Recently, two of my very dear friends Pauline and Sarah made a dangerous introduction: Archer Farms’ monster mix. This addicting snack, courtesy of Target, comes in a variety of variations, but for all practical purposes is a delicious form of trail mix.

 

 

 

 

My favorite variation is the “Peanut Butter Monster Mix” which includes peanuts, peanut butter chips, raisins, M&Ms and peanut butter covered pretzels.

The only downside of the monster mix is…well…you just go through it quickly! So while catching up at a mutual friend’s bridal shower, my girlfriends and I discussed the awesome alternative of making homemade peanut butter monster mix.

Trail mix is by far one of the easiest things to make. It’s also a great snack to customize with a few favorite snack substitutes, including some healthier options.

While on my latest trip to Target, I grabbed a few key ingredients including chocolate and peanut butter chips, raisins and peanuts.

For my version of the mix, I didn’t add the delicious peanut butter covered pretzels, which I couldn’t locate at Target (Tip: I hear you can grab a bag at Trader Joe’s). I also substituted super dark chocolate chips to replace the standard milk chocolate chips that come in the Archer Farms version. Lastly, I decided to nix the M&Ms, in an effort to reduce the second chocolate element.

I added the raisins, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips to a large mixing bowl and doubled the amount of peanuts. While I love the sweet elements, I liked the idea of minimizing the sugary components and doubling the savory.

Next it was time to give the ingredients a good thorough mix with a solid wooden spoon. And yes, I snuck a few peanut butter chips while I worked 🙂 In just a few minutes, I had a huge bowl of my new favorite snack, and boy was I ready to dig in!

However, I was reminded by the handy little individual portion packages that Target sells to portion out my mix as well, helping to minimize how quickly one might blow through a batch.

Grabbing a measuring cup and some snack-sized plastic bags, I got to work portioning out servings into the individual bags, which I sealed away and readied for the work week or snack on-the-go.

Excluding my shopping trip, the whole process took no more than 15 minutes (including clean up) and I’m so excited to grab a little package on Monday morning and enjoy it at my desk at work.

Do you have a copycat snack recipe that you like? If so, please leave a comment below.