Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
Tomorrow is a big Valentine Day competition at work. We are having the chocolate competition because it is Mardi Gras and there may be some people giving up sweets or chocolate for Lent beginning Wednesday. We will be raising money for our Employee Recognition. Since we work for Government, there is no budget to do nice things to recognize our employees so we have to raise the money ourselves to do nice things for ourselves! There are 50 of us in the office and it will cost us $1 and with so many out with the flu, it will be a big day if we raise $30. Our Employee Recognition Committee is a whiz with $$ so they will squeeze every dollar out of it!
I wanted to compete but since I nearly burned down the house Saturday night, I felt I should stay away from the stove. If your child or spouse comes in Wednesday night saying they need something to take to work or school for 50 people – this is a quick and easy item. I found the original recipe at Simply Sweet Home but I added a little something as a garnish to give it a little more chocolate pizzazz and it worked out very nicely!
Ingredients:
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
9 Cups Crispix (or Chex)
½ Cup Cream Cheese, softened
1 Cup White chocolate chips
1 ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
¾ Cup Strawberry Nesquick
Pink, Red, and white M&Ms, chocolate dusted almonds, &/or colored sugar for garnish.
Directions:
1 Melt White chocolate chips 15 seconds at a time in the microwave until it stirs smooth.
2 Add softened cream cheese until it combines well and is smooth.
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
3 2 Cups at a time, stir in cereal until well combined.
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
4 Put powdered sugar and Nesquick into Ziploc bag and mix it well.
5 Add cereal all at once, close bag and mix it up!
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
6 I put mine in a Tupperware bowl sealing with a lid and shake it up even more.
7 Set in the fridge for 2 hours and THEN add garnish or add garnish just before serving.
Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow with Dark Chocolate Accent
Done. It took about 20 minutes and makes a huge bowlful. It really DOES taste like Strawberry Cheesecake with a small drizzle of nutty chocolate!
It looks absolutely delicious! You always come up with the most clever goodies!!
Thanks Debbie – I can tell you that this tastes really great and was very easy to make!
With cream cheese in this mix, does it need to be stored in the refrigerator?
The original recipe (link above) didn’t say, but I certainly did and I’m glad too!. We are having this shindig at noon – while it is cold outside here, it is warm inside and most people’s food items are kind of melting – mine is not! I think it keeps it separated and not “gloppy” which is always a good thing. Thank you for asking the question, giving me the opportunity to say that – also, thanks for stopping by!
I’m sure it tastes great but it looks pretty too!
Thank you so much! I had to come home from work because of the snow, but I am told it is doing well in the competition!
That sounds really good – I might have to get the ingredients together.
Lillian
lillianscupboard.wordpress.com
The strawberry/chocolate combo really makes it grand!
Mmmm what a romantic delicious snack 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What a great way to put it! Yes it IS romantic! 🙂
I’m sure that if I sat down with a bowl of this, I would soon discover there was nothing left! 🙂
Yep! That’s why it all went to work this morning!
Kelli ~ I tried this at work and it was delicious! It’s great for a Valentine’s party!
I’m so glad you like it! Sorry I had to run off like that but when you’ve been hit by a semi in the snow, the snow makes you run home! 🙂
Oh man, these look sinfully good. and so pretty to boot! May have to make a batch soon. You had me at chocolate dusted almonds. 🙂
Thank you! The chocolate dusted almonds mixed with Hot Peas are the BEST SNACK EVER!! If you like the spicy peas, you have to try those two together!
I’m a sucker for anything with dark chocolate. And I bet I could use GF rice chex, too! Woot-woot!
I didn’t know they made GF Rice Chex but I bet they are fantastic! Rice Chex are my favorite anyway so how could it go wrong?
Exactly! I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂 (btw all the chex cereals now come gf)
Super Cute Valentine’s Treat!
Thank you for dropping by and for the compliment! It tastes wonderful and the chocolate dusted almonds make ALL the difference! Please come again anytime!
This would not last long in my house. My valentine is crazy about sweet snacks! I know I’ll be making this recipe soon! Pinning it 🙂
What a great post Kelli, love this!
Thank you!
Highly calorific but I can imagine the crunchiness of the rice crispies. Yum!!! 😉
Thank you Malou!!
I still love those chocolate almonds! I wish I had seen this before today and I would have made it for the staff.
Our staff loved it!
You are one honkin’ creative genius! This looks fantastic and I would sooo enjoy it. NICE! Thanks so much for sharing at Weekend Potluck.
Thank you Marsha – generally I’m just desperate to find something quick to make for whatever I have to make it for and that drives some of this stuff! 🙂
This sounds fantastic! All my favorites in one!
Thank you so much for sharing this at Wednesday Extravaganza – see you there again next week with more of your deliciousness 🙂
Thanks Jutta!
WHAT?!? This looks amazing!! I would love this!! I hope you raised a little money. I also work for the government so we get very few perks and end up doing a lot of nice things for each other, so I think this is super cool! Way to go.
Hey Maggie! Hope you and the babies are doing well – Thank you, it was great!
I’m afraid it would be dangerous to leave me alone with a bowl of this. 🙂
My work does the same thing raising money for our Christmas party since we aren’t given a budget. It makes work more fun since it lets us have some fun.
Yeah – but just enough………not TOO much fun! 🙂
Love all the fun and delicious flavors!