Better Than T.J.’s Snacky Clusters

 

This is yet another case of the “salty loves sweet, sweet loves salty“ thing that I talked about here. Not too long ago I had been made aware of Trader Joe’s Snacky Clusters. Joe’s are rather small, and, in my opinion anyway, a bit pricey for what you get. Thinking that nothing could be easier than to make these at home, I did. The real bonus here is that you can use those broken chips at the bottom of bags to make this delicious treat. I used essentially the same ingredients as Trader Joe’s, namely, corn chips, potato chips, and pretzel bits, but I decided to go one better and also add some bits of brickle. That took these chocolaty clusters of salty deliciousness right over the top. These are easy to put together, so much so that the kids can do it. In fact, I think they would love, smashing melted chocolate, their favorite salty snack.

Better Than T.J.’s Snacky Clusters

2 c. milk chocolate chip

½ c. broken Fritos 

½ c. pretzel bites 

½ c. broken rippled potato chips 

½ c. Heath Bits of Brickle    

 Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or a Silpat).

Place milk chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds. I found it took me one minute and 30 seconds to melt them into smooth chocolate.

When chocolate has melted, stir in Fritos, potato chips, pretzel bites, and bits of  Heath Bits of Brickle. Drop onto your parchment paper, and allow a couple of hours to firm. If you’re in a rush, you can place them in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

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White Chocolate Popcorn

Quite a number of years ago when my cousin moved his wife and family across the State from St. Louis to Kansas City we missed seeing them at Christmas. It was the first time we'd not been together at the holidays in more than a decade. We'd agreed not to exchange gifts as the logistics of sending so many packages back and forth through the mail seemed daunting. But instead of sending each person a gift, Barbara (my cousin's wife) sent each family a tin of popcorn. It was a nice gesture, we all thought, as we opened up the tin and stared at it . My youngest son peered at it over my shoulder and poked it with disinterest. Popcorn. Huh. And then one of us, I don't remember which one, decided to give it a taste. "Ummmmmmm," he said. Ummmm? Well, let's all try it, shall we? And we did. My guess is that it took no longer than 15 minutes for the entire tin to be consumed. (In our defense, we're talking a cookie-size tin, and not one of those whopping big multi-gallon size tins you might get from the Popcorn Factory or some carnival supply company). Yes, it was that good. There was something about the combination of salty and sweet that had us shoveling it into our mouths so quickly that I think some of us forgot to breathe.

The next day, under the guise of thanking her for the popcorn and wishing her the best for the holiday season I weaseled the recipe out of her. It is unbelievably simple, whips up in no time, and you probably have everything in your pantry at the moment. If not, don't worry. You can substitute almonds for the pecans, you can use any type or size of pretzel, just break them up if they're the big ones. Any brand of microwave popcorn will do (As you can see I used the low-cal popcorn, and yes, I'm aware of the irony of using the 100-calorie packs and then coating them with chocolate.), just be sure (and I cannot stress this enough!) that you carefully pick through the popcorn to get all of the unpopped kernels out before coating it with the chocolate or your medley will seem as though one of the main ingredients is pea gravel -- don't ask me how I know this.

Package and label any way you see fit, but I find these clear bags that allow the recipient to see what you're giving them to be the best.

It makes a great gift, bagged up and tagged with a label, greeting, and the recipe.  The amounts of ingredients listed are really up to you and your own personal taste.  Just know that the better quality the ingredients, the tastier the end product.  I used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips because they seem to melt better for me than any other brand.  Now go get popping!

White Chocolate Popcorn Medley

(Printable Recipe)

1 12-oz. package white chocolate chips, melted

2 bags microwave popcorn

2 cups mini pretzels

1 cup pecans, toasted

Prepare popcorn according to package directions. Mix popcorn, pretzels, and nuts in a very large bowl. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave and pour over ingredients in bowl. Stir well. 

Put the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Pour melted chocolate over all and stir until mixture is well coated.

To make the mixture a bit more festive for the holidays I added a few shakes of red sugar.

This is linked to:

Tasty Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods

Hearth and Soul

Food on Friday

Fritos Brittle

I've been having fun sifting through recipes for snacks, treats, and sides to serve during the holiday season, and to perhaps bag up prettily and give as gifts. This recently caught my eye -- Fritos Brittle, an interesting taste treat served in The Chocolate Bar in Houston, TX. There are a variety of recipes, some of which include pecans, but I like this simpler version the best. We served it on some "test subjects" and it was very well received, though people were a bit hesitant when they first learned it contained corn chips.

Fritos Candy Brittle

2 cups pretzels

1 cup Fritos

12 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped and halved

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional: Some peanuts for the top

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 13×9-inch pan with parchment paper. Place pretzels in food processor and pulse to break - don't pulverize. Add Fritos to processor and break them up with pretzels. Dump into pan. Unwrap peanut butter cups and throw them in the mix. Place butter in a non-stick saucepan and melt over medium heat. When butter is melted, stir in brown sugar. Bring mixture to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Pour over Frito mixture and bake for 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over hot candy. Return to oven for 1 minute to soften chips. Spread softened chocolate chips over bars (top with chopped peanuts if desired). Cool at room temperature until you feel the pan is cool enough to be transferred to your refrigerator, and then transfer to refrigerator to set the chocolate. When chocolate is set, lift from pan and break up the candy. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate AND Fritos ...what's not to like?

PRINT RECIPE