I love making snacks like fried Cheerios with cinnamon sugar for our grandkids! My husband, "Papa," often picks up our youngest grandson from school, enjoying the last few months of this special time together before he can drive on his own.
Papa packs a special snack box daily, filled with a cold drink, a Snickers bar, some peanut butter crackers, and a protein bar, and I try to send something homemade as often as possible. The young man is in his "hollow-leg" years and usually has it all wolfed down before they get to the gym.
Our boy's "snack box" is a funny old lunch box that was painted silver and retrofitted with a handle from a cupboard door. The former owner scrawled the word "screws" on the side.
Papa picked it up at a flea market; we guess it once belonged to a carpenter. The crazy-looking "screw box" is a special little tradition with them now.
They're a snap to make, and it only takes five ingredients! You'll need Cheerios, butter, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon! You can knock out a batch in about five minutes.
I made a big batch because I wanted to share some with our college-age granddaughter, too. It's a good snack for her because she needs to avoid gluten. I started with six cups of the oatey little O's.
If you make a batch this size, you'll need a big pan to ensure all the cereal is coated in butter, making the cinnamon sugar stick. I used my kitchen workhorse, my big blue LeCrueset Dutch oven, a cherished gift from a generous friend.
Begin by melting six tablespoons of salted butter, then add one-half teaspoon of real vanilla. Stir well to combine. Add the cereal. Cook and stir the mixture over medium heat until the cereal gets a little bit brown and absorbs all the butter, which will help the cinnamon sugar to stick.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl or cup. Sprinkle part of the mixture over the cereal, then stir and do it again a couple of times to make sure all the little o's get their coating of cinnamon sugar.
If you want to add more cinnamon sugar, do it! If you want a little saltiness to go with your sweet, sprinkle on a little salt, tasting as you go. It's a tough assignment, I know!
This sweet and salty snack is a great alternative to popcorn because there are no hulls to worry about! It's a perfect treat for a snacker of any age. I filled a zippered freezer bag for each of the kids and labeled the treat "Mini donuts" from GB.
I happened to be at our daughter's house when our girl popped in over her lunch hour, and she began nibbling on the fried Cheerios treat immediately, nodding and giving it a thumbs up! Grandmas live for this stuff, I'm telling you!
Here's a quick and easy snack you can make in five minutes with just five ingredients! They look like tiny cinnamon sugar donuts! So cute!
If you like sweet, crunchy snacks, you'll love this Easy Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch, and if you like salty snacks, you'll dig Hot Buttered Cheerios!
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