Hawaiian Party Mix

I have nephew and a cousin away from home and in college. Throughout the week I'm going to be working on care packages for them. Aside from basic store-bought snacks like goldfish crackers I'm making some treats too. The first recipe is a Hawaiian Party Mix from my cousin-in-law Joann. It is highly addictive and easy to ship since it is so light.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.

Mix up all of the cereal and crackers together. Split the cereal mix evenly into two 9" x 13" pans or one extra-large roasting pan. Put in the oven for 15 minutes.

While the cereal mix is in the oven, combine the cooking oil, sugar, melted butter and corn syrup together in a sauce pan and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Take out the cereal mix and pour the sweet mixture over the cereal mix. Mix well so that the sweet mixture is evenly distributed.

Then sprinkle the furikake over the cereal and mix again.

Put the pans back into the oven for 15 minutes.

Take out the pans, mix again, and put in the oven for another 15 minutes. If the mixture is still pretty wet, you can increase the temperature to 250 degrees at this time.

One last time, take the pans out, mix, and bake for another 15 minutes. The cereal mix should be in the oven for a total of an hour. Be sure to mix the cereal well each time you take the pans out or you will end up with a solid mass of cereal.

Ingredients:

Cereal Mix:
2 boxes cereal (Chex, Crispix, Cheerios, etc.)
1 bag Oriental rice crackers
1 bag pretzels (optional)
1 bag nuts (optional)

Sweet Mix:
3/4 c. cooking oil
3/4 c. sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 c. corn syrup
1 bottle furikake*

*Furikake is a dry Japanese seaweed condiment found in most Asian grocery stores. Here is my favorite: