Nuts & Bolts.....they're better than Bits and Bites

Making this snack at Christmas is a rather rigid holiday tradition in our family. Don't ask me why we have not made it at other times of the year. Other families are more flexible...our friend Jane produces it in August when her family visits the cottage on the St. Lawrence River. So lately, I have broken with tradition and baked up a big batch of Nuts and Bolts whenever. 

Ingredients:

• one 400 gram box of regular Cheerios (oat cereal)
• one 620 gram box of Shreddies (wheat cereal)
• one 350 gram box of Crispix (rice and corn cereal) or Rice Chex
• 2 smallish packages of pretzel sticks (these form the 'bolts')
• 2 pounds of nuts ( I use blanched peanuts)
• 1 pound of butter (melted)
• 2 tablespoons garlic salt (not garlic powder)
• 2 tablespoons celery salt (not celery seed)
• 4 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce (pronounced Worstersheer)

Methods:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Since it is pretty much impossible to find a roasting pan large enough to hold all of these ingredients, I usually use 2 disposable aluminum foil roasting pans from the grocery store. However, the cottage is well-equipped and I managed with the top and bottom of the roasting pan found 'in-house'. Divide the dry ingredients evenly between the 2 pans.

Halve the pound of butter and melt each half in separate pots. Add 1 tablespoon of celery salt and garlic salt to each pot of melted butter as well as 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce. Stir well, then pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients; mix everything together with a spatula. Adjust your oven racks so that you can place both roasting pans in the oven for approximately 2 hours, stirring the mixture gently every 15 minutes. After 2 hours remove from the oven, cool completely, and pack in airtight tins or plastic containers.