Bananas Foster Crunch Mix

Late October and Halloween energy was accumulating — not from the school, which maintained its focused personality, but from the neighborhood, which went fully committed. The house across the street had artificial fog and animatronic skeletons and a playlist of horror music that started at dusk. I admire that level of commitment to seasonal aesthetics.

AP Chemistry had moved into thermodynamics and I found myself genuinely fascinated — the language of energy and entropy, the quantification of disorder, the way systems move toward equilibrium. I stayed after class to ask Mr. Okonkwo how thermodynamic principles applied to cooking. He said that was a large and interesting question. He gave me two journal articles to read, both outside my current coursework, and said come back with questions. I came back with questions on Thursday. He answered them and gave me two more articles. I think this is how mentorship works: you demonstrate appetite and the good teacher feeds it.

I had a piece published — my first publication anywhere. The state student writing competition that Ms. Whitaker had entered me in had a runner-up category that also appeared in their journal, and my étouffée essay appeared in the fall issue. I held the printed journal in the school library and read my own words in print for the first time and felt something that I will not try to describe because description would diminish it. Let me say only that it was significant and I know it.

I called MawMaw Shirley. She said, "Read it to me." I read it over the phone, every word. When I finished she was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "You told it true." You told it true. That is the best possible thing to be told about any piece of writing. That was a Wednesday afternoon in October 2019 and I will not forget it for the rest of my life.

The essay that got published was about étouffée — about MawMaw Shirley’s kitchen and the way certain food carries the whole weight of a place and a person — and when she told me over the phone that I’d “told it true,” I wanted to do something that honored that same New Orleans spirit without making her feel like I was just repeating myself. Bananas Foster is the other side of that same city: the warmth, the butter, the brown sugar depth that feels like a celebration you didn’t know you needed. Turning it into a crunch mix felt right for the occasion — something you can make with your hands, share without ceremony, and eat slowly while sitting with a feeling you’re not quite ready to name.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour (low oven) | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

4 cups corn Chex cereal
2 cups rice Chex cereal
2 cups roughly broken waffle cone pieces
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup dried banana chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons dark rum (or 1 teaspoon rum extract)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 250°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine both Chex cereals, waffle cone pieces, pecans, and banana chips in a very large heat-safe mixing bowl and set aside.
Make the caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly, and cook for 2 minutes without stirring once it reaches a boil. Remove from heat.
Add flavor. Carefully stir in the rum (or rum extract), vanilla, and cinnamon — the mixture will bubble briefly. Stir until smooth.
Coat the mix. Pour the warm caramel over the cereal mixture. Using a large silicone spatula, fold everything together until evenly coated, working quickly before the caramel begins to set.
Bake low and slow. Spread the coated mix in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 250°F for 1 hour, stirring gently every 20 minutes to ensure even coating and prevent burning.
Cool completely. Remove from the oven and spread the mix out on a fresh sheet of parchment paper to cool completely, at least 30 minutes. The caramel will crisp as it cools. Break apart any large clumps once fully cooled.
Store. Transfer to an airtight container or zip-top bags. Keeps at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bananas Foster Crunch Mix — The New Orleans Soul Behind the Words That Told It True