My grandfather always makes this recipe at Christmas, so for me it is part of that bundle of food associations that make this time of year particularly special. However, this year he’s been a little unwell, so didn’t have time to make the stuff. He normally produces enough Nuts and Bolts to feel a small nation, and gives gifts of the savoury snack to every family member. The dinner table wouldn’t have been the same this year without it, so I made a quick batch. It is deliciously more-ish!
Ingredients
250g dry-roasted peanuts, unsalted
300g Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain (these are the “bolts”)
1/2 cup (125mL) of light oil (preferably peanut oil)
45g packet of French Onion Soup mix
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of mustard powder
Method
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Warm oil in microwave, for example, on High setting for 30 seconds, then pour over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spread the mix across a large, flat baking dish and put into the oven for 15-20 minutes, removing to stir every 5 minutes or so. The result should look dry and smell very aromatic.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before eating. Needs to be stored in an air-tight container.
This recipe is easily adaptable to taste, e.g. use more or less Nutri-Grain, nuts, curry or mustard as your taste dictates.
Makes enough Nuts and Bolts to fill a 2L container. Best eaten before 1st January.
Related articles by Zemanta
- The Cost of Christmas In Calories (losethattyre.co.uk)
- Thanksgiving Snack Mix (momcooks.net)
- How To Make Gorp (howcast.com)
I found out afterwards that my grandfather’s actual recipe also has a melted (6 oz / 250g) block of butter along with the oil, uses salted peanuts, drops both the french onion soup and mustard powder, and cooks the mix at 125 degrees Celcius for 2 hours (mixing every 20 minutes). Just shows how much variation of this recipe there is out there.
Hi
i have wanted to get hold of this recipe for ages and didnt know where to find it, loved it as a kid, thank you for posting it, cant wait for my kids to enjoy it too
Any suggestions for making this without peanuts? I am making it with my kindergarten classes and I have a few children highly allergic to peanuts so they can’t be included anywhere.
I was thinking Cheerios? Any ideas?
:)
I guess you’ll have to call it something other than “nuts and bolts” if it doesn’t have any nuts, but instead of peanuts you might try pop-corn, pine nuts or sunflower seeds?
Great recipe thanks have just made up a half batch still made plenty tastes great. It’s good to have some savory snacks around all the sweet things on christmas day. Thanks this recipe is a keeper.
Merry Christmas
I add pretzels and sultanas to the mix, delicious and moreish!
Hi I make this all year round as my family all love it… I have to make a double batch to have it last longer then a day :) thanks for posting it
I made this recipe again, after a long break, and there are some other aspects that are important. Firstly, mix the ingredients really well; if you can’t get a big enough bowl, use a large saucepan or pot. Also, don’t use salt-reduced French onion soup; it tastes okay, but the flavour’s not right.
I make this regularly, we have caught our youngest going through the container picking out the peanuts to eat… she loves it… so easy to make and munch on
To make the recipe gluten-free, use a gluten-free cereal like Freedom Foods’ Maple Crunch instead of Nutri-Grain, and use a gluten-free french onion soup mix. If you can’t find a gluten-free french onion soup mix, you can make your own, by mixing together 15g onion powder, 5g garlic powder, 10g corn flour, 1.5 teaspoons (7g) salt, 1 teaspoon (5g) caster sugar, and 0.5 teaspoons of tumeric powder.