheerios
1 package of honey bear shaped cookies
1 1/2 cups mini pretzels
1 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Melt butter, sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized pot. Bring to boil and let cook for about 2 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over your mixed dry ingredients and incorporate thoroughly. Spread onto a rimmed cookie sheet and bake at 275 degrees F. for 20 minutes, stirring it thoroughly halfway through cooking time. Allow to cool before digging in.