Birthday Cake Puppy Chow

Birthday Cake Puppy Chow

The best treat for yourself, snack to supply at a party and the most versatile when it comes to celebrating with a theme. This basic birthday cake puppy chow recipe is perfect for anything and everything…but with St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon, the Lucky Charms really give it a holiday kick.

Growing up, I had a classmate that would always bring the classic puppy chow to school as a treat. It was SO DANG GOOD I could sit and eat the entire batch. Seriously though, so many people AVOID making puppy chow or chex mix because it’s so easy to find yourself eating mindlessly. This Birthday Cake Puppy Chow is one you don’t have to feel guilty about snacking on with 8.6 grams of protein and only 177 calories per serving, a little extra isn’t going to totally blow your macros.

The best part? Set some back for you to enjoy and share the rest. No one is going to know it’s a healthier version of the high calorie traditional version.

What Do You Need To Make Birthday Cake Puppy Chow?

Rice Chex Cereal – it seems kind of obvious, but as you’ll find out in the next section, I’ve made this with a few different kinds of cereal. Can you imagine a puppy chow made with Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast Crunch.I think I have my next recipe idea.

Nut Butter â€“ For this recipe, I used American Dream Nut Butter, Bundle Up Blondie. It was amazing and perfect for the birthday cake theme, but now American Dream has St. Patrick’s Day butters.

Chocolate – I opted for a cleaner version of chocolate using Lily’s White Chocolate. I even splurged for the birthday cake flavor, but any white chocolate chips will do!

Confectioners Sugar – Sugar is where the calories (and carbs) really add up. I used the Swerve brand confectioners sugar to keep calories low. I believe Spenda, Anthony’s and Truvia have versions, too. Of course, if you don’t like the stevia blends, you can opt for a monk fruit powdered sugar.

Protein Powder – Here’s the game changer. I’m a Clean Simple Eats or PEScience Protein user for LIFE, but for this particular one I had Optimum Nutrition Birthday Cake flavor to use and with the sprinkles mixed in, it really was delicious! My go-tos are always Clean Simple Eats Vanilla or PEScience Snickerdoodle and Cake Pop.

Sprinkles & Toppings – Remember those Lucky Charms marshmallows you bought for the Shamrock Shake a few weeks ago? Time to break those out and make this birthday cake puppy chow a festive one! If you can’t find the marshmallows, grab festive sprinkles, M&Ms or any mix in of your choice.

What Substitutions Can Be Made?

Oh boy! I love this question, because honestly the opportunities are endless. As you can tell by the list of ingredients I’m pretty passionate about the modify & go philosophy. This recipe came about just by recreating an old classic with Chex, Lily’s chocolate chips, Just Plain Nutty American Dream Butter, Swerve Confectioners Sugar & Brownie Batter Protein Powder. That’s a true classic healthy puppy chow. Over time, it’s evolved with holidays and seasons.

Looking for a fall theme? Grab basic almond, cinnamon bun or pumpkin spice butter and mix it with pumpkin flavored chocolate chips and snickerdoodle or pumpkin protein powder. You may also love our petite pecan maple muffins!

Coffee Lover? Add in chocolate covered espresso beans, coffee flavored M&M, use the espresso flavored chocolate chips & top with snickerdoodle or chocolate protein. I even used oatmeal squares on this one instead of regular chex mix!

Cereal fanatic? I’ve made a fruity pebble puppy chow and it might top the charts with the cereal mix in, frosty pebble American Dream Nut Butter & Funfetti chocolate chips. But what about the other cereal flavors?! Or this could easily be made into an Easter themed puppy chow creation with malted-milk ball egg candies or jelly beans.

Feeling tropical? Add in a little coconut flakes, white chocolate chips and coconut flavored protein and you can find me eating this treat right next to the ocean. Actually, I believe Lily’s Chocolate has a Dark Chocolate Coconut flavor.

But what about Golden Grahams with marshmallows like s’mores? Peppermint in the winter? Or even a shamrock shake with mint and chocolate oh man! The wheels are turning. Honestly you can’t go wrong just use a basic flavor! The opportunities are endless by just using birthday cake puppy chow as a base.

How Do You Make & Store Birthday Cake Puppy Chow?

It really is simple! Start by adding your cereal into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl (or sauce pan) melt down the nut butter and chocolate. You can use the microwave and put the bowl in for 30-second increments or in a small saucepan on the stovetop, whichever works best for you!

While melting down your chocolate and nut butter, combine in a separate bowl the protein powder and confectioners sugar. Set aside.

After the chocolate and nut butter mixture is melted, pour over top of the cereal. Quickly, but gently toss them together until the cereal is well coated and top with your protein powder & confectioner sugar. Lay the entire batch out on parchment paper or tin foil and top with sprinkles, marshmallows or M&M’s! Whatever your heart desires!

How Do You Track It?

This recipe makes about 10 servings with about 40 grams per serving. It’s up to you how much you eat, of course, but one serving of birthday cake puppy chow can be tracked as 23.3 g carbs / 7.2 g fat / 8.6 g protein. This is all uploaded into MyFitnessPal under Morgan Eats Macros Birthday Cake Puppy Chow.

Share With Friends!

…or don’t! Enjoy this birthday cake puppy chow for every occasion, it’s so easy to customize, I can’t wait to hear how yours turn out! Be sure to tag @MorganEatsMacros_ & @HaleyNicoleFit in your puppy chow creations. Lastly, I have to know. Do you call it puppy chow or muddy buddies? Obviously, for this Iowa Girl, it’s puppy chow!

XOXO

-Coach Morgan
@MorganEatsMacros_

Are you ready to make the Birthday Cake Puppy Chow? Here’s the recipe: