Let’s Make Valentine Puppy Chow Snack Mix! 💖

Let’s make some fun and delicious Valentine Puppy Chow with just a few simple and inexpensive ingredients! 💖 Ours contains Blossoms Reeses PB Cups, Mother’s Puppy Love Frosted Cookies, Conversation Hearts, Cupid M&Ms, and all the fixings for the usual “Puppy Chow” snack mix!

Valentine’s Day is a special occasion celebrated in countries like South Korea, Argentina, New Mexico and of course, the United States, on February 14th, to show love, appreciation and affection to loved ones, friends, and family. 

And what better way to express love than with the sweet and delicious gift of chocolate?

If you are a Gen-Xer like Renee’ and I, you’ll remember those 80s TV commercials: You got peanut butter on my chocolate! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!

Let’s make Valentine Puppy Chow snack mix!

What is Puppy Chow Snack Mix?

This recipe is definitely not food for dogs, or any pets, in fact. 

The name came about because the powdered sugar coating on the munchable cereal-peanut-butter-chocolate mixture makes it look a bit like Purina Puppy Chow, a popular dog food from years past. 

But it’s not the same, and you should never let your animals eat sugar or chocolate. 

A piece of PLAIN Chex cereal or a teaspoon of peanut butter though, will surely make your furry friends super happy. 

Puppy Chow also has other names like Muddy Buddies, Reindeer Chow (when you use holiday mix-ins), or Monkey Munch.

We estimate that this Valentine’s Puppy Chow recipe without substitutions cost us $23, assuming having to purchase every single ingredient (instead of raiding your cupboard) and using some generic, no-name brands for things like peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and maybe even the rice cereal. It makes 16 servings, which comes to about $1.44 per serving.

About the Reese’s Blossom Top PB Cups

I had never seen these before and the only place I could find them at retail (a reseller on Amazon marked them up) was at Target for about $4 per package. One package will suffice for this recipe, as you will only need 16.

They are the usual yummy Reese’s, but with a creamy vanilla-flavored pink “top” on them. They made the usual PB cup a bit sweeter and creamy.

Can’t find them? The usual Reese’s Miniature PB cups will do just fine.

About Mother’s “Puppy Love” Frosted Cookies

The Mother’s Frosted “Puppy Love” cookies were my favorite part of this Valentine Puppy Chow. 

Remember the Circus Cookies that come in the pink and white bag? Same idea and I think the same flavor too. 

But adorable for this Valentine’s Day Puppy Chow Chex Mix Snack. I found these little cookies in the same Valentine’s section at Target as the Reese’s Blossom Top candy: A bit hidden away, about $4 per bag. 

So if your shopping list is getting a little pricey, or the frosting on these might send everyone into a sugar coma, try the Honey flavored Teddy Grahams or exchange the cookies with small pretzels.

Tips for making Valentine Puppy Chow

• You can use off-brand cereal that looks similar to a plain Chex. You can also use cereal like Crispix or Great Value Rice Squares. For something a bit different, try it with Life Cereal.
• We toned the ingredient list down on this Valentine Puppy Chow. We didn’t include nuts or pretzels (but you can add those if you can’t resist them) because the Blossom Top Reese’s Cups are a bit pricey at about $4 for a small bag of them. Don’t forget to unwrap each one before adding to the mix. 
• We made this Valentine Puppy Chow snack recipe for about $23. That sounds high, but that’s assuming you have to buy all-new jar of peanut butter, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, etc. The most expensive items were definitely the mixins: Only Target seemed to have the Mother’s Puppy Love Frosted Cookies and the Reese’s Blossom Top PB Cups. 
• You can leave out the Tiny Conversation Hearts to save a bit of money. They really make a cutesy “Be My Valentine” statement but no one in the kitchen here is really eating them. 
• While we love holiday sprinkles of every color, size and type, they just fall to the bottom of the bowl or bag of Valentine Puppy Chow mix. We learned after the last two that it looks cool for about 10 minutes, then it all disappears and it’s what’s left after everyone eats the bigger chunks.
• If you think your Valentine’s Day muddy buddies are about to cross over into sugar coma territory, you can leave out the frosted cookies and replace them with nuts or pretzels.

Supplies to gather

Tools:

• Measuring Spoons
• Measuring Cups
• Stovetop or microwave
• Large Saucepan or microwave-safe bowl
• Wooden Spoon
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Heat-safe rubber spatula/bowl scraper
• Gallon Size Zipper Bags

Ingredients: 

For the snack mix:

• Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• Creamy Peanut Butter
• Butter
• Vanilla – imitation works great
• Powdered Sugar
• Plain Chex Cereal, like Rice, Corn, or Wheat

For the mix-ins/toppings:

• Cupid M&Ms – pink, white, and red colors
• Tiny Conversation Hearts – just for fun, in case you’re sharing
• Mother’s “Puppy Love” Frosted Cookies – cute cookies in the shape of Xs & Os with doggy shapes 
• Reese’s Blossom Top Miniature Cups – they have a pink creme top that tastes like white chocolate. You’ll have to unwrap each before adding to the puppy chow snack recipe.

See below for the full recipe with measurements.

Tips for making Valentine Puppy Chow

1. Place a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add to the saucepan the chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla, and melt together, stirring until smooth. OR you can combine the above in a microwave-safe bowl and heat 45 seconds at a time, stopping to stir, and then continuing to melt at 15-second intervals until completely smooth. Note: Don’t overheat the chocolate mixture or it can burn and ruin the flavor.
2. Once the chocolate/peanut butter mixture is melted and fully combined, use a heat-safe rubber spatula and transfer into the large bowl.
3. Add all the cereal and stir gently with the large wooden spoon until cereal is fully coated.
4. Set aside the cereal mixture to cool, about five minutes. 
5. Note: You are about to divide the cooled cereal mixture between the two large zipper bags to help with tossing and coating the cereal mixture in powdered sugar. Divide the cereal mixture in half, adding each half to the large zipper bags, then add ¾ cup of powdered sugar to each bag. You should have two zipper bags in front of you with the cereal mixture and the powdered sugar in each.
6. Seal the bags tightly since you are about to shake and turn the bags, and you don’t want the contents to come flying out while shaking the bags.
7. Divide and add the toppings to the bags and gently turn, toss, and shake the bags to coat the Valentine Puppy Chow. The inside of the bag will look smeary, but it will be fully coated when you can’t see any loose powdered sugar. If you will be gifting your chow, you may want to gently transfer a cup at a time to smaller plastic gift bags and tie them off with ribbon. 
8. Transfer the Puppy Chow mixture into a large serving bowl and enjoy! 
9. Storage note: Keep this snack cool and out of direct sunlight. You can also divide these into smaller baggies for portion control or gift-giving and keep in the fridge. Move to countertop and gently massage bags before serving any leftover Valentine Puppy Chow.

The bottom line

Puppy chow is a sweet snack mix made from Chex cereal coated in melted chocolate and peanut butter, then tossed in powdered sugar. 

The snack is commonly referred to as “puppy chow” because of its resemblance to the food fed to puppies. But it’s not really a food for dogs, so just keep it for humans to eat.

It is a popular treat for holidays like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Halloween, and parties and can be easily made in large batches.

This Valentine Puppy Chow Snack has a few more surprises, like tiny “puppy love” cookies, Reese’s Blossom Top pb cups, and tiny conversation hearts!

The fun part about this type of chex snack mix is that you can add your favorites of nearly everything! 

Want nuts, pretzels, sprinkles, or anything else?

Just throw in a handful and you’re good to go!

More Valentine’s Day articles:

• These 27 Valentine’s Day Dinner Recipes Are Sure To Level-Up Your Special Night In!
• 21 Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes For Someone Special (That’s You!)
• 23 Valentine’s Day Cocktails (A Unique Way To Celebrate Love)
• 25 Great Valentine’s Day Cookie Recipes You Can Make For Your Loved Ones!
• 27 Incredibly Tempting Appetizers For Valentine’s Day
• These Are The 18 BEST Heart-Shaped Appetizers Ever!
• 32 Romantic Dinner Ideas: The Way To A Person’s Heart