Classic Nuts and Bolts

Do you remember this snack from your childhood? This is one of those recipes that you can play around with and really make your own - in fact, my grandmother was famous for her version. We still do not know what made it so special but when she packed up a big batch into mason jars to give away as gifts each year we were disappointed. Our disappointment did not last though as there was always another batch just for US!

Looking at the ingredients I think I know what it was - a full pound of butter? MMMM

I've seen 'modern, healthy' versions of this snack.I've even saved a few of these recipes but I always come back to the one that tastes like the version I had as a kid.

You may be wondering about the name - apparently the pretzel sticks and the cheerios used to be able to be stuck together like nuts and bolts. Alas our modern cheerios are far smaller and this is no longer the case. These days when I make my version I add ringaloos and crunchy cheetos which allows me to put together nuts and bolts just as I did when I was a kiddo.

For those who want to play around with ingredients I estimate that in the original recipe  you would have about 20 - 22 cups of ingredients (with the boxes of things and cups of things). So long as you keep to that same ratio you are golden!

 

Classic Nuts and Bolts

1 lb. butter
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. onion salt
1 1/2 tsp. celery salt
4 cups “Cheerios”
4 cups “Life” cereal (corn chex)
4 cups “Shreddies” or “Wheat Chex”
2 boxes pretzels or pretzel sticks
2 cups peanuts (salted if you insist!)
1 box “bugels”
1 box cheese nips or cheese bites

Heat oven to 250 F. Place butter in very large roaster and put in oven to melt butter while oven in preheating. Add all ingredients and stir well to coat evenly with butter. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Stir every 1/2 hour.

Comments

[Annie]

Love this stuff! I remember it from when I was a kid but here in NC we called it "Trash" (Nuts and Bolts is a better name). I tried a healthy version a couple of years ago and it was okay, but not as good.

A very happy new year to you and yours! Annie (formerly of Churches in Venice, but Internet Brands took away my blog access, ugh).

[sandi]

I just made (and ate) 2 batches of nuts and bolts... a new recipe from Pinterest with Siracha and honey.
Oh mercy!

[Kayte]

All that butter!! lol No wonder this stuff is so dang good!