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If you crave a peanut butter and chocolate snack with less calories, these Skinny Muddy Buddies are your new best friend! They taste just as good as the muddy buddies you remember, without the guilt.
I feel like you are never too old for your favorite sweet treats! I grew up eating muddy buddies and they were always one of my favorite snacks. If you are in the mood for some nostalgic childhood treats, you’ll love this simple no bake cookies recipe (or these peanut butter versions) and these no bake oreo balls.
Skinny Muddy Buddies
Do you guys remember making muddy buddies as a kid? I remember the first time I had it I was absolutely hooked. I could eat an entire batch by myself! And back then it was easier to get away with. Now days, when I binge like that I definitely feel it more. I was missing this treat and really wanted a version that wouldn’t give me a sugar rush.
Enter skinny muddy buddies! They are lower calorie and have way less sugar, and they are just as good as the original! They are coated in a sugar free pudding powder instead of powdered sugar. It’s amazing!! If you don’t mind the extra sugar though, you should definitely try these cookies and cream muddy buddies and these snickerdoodle muddy buddies.
Ingredients
The key to these skinny muddy buddies is choosing ingredients with less sugar. There are some delicious and healthier substitutions that you will be amazed with! The flavor of these muddy buddies is so delicious it’s hard to believe they have hardly any sugar! You can find the measurements below in the recipe card.
- Rice Chex Cereal: This is the base of the whole treat. You could use wheat chex if you were looking to get a little more nutrients!
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter: This helps the peanut butter and chocolate melt together into a creamy delicious ganache.
- Peanut Butter Creamy All Natural: I like to use a nice natural peanut butter because it has less of the bad stuff and all of the same delicious flavor!
- Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix: This is the coolest part of this recipe. You will use the pudding mix just like you use powdered sugar in the traditional recipe. It works exactly the same and because it’s sugar free, it’s just as sweet with way less calories.
- Sugar Free Chocolate Chips: This is also a key to cutting calories. Sugar free chocolate chips taste amazing and make a great coating for the cereal.
- Powdered Sugar: This is an optional ingredient because the pudding mix works like the powdered sugar. You can add just a little bit to get the same flavor that you love in traditional muddy buddies if you want!
Skinny Muddy Buddy Recipe
Skinny muddy buddies is a great recipe to make with kids because it’s super simple and a great way to build confidence in the kitchen. This recipe doesn’t require using the stove and it will only take 35 minutes. Cleaning up is really easy and at the end you have a delicious treat to enjoy together.
- Make Ganache: Add the I can’t believe it’s not butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips to a bowl and melt in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring between.
- Add to Cereal: Add the Chex to a large bowl and pour the melted chocolate mixture over top. Mix until all the cereal is evenly coated. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
- Add Powder: After the mixture has mostly hardened, pour it into a large ziplock bag and add the box of pudding mix and shake gently. If desired, also add the 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar at this time. Let the muddy buddies chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.
Tips for Making Skinny Muddy Buddies
This skinny muddy buddies recipe is really simple. I don’t think you’ll have many questions when you go to whip up this delicious dessert, but I do have some tips when you are looking for ingredients and other choices you have.
- Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix: This is the perfect substitute for powdered sugar! The flavor is delicious and it gives the same texture as the powdered sugar would. If you wanted to use something else instead, you could try Stevia in the Raw! It doesn’t give it the same color but the flavor is perfect.
- Using a Bag to Mix: After you put the ganache on the cereal, I like to put the pudding mix into a bag. You could also use a large bowl with a lid, but you want to make sure it’s a big enough bowl for the cereal to have lots of room to move around. I think a bag is the best way to get the cereal completely coated.
- Variations to Skinny Muddy Buddies: Instead of sugar free chocolate, you can use a dark chocolate. Anything above 70% will have way less sugar. You can also use a nut butter like almond or cashew instead of peanut. Just make sure that they don’t have added sugar.
Storing Leftovers
I really don’t think these skinny muddy buddies will last very long! But if you do happen to have any leftover, they do make great leftovers. They are also a great recipe to make ahead.
- On the Counter: You can store your leftovers in a zip lock or an airtight container on the counter for up to a week. They would probably be ok for longer, but I’ve never had them last even that long!
Other Skinny Recipes to Try
I have made quite a few skinny desserts and recipes because they make me feel great and still taste just as good as the original. Especially around the New Year, we are all trying to be healthier. Here are a few of my favorite recipes that I think you will love!
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Skinny Muddy Buddies
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice Chex cereal
- 2 tablespoons I can’t believe its not butter
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter creamy all natural
- 1 3.2 ounce sugar free vanilla pudding mix
- 1/4 cup sugar free chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar optional
Instructions
- Add the I can't believe it's not butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips to a bowl and melt in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring between.
- Add the Chex to a large bowl and pour the melted chocolate mixture over top. Mix until all the cereal is evenly coated. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
- After the mixture has mostly hardened, pour it into a large ziplock bag and add the box of pudding mix and shake gently. If desired, also add the 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar at this time. Let the muddy buddies chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Right up my alley! Seriously everyone always asks me how I stay slim and eat dessert everyday. It’s all about good choices and trying to put healthy things in the yumminess in the ingredient list! This will be made at my house!
i love this! i will definitely be making it soon.
Yum!!! I die for these… following you now! Come on over and say hi!
http://www.theplanetmommy.blogspot.com
I tried to recreate this and could not get any less than 743 calories, 31 grams of fat, and 29 grams of fiber for the full recipe using the ingredients listed above (including the sugar). The only difference that I can think is that you have a very low calorie peanut butter. Could you possibly provide the nutritional information?
Thats interesting because I have the same ingredients here and I added them up to be 588 calories. That is also not using reduced fat chocolate which would bring down the calories to equal about 100 cals per serving. I just find recipes and make them for fun so I don’t have the nutritional ingredients but I have provided the original site that I got the recipe. They may know better than I do. http://watchmedo.tumblr.com/post/12293923098/sweet-things-are-my-weakness-and-i-love-puppy
Hope this helps!
I’ve had something similar to this although, I don’t think it was a skinny version! This looks great. Thanks for sharing on Marvelous Mondays! 🙂
This sounds great & I love the low-calorie aspect!! I’m always on the hunt for something to satisfy my sweet tooth without killing my diet!! Plus it would be a good snack to share with the kiddos! I would love for you to share this at Mom’s Test Meal Mondays!
Hope you had a great day!
OMG stop it. Cannot stand it! Yum!!
Yes! One of my favorite recipes with half the calories! 🙂 Thanks
How many servings does this make?
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It makes 4 servings. 🙂
I love this! It sounds almost too good to be true… 🙂 Pinned!
Good to see you. Thanks for linking these yum, yums up! Sarah
I was going to try this today, but when I got to the grocery store, I could not find “chocolate almond bark” (nor do I know what it is, but it wasn’t in the baking aisle). Was going to use chocolate chips and a bit of almond extract to substitute. But, then, they didn’t have the FiberOne cereal either. I hate when I get all excited to try something from Pinterest and then I can’t find the stuff I need. Erg! I will just look at the picture and drool, I guess.
Dang I do hate when that happens! Where do you live? I was able to find all of the ingredients at my local Walmart. I have also seen chocolate almond bark and the fiber one at my local Lowes grocery store. They should be pretty common items at the store. You could try a different grocery. I did find the chocolate almond bark next to the vanilla almond bark on the baking isle.
Also you could use regular chocolate to make this with the I can’t believe it’s not butter and use the fiber one squares. It is still reducing the calories significantly. 🙂
Love this! (We call it Puppy Chow where I come from) Weird, huh? SO gonna try this!
I think the Puppy Chow name exists because Chex Mix used to be a Ralston Purina brand. The same brand that owned/owns Purina Puppy Chow. I think is primarily a Midwestern treat. Never heard of it before moving to Iowa.
These look great!! Could go for this while watching my movie.
I wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger award. Come on over and get your button and pass it along.
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Congratulations!
That sounds very tasty!
Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/
I’ll have to give this a try. It’s awesome that you reduced the calories so much!
Just wondering if anyone’s experimented with this recipe and substituted PB2 (powdered peanut butter) instead of the all natural or lower fat/sugar pb? Anyone?
I was wondering the same thing about the PB2…it’s worth a try.
I used pb2 and it tastes delicious!