Snack mixes are perfect holiday food. They are easy to theme, and everybody loves a snack to nibble on. This Red Velvet Puppy Chow seemed like a worthy try. Red velvet treats are usually pretty yummy, and it was a departure from this mix I made a couple of years ago. For my mix I used a Duff Goldman Red Velvet cake mix (thank you Walmart for giving me zero choice), dark chocolate M&Ms, and mini marshmallows. I used the dark chocolate M&Ms because they were all I could find, four days ahead of Valentine's Day! I added the marshmallows for a little color variety. In the future, I would put the red velvet mix on part of the cereal and the powdered sugar on the other just so there's some contrast in the mix. I also would probably leave out the cream cheese and milk so that the mix did not have to be refrigerated. The refrigeration messed with the cereal texture a bit too much for my liking.
Brownies came next. Chocolate and Valentine's Day go together, so naturally I needed a chocolate dessert option. These Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Bars sounded fantastic. If only. I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong with this recipe. They were just super dry, and I didn't even bake them the full time. I was concerned from the get go because the batter was so thick. If you decide to give these a go, definitely add an extra egg. I did have to stray from the recipe a bit, but nothing that should have made the difference in the consistency of the bar. I could not find caramel or marshmallow bits, so instead used chopped up caramels inside, and drizzled extra caramel on the top. These would be delicious if they were more moist. The brownies at the middle of the pan hinted out how good they could possibly be.
Thank goodness for old favorites--my back up plan for V-day food gifts were my cut-out cookies and rice krispie treats.
In the end the best part of Valentine's Day is spending time with ones you love, which I did get to do.
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