Dad's Guest Post, Round 2: Cereal Mix

Hi, Caitlin here! If you've been around this place long enough you might know that my Dad, Duncan, is a frequent commenter on my posts. He even made his very own guest appearance a few months back writing about his famous mac & cheese. Today he makes his triumphant return talking about a staple of every Christmas I can remember: Our family's Cereal Mix. It's a cousin of Chex Mix, but far superior in my opinion (no, I'm not biased!), and goes particularly well with gin & tonics. And despite what he would have you believe, I swear this year's shipment never arrived. As far as you know.

While we're at it, I hadn't realized exactly how long our family has been using this recipe, which led me do a little googling. Did you know that Chex and Kix cereals were introduced in 1937, and that Cheerios came on the scene in 1941? I am amazed that they've been around that long.

Take it away, Pops!

***

 

How do you know when ‘The Holidays’ are upon you?  You know they’re coming, but when do they arrive?  Do you use the appearance of Christmas trees at Home Depot as your gauge?  If so, you probably are in the spirit in September.  How about the beginning of Christmas songs in stores?  Nope, that’s Halloween.  I’ve heard the period from mid-October to year end described as ‘Merry Thanksgivoween’ and that seems appropriate. 

Did you know that Nordstrom has a policy of NOT putting out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving?  If I could only afford to buy anything there, I would give them all my business just for that.

But, like my daughter, I digress.  When I was growing up, there was another way to tell when the holidays were upon us.  Twice a year, as those two holidays approached, this wonderful concoction called Cereal Mix showed up.  It was always this way, at least in my life, and I suppose I thought it was something everybody did.  Perhaps the Indians brought the Chex and the Pilgrims brought the cashews or maybe I thought Old St Nick fueled himself and Rudolph on Christmas Eve by munching Cereal Mix.  

I have since learned that my mother got the recipe from Aunt Sadie (really my Dad’s Aunt). Long ago, my grandmother, Sadie’s sister, told me it was called Nuts and Bolts, which sort of makes sense, but to us it will always be Cereal Mix.   My mother always made it and then my sister started when she got married.   I got tired of being on the demand side of this equation and a couple of decades ago, I joined the supply side with one batch a year.  Demand grew and I started doing a batch for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas.  It goes to friends, family, neighbors, etc and I’m wondering about a third batch.  Or maybe I should start up a factory.  The economy needs jobs, right? 

It’s a lengthy process, although not difficult, and there a danger of starting to snack on it before the job is done.  Well, not a ‘risk’ so much as a ‘practice’. There is a very real risk of losing all control and eating oneself into a coma.  I know that one of these years, I’m going to be finishing up a batch, and the following conversation will occur:

 

Ann (Caitlin's Mom): Gee, Honey, that smells great!  How’s it coming?

Me: MMmmppphh.

Ann: Wonderful!  Can I try some?

Me: NNrrpphh!

Ann:  Is this all there is?  Where’s the rest of it?  

Me: Mpphhhffrthup.

Ann: You look a little puffy.  I think you need to get back to the gym…

 

When you read the recipe and see the volumes involved, you’ll understand why going to the gym just then is not an option.  Also, she’s the one who hides it.  During the past two summers, she’d get this wicked smile on her face in July and out would come a small can of the stuff that I didn’t know existed.  

Another tradition has sprung up around the shipping of this.  We always send it to our children, who have at various times lived far away, and we ship it in coffee cans so it doesn’t get crushed.  Not the 11.5 oz, cans, the 2.5 pound cans, and its arrival is as much heralded as the arrival of Santa.  This year, we sent a can to Caitlin and Zach (the current ‘away’ team) and, 3 weeks later, it still has not arrived.  OR it arrived and disappeared.  They are beginning to suspect the mailman and eye their neighbors suspiciously.  I wonder if they suspect each other?  Oooh, that could get ugly.

I’m warning you, this is addictive, and if you already gain weight in the silly season, this will only make it worse.  But your family will love you for it and now you can determine when the holidays arrive!

Photo: Care of the author of this post, who also made the famous cereal mix you see here, and served it in this wooden bowl, which he carved himself on the lathe he bought when he retired. A true Renaissance man, my Dad is. 

 

 Cereal Mix

(or cocktail mix or nuts ‘n bolts, depending on who you ask)

½ box Kix (See notes below on cereal quantities.)

½ box Rice Chex

½ box Cheerios

½ box Wheat Chex

Almost all of 1 pound bag of pretzel sticks.  Original recipe calls for round pretzels but….

[Caitlin's note: One time my Mom bought regular pretzels instead of sticks, and we made her sleep outside for the next two years. Don't use anything except the little sticks.]

1 lb at least of cashews: try 20 oz.  There are never enough nuts.

¾ pound unsalted butter

1+ Tbsp  Worcestershire Sauce

½ tsp garlic salt

½ tsp celery salt

You can use Multigrain Chex in place of either or both Chex above. 

Mix up the dry ingredients.  The challenge is to find a container large enough: I use an old time Tupperware cake carrier and I fill it up with the dry mix so I’m probably using more than a half box of each cereal.  You’ll find the cereal boxes are not all the same size although the weights are all at about 12-14 oz.  I use about 6 cups of Kix, Cheerios, and Rice Chex and the whole box of Wheat Chex as it’s a smaller box.  It’s a lot.  You could do it with 5 cups of each and the butter mixture would still be OK.  You will have cereal left over.

Pour butter mixture over the dry mix and mix it up thoroughly.  Place in shallow pans not more that ¾ inch thick and bake for 1 hour at 210.  At the halfway point, turn whole mixture over with a spatula. Unless you have an industrial sized oven and lots of brownie pans, it will take 2 complete baking cycles to get the whole mixture done.

Let cool, and store it back in the cake carrier.  Figure out how to wash the carrier in the middle of all this.  This is a logistics issue but well worth it! 

 

Comments

[Alice]

i love your dad's guest posts so very much. and i want this cereal mix!! except i know for a fact i do not have the proper utensils at my house for making anything in this kind of quantity. i wonder if i could downsize this to "makeable in a smallish condo (where there are no giant tupperware)" quantities?

[badger reader]

Pretzel sticks are a requirement. We also agree that there are never enough cashews. I make about 3 separate batches of this between Thanksgiving and New Year. My family's version is more along the reg chex mix version (3 kinds of chex, rye chips, sesame sticks) but my boyfriend's mom does the kix/cheerio version like your dad. Yum.

[Caitlin]

Alice, you could totally do a smaller batch of it. If you have a couple of large cookie sheets or sheet pans I think those would work. Maybe cut the recipe in half. Or in thirds, if you feel confident in your math abilities when it comes to figuring out what a third of a 1/2 teaspoon is.

You could also measure out the salts together, in the regular quantities, and then just scoop out a third of that mixture, if that's easier. Honestly though, you could use half the liquid recipe on a third of the dry ingredients and the whole shebang would just be that much more delicious.

[Randall Rodgers]

I would estimate 1/3 of 1/2tsp to be a pinch. I see where you get your writing ability from! Regardless of how recipes differ, I think any cereal mix is a good sign that time with family and friends is about to happen. I've also added Penzey's Ground Chipotle to a mix before with very nice results.

[Duncan Hannah]

So THAT'S why she was sleeping out there!?!

[Sue Kachinski]

Who knew? I have the same "family" recipe (I'm Duncan's sister) and mine is a little different! However....sticks are a MUST!!
I use 4 9x13 pans to bake it...that's all that fit in my oven....and don't measure...just mix it all in 2 pans..then divide.....it works!

[Heather]

Reading through this recipe and the process reminded me of Mrs. Wheatley, the lady that took care of my brother and me when we were litte. She could BAKE. And COOK. And I remember every year at Christmas, she would make Cereal Mix in a big black-with-white-speckles roasting pan. It smelled divine. And this post made me miss her.

(She would also make the MOST.PERFECT pralines...the candy was so smooth and perfect and I don't think even the most high-tech candy thermometer would enable me to get it just right.)

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