ChowTown.ca

The Resurrection of the Ultimate Nuts & Bolts

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?

A dozen years, actually, since I walked away from the keyboard and let the digital dust settle over Chowtown. Life happened, the internet got weirder, and I stopped updating the site. But some culinary ghosts refuse to stay buried in the archives.

Lately, while building some new recipes to show you all I’ve been thinking about the chaotic,  holiday seasons of my past. Specifically, the oversized foil pans of “Nuts and Bolts” that I generally made prior to Christmas. It was an annual holiday ritual. We would make massive batches of this stuff, package it into festive tins, and hand it out to neighbours and friends. This and filling orders for rum cakes were part of what defined December for a long time.

Years ago, right before I put Chowtown on ice, I began building a master mix formula that I had planned to use going forward. I unearthed the draft for that new recipe this week and realized it required very few changes to make it completely functional and bulletproof. So, I figured I’d post it. Just because. After all the world is still loud, and sometimes you just need a massive, unpretentious bowl of crunchies that actually taste like something.

The secret to keeping it pristine is simple: bake the heavy cereals and nuts first, let them cool, and toss the delicate cheese snacks and sesame sticks in at the very end so they stay perfectly crispy.

The recipe below makes about twelve liters of mix or twelve gift tins to hand out. If you aren’t packing it into tins for the neighbourhood right away, divide it into four or five airtight containers so the humidity doesn’t ruin the magic. We’ve used the extra large Ziploc bags in the past.

Pair it with something crisp, cold, and bitter… Yeah, basically any beer.

Welcome back to the table. The recipe is below.

Ultimate Holiday Nuts & Bolts

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Bake Time: 1.5 to 2 hours
• Total Time: ~2 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: ~48 Cups (~12 Litres / 3 Gallons)
• Storage: 4 weeks in airtight containers, or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Ingredient Selection Guide

• The Smoked Almonds: Avoid Blue Diamond or generic supermarket brands that use a dry, powdery smoke seasoning. That powder washes off in the butter sauce, burns on the bottom of the pan, and makes the mix gritty. Instead, look for whole almonds with a glossy, oil-roasted, or light salt-and-smoke glaze.
• The Cheezies: Stick strictly to authentic Hawkins Cheezies. Their irregular shapes and dense, crunchy texture hold up perfectly without turning into mush. *Those of you not blessed with this Canada only treat can substitute the thinner crispy version of Cheetos.
• The Corn Chex: Ensure you buy Corn Chex rather than Rice Chex. The corn variety has a sturdier lattice structure that absorbs the warm sauce without collapsing or becoming soggy during the long drying bake.

Ingredients

The Wet Sauce & Spices

• 1 1/2 Cups / 340 g — Unsalted Butter
• 6 Tbsp / 90 mL — Worcestershire Sauce
• 3 Tbsp / 45 mL — Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp / 22 mL — Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp / 22 mL — Hot Sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp / 14 g — Garlic Powder
• 2 Tbsp / 19 g — Onion Powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp / 9 g — Celery Salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp / 11 g — Paprika
• 1 1/2 Tsp / 3 g — Black Pepper
• 1 1/2 Tsp / 3 g — White Pepper

Dry Base (To Be Baked)

• 4 Cups / 100 g — Cheerios Cereal
• 4 Cups / 124 g — Corn Chex Cereal
• 4 Cups / 160 g — Shreddies Cereal
• 1 Bag / 180 g — Pretzel Goldfish
• 1 Box / 340 g — Snyder’s Butter Snaps Pretzels
• 1 Box / 225 g — Rye Chips
• 1 Tin / 280 g — Dry Roasted Peanuts
• 1 Tin / 170 g — Smoked Almonds
• 1 Tin / 280 g — Cashews

Post-Bake Additions (Add After Cooling)

• 1 Bag / 225 g — Sesame Sticks
• 1 Bag / 280 g — Corn Chips
• 1 Bag / 210 g — Hawkins Cheezies
• 1 Box / 200 g — Cheese Bites (e.g., Cheez-Its)
• 1 Box / 213 g — Bugles

Method

1. Prep: Pre-heat your oven to 225°F (105°C). Position your oven racks so both extra-large foil roasting pans fit comfortably at the same time.
2. Combine Base: Evenly divide the Cheerios, Corn Chex, Shreddies, Pretzel Goldfish, butter snaps, rye chips, peanuts, smoked almonds, and cashews between the two roasting pans. Mix gently by hand.
3. Make Sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the Worcestershire, balsamic, soy sauce, hot sauce, and all eleven spices. Simmer gently for 3 minutes while stirring to bloom the spices.
4. Coat: Drizzle the warm sauce evenly over the dry ingredients in both pans. Use a silicone spatula to gently fold and toss the mix until every single piece is lightly and evenly coated.
5. Bake: Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours. Stir gently every 30 minutes, rotating the pans between the top and bottom racks to ensure even drying. Remove from the oven when the cereal elements look completely matte and dry to the touch.
6. Cool: Let the mix cool completely right inside the roasting pans. Do not rush this step; adding the remaining ingredients to a warm mix will cause staleness.
7. Finish: Once the baked mix is completely cold, gently fold in the sesame sticks, corn chips, Hawkins Cheezies, cheese bites, and Bugles .
8. Package: Package the mix immediately into holiday tins for gifting, or divide the batch into 4 to 5 medium-sized, independent airtight containers.

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