Bigger Better Chex Mix

Some of us are going hiking tomorrow, so I figured a bit of chex mix would go over well on the trail. It was one of my favorite snacks as a kid and continues to be delicious because it has the perfect mix of salty and sweet. My mom always makes it in the biggest pot we own and although it should last for weeks, it mysteriously disappears far too fast.

The recipe, she said, is pretty close to the one on the box. When she finished "making a few adjustments" to the box recipe, though, not a single measure was the same. A good number of ingredients weren't either. It bears little resemblance to the sad, dry bags sold in vending machines, and it's certainly worth the changes - a little salty, a little sweet, lots of texture and lots of flavor.

Bigger Better Chex Mix

6 cups Corn Chex
6 cups Rice Chex
6 cups Wheat Chex
6 cups pretzel sticks
6 cups Kix
1 jar (16 oz) lightly salted dry roasted peanuts (not honey roasted!)

12 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Better than Beef Bouillon
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder

1 bag (about 15 oz) m&ms

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250F
2. In a giant oven-safe pot, mix together the chex, pretzels, kix and peanuts.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt together butter, worchestershire sauce, and bouillon. Add seasoned salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
4. Pour the sauce over the chex mix, stopping often to shake thoroughly. 
5. Put the chex mix into the oven and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. 
6. When fully cooled, mix in the m&ms. (Be sure that your mix is cool before adding, because otherwise you'll just have a mess of melted chocolate sticking in clumps to your chex, which is really not what you want.)