Honey Chai Snack Mix

Tonight at Lutheran Campus Ministry we are having a game night.  I love playing games, so I already have mine packed up and ready to bring along: Yahtzee, Racko, The Game of Life, and Clue.  While the games are the focus of the evening, no game night is complete with out snacks: something you can munch on while you formulate your next move in Clue or decide on your career path in The Game of Life.

While I love the classic savory Chex Mix I'm in the mood for something sweeter.  This recipe is a great way to use up the almost empty boxes of cereal in your cupboard.  I used a combination of Honey Grahams, Honey Nut Cherrios, bran flakes, and rolled oats.  If I had Chex I would definitely have used them, because Chex is a standard part of snack mixes. You can use whatever cereals you have on hand, or replace up to about 1/2 cup of the cereal with walnuts, almonds, or any nuts.  If you want to add dried fruit, I would suggest adding it to the snack mix after cooling because dried fruit tends to get even dryer and too hard to chew when baked.

Honey Chai Snack Mix
based on Chai Crunch from Pillsbury

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
6 cups cereal

Preheat oven to 300F and grease a jellyroll pan.  In a large bowl whisk together butter, honey, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and extracts.  Pour in cereal and mix until well coated.  Spread evenly in prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the cereal is deeply golden.  Pour onto a large sheet of parchment paper and spread out to cool, when cool store in an air tight container.