My children have not grown up with cereal as a breakfast choice. I didn’t set out to do it; rather, none drank milk. And let’s be honest: The only nutritionally good part of breakfast cereal is the milk – if you consume it. They all didn’t tolerate milk as babies, so it never became a thing (which isn’t shocking as I don’t tolerate lactose in milk). For them, any cereal we purchase is a dessert/snack. And with the prices in the stores (a small box is over $5, family size is $7 to 9 a box), and just how bad it is for us to eat, I rarely buy only if I find a fantastic sale, so that isn’t often. And since it’s nothing but dessert, I try not to buy it often.
This was fun, though, to make. To see if I could make a treat from scratch. The first version wasn’t a knockout success. However, it was still quite tasty to eat. It just wasn’t thin enough. You need to chill the dough for a long time. I thought 30 minutes was long enough; I would say refrigerate for an hour or overnight. It is a lot of hands-on work; this cereal is a labor of love. I learned to roll it out thinner. It’s nowhere as sweet as commercial cereal and sugar-free substitutes could be used instead (such as Sucralose).
Homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 5 Tbsp butter, cold and diced
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup cold water
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon.
Add the flour, salt, and 1 Tablespoon of the sugar mixture in a mixing bowl. Add in the butter, and work into fine crumbs with your fingers.
Add in the vanilla and the water, mixing with a large fork until a dough forms. If it is too dry, add a bit more water as needed.
Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic film, and chill for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, cutting to fit.
Roll the dough till very thin (it will fit the baking sheet in size) on the parchment paper.
Sprinkle the dough with the remaining sugar mixture, patting it into the dough.
Place the parchment paper onto the sheet.
With a pizza cutter, slice the dough into small pieces. Separate the pieces as much as you can.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cereal is golden.
Remove, and let cool thoroughly.
Store in a glass container tightly sealed to keep crisp.
~Sarah
~Sarah