Let Me Show You How It's Done - Part II

When I was growing up my grandparents came to our house for Christmas every year. My grandpa was a pastry chef as a youth and eventually went on to serve in the US Navy, where he continued his culinary skills.

Every year he would arrive with tupperware containers full of holiday cookies and candies he had already prepared. But as soon as he got to town he would head straight to the grocery store to pick up ingredients so that my sister and I could help him make more sugar cookies and other treats.

The first year he and I made white chocolate party mix I must have been about 13 or 14 years old. I don't remember how we made it, but I do remember two things. The first; it was delicious. The second; he let me pick what color we dyed the white chocolate. I chose yellow. Bright yellow...perfect...I was always a happy kid. I dumped the entire bottle of yellow in the melted chocolate and thought it was beautiful. My grandpa let me do it and never made a comment. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that the white chocolate party mix looked like one thing, and one thing only - peed on party mix.

So, I've learned to leave well enough alone.

The Canadian needs Christmas treats for work? Sure. No problem. I can whip up some party mix. Without the pee. 

Let me show you how it's done.

Mix up 2 or 3 cups of cheerios, 4 cups of m&m's, 3 cups of mini pretzels, and (if you live in America) a cup or so of Chex cereal, and (if you don't work with children) a cup of peanuts.

If you're gangsta like me, rig up a double boiler. Dump 3 American bags of white chocolate chips, or 5 bags of Canadian chocolate right in there.

Pour in 4 1/2 tablespoons of veggie oil. This prevents you from eating the chips right out of the pan. It's all about being proactive in my kitchen.

Dear God, we're going to be here all day.

Maybe crank up the heat to get the good stuff.

Dump it in the dry mix and stir it up.

Next, spread it all over parchment paper because they don't sell wax paper in Canada. If you're a forward thinking, proactive, slightly gangsta person like myself you should go ahead and tape the paper to the counter. 

Let it cool until you can break it into solid pieces. Like this.

Put it in the biggest bowl your pantry contains and prepare to steal the show when you serve it.