I love a good recipe as much as the next person, but a good recipe, with a sprinkling of a good story is even better! Secret family recipes must be guarded and only shared when special occasions arise. However, some recipes find their way to you by unexpected means.

At our last ward party, there was a potluck of yummy salads, chips and desserts to go along with our grilled hot dogs. Since the kids were all down at the water or busy building their sandcastles,and I didn’t feel anyone was watching my bad example, I decided to go ahead and have my dessert first. I did not make it far down the table before I ventured a taste of an interesting Chex mixture…I had found my treat! In a large stainless steel bowl, covered by foil, was a the most delicious, caramel sticky treat I’ve had in ages…sorry, Sprinkles – this was even yummier than that last German Chocolate cupcake I recently had, although totally different in type and texture. It was one of those types of “munchies” that was hard to stop eating!

“Who made this yummy stuff and is it a secret family recipe?” I asked. Anna confessed to bringing the addicting dessert, and smiled about the secret family recipe part.  She said, “When Kent (husband) was a teenager, he worked at a dry-cleaner. He was going through suit jacket pockets when he found this recipe. It sounded good, so he copied it down, took it home and his Dad has been making it ever since.”  So, this is how I received the recipe, which I will now share with you!  Caution…this can be seriously addicting!

Sweet Chex Mix

1 – 17 oz. box of Chex cereal – I used Corn

2 cups sliced almonds

2 cups coconut

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups corn syrup 1

 Tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix Chex, almonds and coconut in a large bowl.

2. Put butter, sugar and corn syrup into a large saucepan/pot.

3. Bring to a boil; boil for 4 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat; add baking soda and vanilla and stir for 1 minute. Adding the baking soda will make it bubble up, so make sure that you use a big enough pot.

5. Pour over dry mix; stir well, coating the dry ingredients well.

6. Spread on wax paper to cool down.

One tidbit or warning:  I was out of regular corn syrup, so I used Karo Lite…don’t do that!  While the flavor was great, when I added the baking soda, it had a different consistency than when I usually make a caramel. When it started to cool, it got totally gummy…like GOO!  Upon further examination, I found the following ingredients on the list…corn syrup, water, cellulose gum, sodium hexametaphosphate, salt, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (used to protect quality), citric acid, sucralose and vanilla –  this list is a heck of a lot longer than the regular bottle, so I’m going to try it again without the “lite” attached to the label.  It was still delicious, but I’m anxious to test the difference now.