Pink Muddy Buddies

Pink Muddy Buddies are coated in pink and white candy melts and strawberry cake mix to bring you a delicious — and festive — take on traditional Muddy Buddies.

There’s something about making festive treats for any holiday. I love making the traditional sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day, but these pink muddy buddies are just too much fun to pass up!

Why This Recipe Works

• Delicious spin on muddy buddies. I love the chocolate peanut butter combo, don’t get me wrong, but I adding a unique muddy buddy flavor is always a good idea.
• Easy to scale up. I love this recipe because it is easy to scale it up so you can make a lot to give out as gifts to friends or family. 
• Easy Valentine’s Day treat. This recipe is super easy to make! It’s perfect for those last minute Valentine’s Day treat bags, and because they’re pink in color you can use them for a baby shower too!

Ingredient Notes

• White Candy Melts: Half of the mix will be white. I prefer white candy melts over white chocolate chips because the color is much whiter and the flavor pairs well with the pink candy melts. 
• Red/Hot Pink Candy Melts: Half of the mix will be pink! I used hot pink because I wanted a really vibrant pink color.
• Strawberry Cake Mix: Muddy buddies are traditional coated in powdered sugar. Using the strawberry cake mix allows us to have a pink powdered like powdered sugar to get the two different colors. 
• Colored M&M’s: You can add these for extra chocolate and fun, but they aren’t required. You can also use Valentine’s Day sprinkles, too.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Prepare the Chex cereal. Place 2½ cups of Chex cereal in a medium sized bowl and 2 ½ cups in a separate bowl. Grab 2 Ziplock bags, place the powdered sugar in one and the strawberry cake mix in another. 

• 

• 

2. Prepare the candy melts. Melt the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl, stopping every 20-30 seconds to stir. Once melted, pour the chocolate into the two separate bowls of the Chex cereal. Mix until combined. 

• 

• 

3. Coat the Chex cereal. Transfer the white-covered Chex cereal to the powdered sugar bag. Transfer the red/pink-covered Chex cereal to the strawberry cake mix bag. Zip close both bags and shake until the cereal is fully coated.

4. Add M&Ms. Let the chocolate dry and then combine the two-colored muddy buddies and add Valentine’s colored M&M’s or sprinkles!

Recipe Tips

Shaking to coat the Rice Chex pieces in the sugar mixture is better than mixing in a large bowl to coat them. Since the Rice Chex cereal breaks easily, shaking will do a better job at keeping the cereal pieces whole. 

You can use red velvet cake mix if you aren’t a fan of strawberry cake mix.

Let the white and pink batches of muddy buddies cool/set completely before combining. If you combine too soon, some of the color may transfer to the white Chex pieces. 

You can add more powdered sugar if you’d like. I’ve found this ratio is my favorite. For me, too much powdered sugar takes away from the flavor.

If you don’t like your muddy buddies generously coated in the cake/chocolate mixture, feel free to add more Rice Chex cereal to the mix. 

You can also use mini white chocolate chips instead of red, pink or white M&Ms. 

This is a great treat to put in little bags and give out to those you love on Valentine’s Day!

Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing

Store the Valentines puppy chow in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. 

This is a perfect treat to make in advance! Make a few days before and store the strawberry Chex mix in an airtight container at room temperature. 

To freeze, store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. 

FAQs 

More Valentine’s Day Treats

• Valentine’s Day Rice Krispie Treats
• Red Velvet Cake Recipe
• Red Velvet Popcorn
• Red Velvet Macarons
• Raspberry Sorbet

Recipe adapted from Life, Love, and Sugar.