Most trail mixes commercially made are a nightmare for nut/peanut allergies. Even the “safer” ones, made with seeds, can be a real issue. Alistaire hasn’t had trail mix since he developed his sunflower allergy when he was around 4 years old. Even then, seeds are often packaged or processed in the same facility as nuts are. I played around and came up with a fun trail mix that is not only peanut/tree nut free but gluten-free. Lots of crunch, sweetness and saltiness.
Salty & Sweet Allergy Friendly Trail Mix
Ingredients:
- 1 bag Corn Nuts, 7 ounce bag*
- 1 bag dried pineapple, 5 to 8 ounces*
- 1 bag gluten-free pretzels, 8 to 14 ounces
- 1 package butterscotch or chocolate chips*
Directions:
This is an open ended recipe. You can use any size bags/quantity of the ingredients you like.
Cut the pineapple up into bite size pieces.
Add it and the remaining ingredients into a large mixing bowl, stir gently to combine.
Store tightly sealed, preferably in a glass container, to keep fresh, until trail time.
*It can be hard to find “safe” butterscotch chips as most have dairy or soy in them, use what you can find, there are multiple allergy safe brands of semi sweet chocolate chips, including the newer Simply Delicious.
Corn Nuts are an amazing substitution for nuts, if you can have corn. They are crunchy, salty and have the same mouth feel as roasted salted nuts. If you cannot have them, but can have seeds, I would suggest sunflower or pepitas. The kids don’t care for pumpkin seeds, so Corn Nuts work well.
As for the dried pineapple, use what dried fruit you like. You will want a “sugary” or really dried fruit, so that there isn’t too much moisture in the mix, or the pretzels will limp out. Dried cherries would work well, but I would avoid dried apples.
~Sarah