Now you can indulge your sweet holiday snack cravings (without all that sugar) thanks to my recipe for Sugar-free Chocolate Churro Puppy Chow with Collagen “Puppy Chow,” a popular cereal-based snack (I secretly love), is also known by a myriad of other odd names including Muddy Buddies, Reindeer Crunch, Christmas Kibble (I made that one up) and more. Traditionally made with a ton of sugar and pretty much no protein, except what comes from the nut butter used, it’s normally a no-no on my list. 
However, my makeover puppy chow recipe is less naughty and more nice with no added table sugar. Instead I used KetoseSweet (more about that below), sugar-free chocolate chips, a natural nut butter and unflavored collagen hydrolysate to add a boost of protein and nutrients to help me recover from my active lifestyle. Read on to get this easy, healthy snack recipe that will be a hit at your holiday parties and for edible gift giving.
There are basically four easy steps to making Sugar-free Chocolate Churro Puppy Chow with Collagen. First shake up the dry ingredients in a large zip top bag and set aside. 
To keep this healthy snack recipe virtually sugar free, I’ve used a clean, natural sweetener like KetoseSweet. It’s a blend of stevia, allulose and monk fruit that functions in a recipe just like sugar but without the calories, carbs or blood sugar spikes – a great choice for those on keto, paleo or other low carb diets.
Other dry ingredients include an unflavored collagen powder (I highly recommend Great Lakes Wellness ), unsweetened cocoa powder, and cinnamon. 
Next, in the microwave, lightly melt and stir up the quality nut butter of your choice (a natural peanut, almond, cashew or blend) along with sugar-free chocolate chips.
Next gently stir in a puffy, grid “chex”-style cereal product of your choice (I use gluten-free Rice Chex, it’s one of the lowest sugar cereals you can easily buy at the market). Place in the dry ingredient bag and shake, shake, shake until all the powder is gunked on to the chocolate coated cereal.
At this point, you CAN actually eat the Sugar-free Chocolate Churro Puppy Chow with Collagen and it is delicious. However, if you do want to store it for future snacking or to give as a gift, you need to take a simple step to keep it from becoming sticky and soggy. To set in the crispiness, simply toss the bow of puppy chow out on a baking sheet and “seal the deal” in the oven for about 30 minutes.
This way you can package it up for gift-giving! I love to give my friends, neighbors, teachers and kid’s coaches edible gifts during Christmas and the winter holidays. Not only is it economical, one-size-fits-everyone, and yummy – it’s now a healthy treat that you can feel great about giving. I promise you, there will be no returns!
Sugar-free Chocolate Churro Puppy Chow with Collagen isn’t free of all sugar as, technically, there are 2.5 grams sugar coming from the Rice Chex combined with the tiniest fractional amount from the natural sugars in KetoSweet. However, as in the case of the Allulose in the Ketosweet blend, it is not even actually metabolized, but required to be reported in the “sugar” part of nutrition facts. So, basically, this is as low-sugar as you can get for this type of recipe – no sugar in the chocolate chips, no sugar in the nut butter, no sugar in the collagen powder, and a clean natural sweetener like KetoseSweet helps keep it that way. Additionally, each serving has less than 250 calories and nearly 10g protein per serving.
Disclaimer: This post is part of the The Steviva Holiday Keto Blogger Recipe Challenge, however all opinions and enthusiasm for the sponsored product remain my own.
What is your favorite food gift to share over the holidays? Is it low carb, sugar free, or protein boosted — or does this matter to you? Please share in the comments, inspire me with a new idea! XOXO, Jennifer
- ½ cup KetoseSweet (allulose, stevia, monk fruit blend)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup unflavored collagen hydrolysate powder like Great Lakes Gelatin
- 1/2 cup almond butter or other nut butter of choice
- ½ cup sugar-free chocolate chips
- 4 cups gluten-free Rice Chex cereal or something similar
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Pre-heat oven to 300 F degrees.
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In gallon-sized zip-top bag, add sweetener, cocoa powder, cinnamon and collagen powder. Seal and toss around until combined.
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In large microwave save bowl, add nut butter and chocolate and microwave in 30-second increments until chocolate melted. Use spatula to stir together until smooth.
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Add cereal and gently stir with spatula taking care not to crush up.
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Add coated cereal to zip top bag with dry ingredients. Seal bag and shake until all contents are stuck onto cereal.
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Spread mixture out on foil or parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake in center rack for 25 - 30 minutes, using spatula to turn up and redistribute contents halfway through cooking.
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Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet. Break up any big clumps and store in air-tight container after completely cooled. May be stored on the counter for up to a week.
