The Best No-Bake Dessert

The ingredients I used to make puppy chow: rice Chex cereal, chocolate bark and powdered sugar. (photo: Nikki Dulay)

I know the title of this blog implies that it’s a baking blog. But to me, baking just means desserts. And dessert is just any sugary goodness. So I find this next recipe completely appropriate for this blog.

Sometimes we need to whip up a quick dessert for a party or potluck. Other times we just want dessert but don’t have the energy to actually turn on the oven. Puppy chow is the perfect solution to these problems.

And no, this is not some kind of dog food. (It actually has a lot of chocolate in it, so you definitely shouldn’t feed it to your dog.)

This is the best no-bake dessert for amateurs since it only requires three ingredients and less than 30 minutes. It’s like the deliciousness of a baked dessert but not as time consuming and less energy.

Puppy Chow Recipe

• 1 box of rice or corn Chex cereal
• 1 package of chocolate bark (plain or vanilla)
• 1 package of powdered sugar

Instructions

Find a container that you can put a lid over. I used two big mixing bowls that were about the same size. You can also use a brownie pan with a cover, a disposable baking pan with a cover or even just a gallon sized plastic bag.

Pour the entire box of Chex cereal into the container you use.

Pour the melted chocolate over the Chex cereal. (photo: Nikki Dulay)

Melt the chocolate bark in the microwave or by using the double boiler method. Click here to read in-depth instructions on how to melt chocolate properly.

If you like a chocolate and peanut butter combination, you can also add a scoop of peanut butter to melt into the chocolate.

The Chex cereal after it’s been mixed with the melted chocolate. (photo: Nikki Dulay)

Once the chocolate is completely melted, pour all of it on top of the Chex cereal.

Put the lid or cover over your container and shake the container like it’s an arm workout. You want to try and coat every Chex piece in chocolate.

After a few minutes, take the cover off and see if everything mixed together. If there are a few naked Chex pieces, you can just use a spatula or spoon to mix the pieces with chocolate.

Pour as much powdered sugar as you like on top of the chocolate-Chex mixture. (photo: Nikki Dulay)

When all of the Chex pieces are covered in chocolate, pour the powdered sugar on top of the mixture. There’s no exact amount you need. Pour as much as you like. You can always add more if there’s not enough.

Again, put the lid or cover over your container and shake it like crazy so that the Chex pieces are covered in both chocolate and powdered sugar. Use a spatula or spoon to help mix everything if the shaking doesn’t completely cover all of the Chex pieces.

Helpful Hint: If you’re using a plastic bag, watch out for holes! There is nothing more disastrous than powdered sugar and melted chocolate flying all over the place in the middle of shaking.

This is how the finished puppy chow dessert should look. (photo: Nikki Dulay)

Once everything is mixed together, the puppy chow is done and ready to snack on! Keep the puppy chow in a Tupperware container so it stays fresh.

Puppy chow is my favorite no-bake dessert. To me, it tastes just as delicious as a fresh chocolate chip cookie.

What tasty no-bake dessert recipes do you love to make? Share your recipes with me in the comments below!