My dad grew up in a small town in Central Kansas called Ellsworth. It is a really special place for my family. My grandmother, we called her Gogo, was the first female president of the bank and my grandfather owned his own auto body shop. Hearing stories from my dad’s childhood is one of my favorites. My grandfather sadly passed away from cancer shortly before I was born but my grandmother was such a strong presence in our lives. We spent every Thanksgiving or Christmas in Kansas when I was younger and one of my most treasured memories is all the cooking we would do in her kitchen! Homemade cinnamon rolls every morning, cherry and rhubarb pies, kolaches and so many batches of chex mix.
She used to store this chex mix in a large orange canister like this and I can’t tell you how much making this recipe takes me back to her kitchen in Kansas! It fills your house with most amazing smell and you can make as much or as little as you’d like depending on your family size or plans for entertaining. I usually try to eyeball it but no matter the servings you do of the ingredients, make sure that your butter and seasoning mixture is always the same! Trust me.
Gogo’s Homemade Chex Mix Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups Corn Chex
2 cups Crispix
1 cup Wheat Chex
1 cup Pretzels
1 cup Cheezits
1 cup mixed nuts
*for the actual mix, I try to eyeball to fill a large baking sheet but you can easily double this to make a BIG batch. You could also add cheerios!
1.5 sticks of butter, melted
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
1.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp chili powder
Preheat oven to 325. Combine cereals, pretzels, cheezits and nuts in a large baking sheet.
Melt butter and mix in seasonings. Pour over baking sheet contents and toss to coat! *I usually make an extra batch of this mixture (using just one stick of butter and all seasonings) and add a little more if I feel like it needs an extra coating!
Bake for 25 minutes, stirring half way through. Our oven is strong so we are usually good after 25 minutes but you can bake for 30-35 minutes and rotate pan if needed. Let cool and enjoy!! *keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!
My kids like this but it can be a little on the spicy side (it’s very mild!) with the cayenne and chili powder. So if you want to omit those you can! Lawry’s is the big winner. This is a great football Sunday staple and my sister makes this every Thanksgiving. My Gogo passed away a couple years before Dave and I got married but I know that a lot of my love for cooking comes from her. 🙂