Greenpoint’s Big Night (154 Franklin St.), is having a big year.
The shop, known for its dinner party essentials, reopened with an expanded storefront at the beginning of the month, and last summer, owner Katherine Lewin came out with her very own cookbook called Big Night: Dinners, Parties, and Dinner Parties.
For our newest addition to the Community Cookbook, Lewin has shared a recipe from her cookbook for Big Night Party Mix.
“If my house were a bar, this mix would be our house bar snack,” Lewin wrote in the book. “Just when you think you’ve found every possible use for chili crisp, I’m giving you another: It’s the star of this salty, nutty, crunchy mix, just waiting to be enjoyed with a cold, crisp beer.”
The cookbook notes that the party mix pairs well with Big Night’s Ideal Whiskey Highball, the My Perfect Martini, and the Classic Negroni.
Learn how to make Big Night’s Party Mix below and find the last Community Cookbook recipe here.
Big Night Party Mix
Makes about 10 cups
Ingredients
½ cup (or 1 stick) of unsalted butter, cut into pieces
⅓ cup of agave nectar, or ½ cup of mild honey
2 to 3 teaspoons of jarred chili crisp (I like KariKari or Fly By Jing), plus 1 tablespoon of oil from the jar
6 cups of Chex cereal
3 cups of mixed crunchy snacks, such as sesame sticks, small pretzels, Corn Nuts, and/or cheese crackers
3 cups of salted potato chips
1 cup of roasted, salted or unsalted, nuts, such as peanuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, and/or walnuts (or more mixed crunchy snacks)
Flaky sea salt
Directions
- Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 250°F.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small pot, combine the butter and agave and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until warm and runny, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Whisk in the chili crisp along with the oil from the jar.
- In a large bowl, combine the Chex, mixed crunchy snacks, potato chips, and roasted nuts, then pour the chili crisp mixture over the top.
- Use your hands (wear gloves, if you’d like) or a big spatula to toss the mixture until everything is well coated.
- Divide between the prepared baking sheets, drizzling over any excess liquid from the bowl.
- Bake for 15 minutes, give the mixture a toss, then bake for 15 minutes more.
- Toss again and rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and back to front.
- Continue to bake, tossing the party mix and rotating the pans every 15 minutes, until fragrant and mostly crisp, for 60 to 75 minutes more. (It will dry and crisp further as it cools.)
- Immediately shower with flaky salt.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes before scraping into serving bowls. (Once completely cooled, the snack mix can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week.)