Since you guys liked my Valentine’s Day version of puppy chow so much, I decided to make a St. Patrick’s Day version. As you can probably tell given that this is my second puppy chow post in the last 3 posts – puppy chow is my new favorite thing to make. There are 3 reasons for that. 1. It’s so easy to make and change up 2. It’s delish and feels less guilty than cake 3. The hubs eats it up like crazy, which means I don’t have to do all the dirty work. Sweet!
This time I added some Baileys – oh yea! I am a big Baileys fan. And the Baileys in this is seriously awesome and really comes through. But you could easily make this without it and just have a festively colored puppy chow.
If you do use Bailey’s in it though, you MUST heat the Bailey’s and chocolate/candy melts together (like, in the same bowl at the same time) when you melt the chocolate. If you melt the chocolate and then add the Baileys, the chocolate will seize and be completely unusable. Trust me – I tested it.
The other thing is that you might be tempted to add even more Baileys, like I was. But when I added even more, the chocolate didn’t dry/harden as well and the puppy chow kind of became a big glob. So keep that in mind before you go and drown yours in Baileys. 
Ok, now go make it!
Bailey’s Irish Cream Puppy Chow
5 cups rice chex cereal, divided
5 oz white chocolate or white vanilla candy melts
5 oz green candy melts (Found in craft stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby)
4 tbsp Bailey’s Irish Cream, divided
1 cup powdered sugar, divided
1 cup chocolate chips
1. Divide the 5 cups rice chex cereal evenly into a 2 medium sized bowls.
2. Add green candy melts and 2 tbsp Bailey’s to a bowl. Heat the Bailey’s and candy melts in the microwave. The Bailey’s will come to a boil quite quickly. At that point, remove the bowl from the microwave and gently whisk until smooth.
3. Add green candy melt mixture to one of the bowls of chex cereal and lightly stir to coat evenly. Be careful to not break the chex cereal too much.
4. Add the powdered sugar to the green candy melt covered chex cereal and lightly stir to coat evenly with powdered sugar. You could add the chex cereal and powdered sugar to a ziplock bag, then shake, but save yourself the bag.
5. Next, add the white chocolate or vanilla candy melts and 2 tbsp Bailey’s to a bowl. Heat it in the microwave until the Bailey’s begins to boil. Remove the bowl from the microwave and gently whisk until smooth. If you want to add green food coloring at this point to have a second shade of green (you could also just leave it white), add it now.
6. Add mixture to the other bowl of chex cereal and lightly stir to coat evenly. Be careful to not break the chex cereal too much.
7. Add the powdered sugar to the white chocolate covered chex cereal and lightly stir to coat evenly with powdered sugar.
8. Allow both bowls to dry and then combine with the chocolate chips.
NOTE: If you don’t want to purchase green candy melts, you can add green food coloring to the melted white chocolate. Start with a drop or two and increase from there to get your desired shade of green.
Enjoy!
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Hi, my name is Lindsay. I'm a wife and puppy mom. This blog is a place to share my love of sweets and life.
1. How have I missed this puppy chow phenomenon for so long
2. Hooow. I’ve been missing out, haven’t I.
3. This looks delicious and I’m absolutely using the last of the Bailey’s in my house to make it.
Haha, I think you have been missing out. Puppy chow rocks and is so easy! Plus, I’m kind of obsessed with Baileys at the moment.
Unf who isn’t, ever. Baileys is the liqueur that can do no wrong.
I LOVE puppy chow in any which way!! I’ve never ever thought to throw bailey’s into it before! This is pure genius! I love those colorful candy melts too. They are so much fun to bake/coat with!
Thanks Sally! Puppy chow is so versatile – I love the different flavors you can add. And I’m so into Baileys right now it seemed perfect!
I have become a recent fan of puppy chow and this is WONDERFULLY delicious for St. Patty’s Day! And a different dessert/snack than you typically see for this holiday. YUM
Thanks Jess! Puppy chow is a new fave of mine too
I LOVE this puppy chow. How freaking delicious is this???? Amazing!
Thanks Dorothy!
Genius! Not only is it sooooo adorable- but I bet it tastes wonderful!
Do you know if Bailey’s coffee creamer would be ok to sub since I don’t want my daughter to have the alcohol? BTW I am making Thin Mint Puppy Chow this morning.
Yes, the coffee creamer should work fine, the Baileys flavor just may not be as strong. Just make sure you microwave it with the chocolate like you would with the Baileys.
I wonder if you could use creme de menthe instead of baileys
I’ve never tried it, but I’d think so.
Could you please send me this recipe for puppy chow ..thank you
Hi Pamela! At the bottom of every post there are buttons to share the post on Facebook, Pintrest, etc. Underneath the “More” button is a button that will allow you to email it. Just use that to send it to whomever you like! Thanks for sharing!
I have tried adding food coloring to chocolate melts and it always seizes. How Di you add the coloring and not seize? Is it because I am using the bars and not the candy melts?
I actally added food coloring to white chocolate chips. If I’m using candy melts, I either get the correct color or I use gel icing color. I’ve never tried regular food coloring in candy melts. You have to be kind of careful though because the gel color can thin out the candy melts if you add too much. I hope that helps.
Could you use milk chocolate chips in this recipe?
Yes, definitely!
Love the idea of this! I just made a batch for my tennis match snack tomorrow and mine doesn’t look quite as awesome as yours. I used white chocolate baking chunks from Kroger, added the baileys in before microwaving and still, not right. It was like the liquid wasn’t fully integrated into the chocolate. It had a consistency closer to canned frosting instead of melted chocolate. Any suggestions for the next batch?
Hi Jenna! I’m sorry you are having trouble. I have never used the Kroger brand before, so I don’t know if that could possibly make a difference (though I doubt it). However, white chocolate tends to be thicker when melted than regular milk or dark chocolate. That’s why the candy melts can be nice – even though the white and colored ones are still thicker than the chocolate ones, it’s less thick than actual white chocolate. You might even describe it as canned frosting like. Sometimes white chocolate can be difficult to work with. I used green candy melts for the dark green pieces in mine and Nestle white chocolate chips for the lighter green pieces. Like I said, the white chocolate chips are thicker – you just have to do a little more stirring and coat it with the powdered sugar before it will look just the same. If you are still having trouble with the white chocolate, you could always use regular milk chocolate – you wouldn’t get the color effect, but the Baileys would still taste great. I hope that helps!
Making this for poker night
Awesome! Enjoy it!
Made this for st patty’s day but was disappointed the moisture from it all absorbed into the cereal and it was chewey the next day when i went to bag it up for gifts. Any thoughts?
It might to help to let it sit out overnight. That could dry it out a bit.