Nuts and bolts are a holiday cocktail party staple, we can’t imagine the season without them. It’s fun to experiment with different flavours — sweet, spicy, curried — but we also like sticking to this classic, dressed with Worcestershire and plenty of butter. Since our ovens are usually full of cookies, flaky appetizers and other goodies over the holidays, we like turning to the slow cooker to take care of the nuts and bolts. You have to be around to stir the mixture so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the crock, but they do cook up fairly quickly (compared to other slow cooker recipes at least).
This recipe appears in our book The Family Slow Cooker (which also includes a sweet snack mix) and can be easily adapted to use up whatever cereal or crispy snacks you may have on hand. We often leave out the peanuts out for friends who may have allergies and to keep the mix school safe.
- 4 cups toasted rice cereal squares (such as Rice Chex)
- 3 cups toasted oat "O's" cereal (such as Cheerios)
- 3 cups cone-shaped crispy corn snacks (such as Bugles)
- 3 cups pretzel sticks
- 2 cups salted peanuts
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Combine cereal squares, oat cereal, corn snacks, pretzel sticks and peanuts in a 6-quart slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, celery salt, onion powder, butter and Worcestershire sauce.
- Pour the butter mixture over the cereal mix and toss until as evenly coated as possible.
- Cover and cook on high for about 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to keep the mixture at the bottom and edges of the slow cooker from burning.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
