A month or so ago I was at Walmart with my sister and I got really excited because they had Candy Corn! Candy Corn was not something which I had readily available to me when I was over in the UK.
It just did not exist there at all. Candy Corn and Halloween are synonymous! One just goes with the other. That and Candy Pumpkins, which I have not seen here yet, but I do know they have it in America.
Anyways, I got really excited about it and I picked up a container of it with great plans in mind to do something tasty for Halloween on here.
Well you know how those kinds of plans go!! Before I knew it, we were a week before Halloween and I had done nothing with it. Zip! Nada! Zilch!
My daughter and son in law are going away to visit some friends for the weekend for Halloween. I thought I would make them something to take with them. A hostess gift of sorts.
It is not often they get to go away and so this is a really special occasion for them. I spied this snack mix on Six Sisters Stuff. White Chocolate Monster Munch.
Of all the Monster Munch recipes out there it appealed to me the most, plus I had pretty much everything I needed to make it. Having what you need to make something is the most important thing when it comes to choosing what to make!
I had to switch out a few things, but I will explain what I did and give you some examples of what you can use in the UK that would be quite similar.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE WHITE CHOCOLATE MONSTER MUNCH
There is nothing too complicated here. Simple things. It looks like quite a list, but trust me, it is a simple list, and there is nothing too out of the ordinary.
This is the North American list of ingredients:
- Candy corn
- M & M's
- Chex type of cereal (Cripex works well in Canada)
- Cheerios (She suggested honey nut, but I used multi-grain)
- Salted roasted peanuts
- Pretzels (I used small twists)
- White chocolate
- Canola oil
Here is the UK or European list of ingredients with things swapped out for what you can access over there.
- Dolly Mixture candies (Nothing is actually cooked so they are the right size, colors, and will work perfectly, The Children will love them!)
- M & M's chocolate candies
- Shreddies cereal or mini wheats
- Cheerios (She suggested honey nut, but I used multi-grain)
- Salted roasted peanuts
- Pretzels (I used small twists)
- White chocolate buttons
- Canola oil
Dolly Mixtures are a type of candy mix that is found in the UK. It is composed of small nougat types of candy, very similar to Candy corn, as well as little sugared jellies.
Candy Corn is a nougat type of candy which is small and shaped like corn kernels.
As you can see from the above photograph they are roughly the same size, and the colors totally work here. You don't have to use the jellies. You can easily remove them, but I think they add extra interest!
Chex is a type of corn/rice cereal that is shaped like little puffy pillows. Other than Bugles, there is no cereal in the UK exactly like it.
But I do think either Shreddies or mini wheats would work well and actually would get some fiber into the children, and be somewhat healthy! Just don't use the sugar coated ones.
There's plenty enough sugar in this mix!
HOW TO MAKE WHITE CHOCOLATE MONSTER MUNCH
This is so simple to make. You merely mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl to combine. The white chocolate chips are melted together with the canola oil in the microwave.
In my microwave this took about a minute and a half. I checked it every 30 seconds and gave it a good stir. That way it melted smooth and did not over cook.
Over-cooked white chocolate will seize and there is no coming back from that. So do be careful.
Once everything is mixed and melted, you just pour the white chocolate over top of the cereal/candy mix and toss everything together until it is evenly coated.
The best way, as with most things, to do this is with your hands. That way you can really get in there. Your hands are probably one of the best kitchen tools going!
I use my hands for all sorts. I have never minded getting my hands dirty. I know some people can't stand it.
Once you get everything mixed well together and evenly, just spread it all out onto a couple of baking sheets. I like to line them with some parchment paper first.
And that's it. Your White Chocolate Monster Munch is done. You just need to leave it to set for about an hour or so.
Once it has set you can break it up into clumps and its ready to put into snack sized bags for school Halloween Party handouts (I would not use Peanuts if I was sending it to school), snacks for the kiddos or into a large bag to give as a hostess gift.
This really is a snack for children, although I will admit it is incredibly tasty. As an adult, I quite enjoyed the cereal and the pretzel bits.
Even the chocolate M & M bits. The Candy Corn was really sweet, but there is enough savory going on with the cereal and pretzels to cut that and make it not as cloying.
Were I a child however, I would just gobble this up. Its bright. Its colorful.
Its a bit savory, a bit salty and a bit sweet.
In short, quite delicious. Oh, and then there is the crunchy element, which I quite love about any kind of snack. Combine that with chocolate and I am all in.
If you want to make a quick, easy and delicious snack for your children or grandchildren this Halloween, this really is one to consider! I think (personally) you could even get away with half the white chocolate mixture.
It wouldn't clump together as much, but there would be less sugar as well. And when it comes to snack foods, quite often less actually is more!
White Chocolate Monster Munch
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 3 Mininactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 18 M
Ingredients
- 1 cup (5 ounces) pretzels
- 2 ½ cups (75g)Cheerios
- 2 ½ cups (75g) basket type of cereal (Chex, Crispex, Shreddies)
- 1 cup (145g) salted roasted peanuts
- 1 cups (200g) M & M's chocolate candies
- 1 cup (200g)Candy Corn candy
- 2 cups (320g) white chocolate chips
- 1 ½ TBS vegetable oil
Instructions
- Measure all of your dry ingredients into a large bowl and toss together to mix.
- Measure the white chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Stir in the canola oil.
- Microwave on high at 30 second intervals, stirring after each time, until melted and smooth. (Mine took approximately 1 1/2 minutes.)
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture over top of the dry ingredients, tossing everything together to coat the dry ingredients evenly with the chocolate. The best way to do this is to use your hands.
- Spread out on a couple of lined baking sheets and allow to set before breaking into chunks.
- Store in an airtight container.
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