We’ve polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, enabling us to focus on Christmas.

Our first effort is our annual batch of fancy Chex Mix, great for home snacking, visitors, and handing out in small gift bags to delivery guys.

This year, the folks at Chex have outdone themselves with Merry Grinch Mix (photo #1).

Fun for kids and adults alike, this Chex Mix is fancy enough to be given as a gift in a mason jar or other container.
 
 
RECIPE: CHEX MERRY GRINCH MIX

Ingredients For 20 Servings

 
Preparation

1. LINE 2 large rimmed cookie sheets with waxed paper. Add the cereal to a large bowl.

2. MICROWAVE 1 cup of the vanilla chips uncovered in a small microwavable bowl, on Medium (50%) for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Stir after 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.

3. DIP the pointed end of each Bugles corn snack, one at a time, into the melted chips. Coat the top two-thirds of each, allowing the excess to drip off. (If necessary, reheat mixture 5 seconds at a time as needed for dipping consistency.)

4. SPRINKLE the coated Bugles with red sugar. Place the Bugles on one of the cookie sheets in single layer; let stand about 20 minutes or until set.

[2] Rice Chex.

[3] Rice Chex (all photos courtesy General Mills).

6. POUR on top of the cereal in the bowl; stir well to coat evenly. Transfer to the remaining cookie sheet, spreading the mixture apart. Immediately sprinkle with the green nonpareils and sprinkles; let stand about 20 minutes or until set. Carefully break apart into bite-size pieces.

7. MIX the coated cereal, corn snacks, chocolate candies and heart sprinkles in large serving bowl. You’re ready to snack!
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CHEX MIX

Wheat Chex cereal was introduced in 1937 by Ralston Purina; Rice Chex (photo #2) in 1950.

The debut of Chex Party Mix followed in 1952, in an advertisement in Life Magazine. The original recipe (photo #3) included both Rice Chex and Wheat Chex, plus mixed nuts, mini pretzels and bagel chips, blended with butter, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder and onion powder. (Here’s the recipe.)

The original Chex Party Mix mix became popular as a holiday treat when purportedly, in 1955, the wife of a Ralston-Purina executive in St. Louis served it at a holiday function.

Chex Party Mix was not the pioneer; it was one of numerous “TV mixes” that were developed in the 1950s, as snacks to accompany the wide adoption of home television sets (a 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook includes a recipe for a snack mix made with Kix cereal).

In 1958 Corn Chex was introduced, and added to the recipe. In 1985, pre-packaged Chex Party Mix was introduced, so one could snack right from the bag.

Between Chex-developed recipes and consumer contributions, a vast proliferation of savory, sweet, spicy, and chocolatey recipes now exists. Here are Chex brand’s recipes and a creative array of uses.

Today, the Chex brand is owned by General Mills (source).

[1] This turkey club needs cranberry mayonnaise (photo courtesy Carnegie Deli [now closed]).

[2] Cranberry mayonnaise (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[3] Turkey-cranberry lettuce wraps with julienned Granny Smith apple (photo courtesy QVC).

Before you make that first turkey sandwich, whip up some cranberry mayonnaise.

Mix as much cranberry sauce as you like into mayonnaise. We use 50:50 because we adore cranberry sauce, but a 3:1 ratio is more popular.

Use it on burgers, too: turkey burgers, veggie burgers, beef burgers. Plus ham and other sandwiches.

You can also turn cranberry sauce into a dip for crudités. You can use straight mayonnaise, or divide it 50:50 with plain yogurt or sour cream.

Pulse the cranberry sauce until smooth, then blend it into the mayo mixture.

Here’s a recipe from Good Eggs, that uses a minimal amount of cranberry sauce, but adds flavor with lemon juice and rosemary; but first:

The history of mayonnaise.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CRANBERRY MAYONNAISE

Ingredients For 1 Cup

 
Preparation

1. MIX the lemon juice, rosemary and cranberry sauce into the mayonnaise. Finish with a pinch of black pepper to taste. That’s it!
 
 
RECIPE #2: LETTUCE WRAPS WITH TURKEY &
CRANBERRY-WALNUT MAYONNAISE

This recipe is from QVC’s chef David Venable; it adds walnuts to the cranberry mayonnaise.

You can make the cranberry mayonnaise in advance.

David advises: Choose large-leafed, pliable lettuce to make these wraps. Romaine, red leaf and escarole are all good options.

We’ve adapted this from David’s original recipe, which used 16 slices of deli turkey.
 
Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Cranberry-Walnut Mayonnaise

 
For The Lettuce Wraps

1. MAKE the mayonnaise: Whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

2. ASSEMBLE the wraps: Lay the lettuce leaves out flat on a large work surface. Carefully remove 3/4 of the hard center core with a knife. Layer 1/8 of turkey on top of each lettuce leaf and distribute all of the cranberry mayo on top of the turkey, spreading evenly.

3. LAYER 1/4 cup of baby spinach on each wrap, followed by 2-3 tablespoons or 1/8 of the julienned apple. Roll up each lettuce wrap and secure it closed with a toothpick.

Eating cookie dough is one of our guilty pleasures. Whenever we bake, we have to double the batch in order to end up with enough dough to produce two dozen cookies.

A couple of years ago, when ready-to-eat jars of cookie dough began to dot the marketplace, we tried every brand we came across. Most were made without butter, and were not up to snuff for our butter-loving palate.

But recently, we discovered another brand, Baked Cookies & Dough: the winner and champion.

Baked is a cookie shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania that sells baked cookies, warm from the oven, or ready-to-eat raw cookie dough.

The edible cookie dough is made without eggs, and uses heat-treated flour so there is zero risk of harmful bacteria in the raw dough.

The dough is all-natural: no hydrogenated oils (or any oils), no HFCS, no preservatives. Flavors include:

 
 
HOW CUSTOMERS ENJOY THE COOKIE DOUGH

First, it’s sold by the scoop: one, two or three of them (we can’t imagine eating more than one at a time).

The shop also sells baked cookie sandwiches with raw dough in the center; s’mores with cookie dough; sundaes with dessert sauce, candy toppings, whipped cream and a baked cookie; and cones with cookie dough (photo #1).

If this sounds like your dream, franchises are available.

By the way, don’t try to bake the dough into cookies. It has no eggs or leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda), so you won’t get what you hope for.

Why bake it when you can eat it with a spoon!

By the way, a few heaping spoonfuls is more than enough to eat at once. While the folks in West Chester may order a double or triple scoop, we—a mega sweets eater—can’t imagine how they get through more than one.
 
 
GET YOUR COOKIE DOUGH

The website is a bit hard to navigate, so here’s the link to online purchases.

The telephone is 610.981.1457, email hello@bakedwc.com.

A six-pack is $12.50 per 12-ounce jar, plus free shipping. You might as well order the six-or eight-pack, because compared to a smaller order which charges shipping shipping, you’ll come out ahead.

Keep some jars in the freezer for emergencies.

[2] An open jar of Brownie Batter, waiting for your spoon.

[3] Try every flavor. In fact, plan a small gathering around it.