Bits & Bites

Does this picture immediately stir up nostalgic feelings from your youth? Can you smell the Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder? Do you remember trying to hide bags of it from your brothers? No? Just me?

When I was a kid, this snack mix – known in our house as Bits & Bites, Nuts & Bolts or Tasty Os interchangeably – was something my Mom made only at Christmas time. I remember the huge roasting pan she would bust out, plus the tub of margarine  (*gasp*), and waiting what seemed like hours until it was ready. It was always a mix of Cheerios, Cheese Nips, Shreddies, pretzels and peanuts and I was obsessed with it.

Somewhere along the way she stopped making it, and while a giant bag of Chex Mix became one of my go-to airport snacks, I never really thought about mixing it up myself.  In the last couple years though, my brother Joel has started making his own version, and it’s reignited my obsession. Last year I asked for MY OWN JAR (some things never change) and hid it away so I could take it home and eat it on Boxing Day in my PJs.

Classic Jar

This year, I finally bought all the stuff to make it, but then the boxes sat around for all of the holidays while other baking projects took over. I got my own jar from my brother once again, but that thing didn’t even make it past Boxing Day morning this year. I finally got around to making a gigantic batch last week, and I’m not even embarrassed to tell you it’s all gone.

If you’ve never experienced this joy in your life, you might be surprised to hear what it is I’m going on and on about. As I mentioned above, our house mix was Cheerios, Cheese Nips, Shreddies, pretzels and peanuts, but there are no rules to what you can include. I like it heavy on the Cheerios and Cheese Nips. My brother likes using little pretzel goldfish (but I can’t find them at my Metro) and I saw a girl on Instagram add Bugles and Hawkins Cheezies to hers. Smitten also has a version up on her blog with bagel chips and popcorn (plus brown butter and a few different spices, but I’m not ready to deviate from the classic version just yet). You’re going for 14 cups of stuff in total, but you can use whatever proportions speak to your soul.

The saucy mix that goes on top is just a mixture of melted butter (I don’t acknowledge margarine in my life), Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder. A lot of the American recipes I looked at use seasoned salt, but I don’t know what that is, and we never used it, so forget about that one. That’s it! You toss everything together and roast it for an hour, and it’s just the most delicious thing you can imagine. My brother Chris even made his own version this year, and he used his slowcooker to roast it (which is another tip I picked up in my research), and the version on the Chex website tells you to use the microwave, but I don’t endorse that.

I still have half a box of Cheerios and Shreddies in my cupboard, so I’ll be making another vat of this soon. Happy snacking!

Other childhood faves:

Bits & Bites (aka Nuts & Bolts // Chex Mix // Tasty Os)

Source: I consulted three sources (Half-Baked Harvest, Gimme Some Oven, and the Chex website) and ended up with the below measurements

Ingredients

  • 5 cups of Cheerios
  • 3 cups of Cheese Nips
  • 3 cups of Shreddies
  • 2 cups of pretzels
  • 1 cup of peanuts
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/3 cup Worchestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 250° and get out a very large roasting pan or two smaller pans (I used metal 9×13 and 8×8 baking pans).
  2. Toss all your crunchy snacks in a big bowl, or two medium size bowls.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the worchestershire sauce, garlic powder and onion powder.
  4. Pour the butter mixture over the snacks and toss until everything is evenly coated. Add to your pans.
  5. Bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, then let cool. For ultimate nostalgia, store in old peanut jars or coffee jars and try not to eat it all in one day.