Cinnamon Roll Muddy Buddies

Have you seen Mallow & Co.? It's a whole site dedicated to rice krispy treats.

Seriously. The whole site is krispy treats! BTS, Mojito, Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Pretzel Salad, a ton of krispy treats!



I was thinking, maybe I could be Muddies, Buddies and Friends or something. Because really, I've got a lot of ideas. And, I have the biggest board on pinterest dedicated to muddy buddies. Really.

But, muddy buddies are super hard to photograph. I'm sure krispy treats are too, but I haven't really tried those.

Because the thing is, a really good muddy buddy is covered with powdered sugar. It doesn't look good. At all. It looks sort of weird. But, once you taste it, you kind of forget about it.

Unfortunately, in the bloggy world, you can't just reach through the screen and taste the treat. (Oh how I wish we could. Well, maybe not, I'd gain 50 pounds every time I sat on the computer)

People eat with their eyes. They do judge a book by it's cover. So I have to make it look good.

It actually is possible to make muddy buddies look good. Look at some of these.

They all have one of these: bright photo props, the flavor of the muddy buddy in the middle, they're laid out in a cool looking way, or they're drizzled.

When I looked at these snickerdoodle muddy buddies, I thought, the photo looks SO good! I must make mine look like that!

She put snickerdoodles in the middle of the photo, and it looked really good.

I wanted to put some cinnamon rolls in the middle of mine. I didn't want to have to make some cinnamon rolls, with the yeast, and the rolling and the tying and the baking etc. I was thinking about making crescent cinnamon rolls (recipe coming soon!) but we don't have any crescent dough. My mom stopped buying it when she started being healthy.

I tried to get my mom to make some whole wheat rolls (that I could turn into cinnamon rolls) but she didn't want to. So I went to the store and bought some Pillsbury ones in a can. They were cinnabon.

Now, the whole point of me buying these overpriced cinnamon rolls, was to make the photos look good. When I opened the can, I saw the ugliest cinnamon rolls ever known to mankind. They had this weird crunchy stuff on top. And when I baked them it didn't help.

But when I covered them with icing it helped.

Other things that help are . . . drizzle drizzle drizzle, chocolate, icing, candy melts, just drizzle it! Don't add too much powdered sugar, at least for the photos. I always set a little bit apart that I only put a tablespoon of powdered sugar, and the rest is ugly, but tastes the way it should. And use tons of props that are colorful, a blue bowl, a green napkin, you get the picture.

 Anyways, another problem with muddy buddies, or at least variations, is they'll have lots of parts that don't taste like the flavor. Like, let's say they're pumpkin, and they have white chocolate instead of some kind of pumpkin chocolate. Which isn't possible. Or, they'll just skip peanut butter, or biscoff, or whatever. That makes it too crunchy and the chocolate hardens up.

This recipe has none of those problems. Literally every component is cinnamon roll flavored.
Chex: cinnamon chex
Chips: cinnamon chips
Spread: cinnamon roll cream cheese frosting
Powdered sugar: with cinnamon.
So, the frosting. Duncan Hines has these frosting starters. You grab a flavor packet and add it to their frosting starter. Mix it up, and you instantly have cool flavored frosting. They have tons of flavors, pink lemonade, cinnamon roll, mint chip, cotton candy, and tons more.

I was just going to use cinnamon roll with their frosting starter, but then I thought, hey why not use cream cheese frosting! Then it'll be exactly like a cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting.

Frosting muddy buddies are different than those with spreads. They're not as crunchy, they have a much softer almost chewy texture. And they are way sweeter, you don't have to have as much because they're so sweet.

Most muddy buddies call for 9 cups of cereal, but I like to save mine so I can make as many varieties as possible with one box. So I cut it in half.

Anyways, these muddy buddies are SO good! They're my favorite variation yet! Yes, better than Samoas, Red Velvet, Root Beer, Savannah Smiles, Butter Pecan, even the cake donut one. These are super soft and packed with cinnamon roll flavor. They're so good! I just love the textures in it, you have got to try these muddy buddies!

Cinnamon Roll Muddy Buddies
Muddy Buddies that taste like a cinnamon roll! These are flavored with cinnamon chips, cinnamon roll frosting, and cinnamon chex, these are so soft chewy and sweet you won't get enough of them!
Prep Time: 15 min.   Total Time: 15 min.   Serves: 7
Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cup cinnamon chex cereal
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/4 cup cream cheese frosting, mixed with Duncan Hines Cinnamon Roll flavor packet
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon. vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions: 

1. Measure the cereal into a large bowl, set aside. 
2. Microwave the cinnamon chips, frosting and butter until smooth. 
3. Stir in a vanilla. Mix into the cereal with a rubber spatula. 
4. Measure powdered sugar and cinnamon into a gallon size bag. Shake until combined. 
5. Scoop the cereal into the bag. Shake well, and serve. 

Notes: 
*if you can't find cinnamon chips, just use white chocolate with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon melted in
*you can use homemade cream cheese frosting
*this can easily be doubled
*this can be served whenever, fresh and melty, days later, but I prefer it later when the flavors blend and it get's chewier   

Okay, is it just me, or is that photo gor-geous!

These are actually super simple and taste amazing! Like I said, my favorite variation yet! I like these the best the next day when the flavors can mellow and it get's crunchier. But, these probably won't last that long, they're crazy addictive!

So go sit down, munch on a bowl of these, and watch one of your favorite shows. (Yes, I love Granite Flats)