Salty peanut butter and sweet chocolate are a match made in heaven in this Peanut Butter Trail Mix. Reese’s by themselves? The dad in me knows that it is candy and requires boundaries. But, a trail mix with dessert energy? We’re perfectly happy to snack on this all day long.
Olivia and I take our trail mix pretty seriously around here. We thoroughly test all the different combinations we can think of, to find the perfect ratio of ingredients. And, we’re very happy to share this recipe with the all the rest of them, like this popcorn trail mix.
Peanut Butter Trail Mix
I really liked this one because of the Reese’s! Chocolate and peanut butter are so good together. So, I would give it a 9.5 out of 10. I like peanut butter. I like chocolate. And, it all comes together in this nice sweet, peanut buttery goodness.
When you chew it, the first thing you get is the peanut butter from the dipped animal crackers. It just melts in your mouth. Then, the crunch from the peanuts and pretzels. And, then the mini Reese’s are so good. I love Reese’s!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Salty Crunch – We used pretzel pieces to give this mix crunch and salt.
Roasted Nuts – Obviously, we had to use peanuts in this mix. But, we also rounded them out with almonds and pistachios.
Peanut Butter – Our mix includes mini Reese’s cups and Reese’s dipped animal crackers. We broke the animal crackers into smaller pieces.
Chocolate – We added some dark chocolate chips to take the milk chocolate down a notch.
How to Make Peanut Butter Trail Mix
Prepping the Ingredients: We break the pretzels and dipped animal crackers into smaller pieces.
Combining the Ingredients: We like using our kitchen scale when measuring the ingredients into a big bowl. This saves us the trouble of having to wash the measuring cups.
Mixing and Serving: We give the ingredients a toss, then transfer to a serving bowl or airtight storage container.
Dad’s Tip
Just like with our other trail mixes, the key to a great result is balance. With this much chocolate in the recipe, it gets sweet very fast. We used pretzels and salty nuts to keep it from getting overwhelming. Usually, if the mix feels flat, or doesn’t have enough contrast, it’s because you need more salt in the mix.
Break, Don’t Cut – If you try to chop the animal crackers, you’re going to get a crumbly disaster. We got much better results breaking them by hand.
Match Sizes – Try to keep all the ingredients close to the same size, so that nothing falls to the bottom of the bowl.
Taste First – You’re going to want to sample the ingredient ratios with a test bite before measuring them into the bowl. If anything is not exactly how you want it, adapt the ingredients to taste.
Make Ahead & Storage
Make Ahead: Trail mix is basically the original meal prep. It’s perfect for mixing ahead of time, so that it’s ready to snack when you are.
Storing: Be sure to store this in an airtight container, so that nothing dries out or loses its desired texture. It keeps quite well.
More Trail Mix Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions
If this happens, chances are good that you’ve got some sizes mismatched. When the sizes differ too much, the smaller stuff trickles to the bottom.
Yes, but you’ll probably want to either add a pinch of salt or adjust the ratio of other ingredients to balance the flavors.
You definitely can! When switching ingredients, just focus on the role that ingredient plays, and swap in something with the same texture and flavor profile.
Peanut Butter Trail Mix
Ingredients
Method
- Break the animal crackers and pretzels into pieces that are roughly uniform. Then, measure the ingredients into a mixing bowl.
- Transfer the trail mix to a serving bowl or an airtight container. Enjoy!
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