Cinnamon Sugar Bunco Snack Mix

It was my turn to host our monthly Bunco night and I wanted to add a little extra dice-related fun. So I Pinterested the heck out of Bunco recipes. (Actually, I compiled my favorites into a list that you can find here.) I found this fun snack mix idea from the Make the Best of Everything blog but she wasn't too clear on how to make them. So I did a bit more searching and found three different recipes to make this yummy Cinnamon Sugar Bunco Snack Mix! Here's how.

 First, lets start with the dice-shaped shortbread cookies. Here's the recipe for shortbread I used from Simple Bites.

Shortbread Cookies

• 3/4 pound (1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.
3. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and bring everything together with your hands. Dump into a cake pan and pat down to make a sheet of dough roughly 1/4 inches deep. 
4. Chill for 30 minutes and then cut into squares (mine were roughly 1x1 inches). 
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place squares on a cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool.

The above recipe suggested a lemon glaze, but I didn't think that would go well with cinnamon sugar. I found a better glaze from Gonna Want Seconds. The recipe is below.

Cinnamon Sugar Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• Mini chocolate chip cookies

1. Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, in a small bowl and mix until smooth. 
2. Use a small spoon (I used a baby spoon) or knife to spread a small amount onto each cookie.
3. Before the glaze dries, add mini chocolate chip cookies in the designs of dice faces. 

Now it's time to make the rest of the snack mix. I adopted my recipe from Chocolate, Chocolate and More. 

Cinnamon Sugar Snack Mix

• 1 1/2 cup pretzels
• 1 cup salted peanuts
• Half a bag of popped popcorn; unpopped kernels removed
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon course sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Mix pretzels, peanuts, and popcorn. Set aside.
3. Mix melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. 
4. Use either a large bowl or a ziploc and dump all ingredients into it to shake until everything is uniformly covered. 
5. Bake 7-8 minutes and let cool. Add your dice-shaped shortbread cookies and store in an air-tight container.