The Best of P&TY: Cereality Check
We are off to Maui! Thanks for sticking with us as I take a little breather.
Here’s a fun and delicious breakfast cereal recipea you may have missed. Hope you enjoy!
Originally published: February 22, 2011
I’m scared to tell you what’s in that bowl for fear that you might think I really and truly am certifiably crazy.
Fear is also the reason I haven’t yet told you about the time I o.d.’d on helium. “What?!” (said in a high-pitched squeak)
I’m sure you were questioning my sanity when I made peanut butter cups to throw in a homemade Blizzard.
Or when I made toffee to bake into toffee bars.
I may be crazy, but I would be an awesome agoraphobe.
But before you go committing me, I have to say that it isn’t my fault.
It’s Ashley’s.
And the meteorologist’s.
And Pea Daddy’s (because, let’s face it, almost everything is always Pea Daddy’s fault).
They say a snow storm is coming tomorrow, so yesterday we ran to Target to stock up on the essentials (chocolate). We ended up on the cereal aisle (one aisle over from the chocolate) and the kids were clamoring over all the different cereals.
*Note: “kids” = Pea Daddy
The girls had adopted, named, spayed and neutered a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, when Pea Daddy said, “Maybe Mommy will buy the healthy kind when she’s at Whole Foods.”
Sure, I’ll get right on that. Let me get my snow plow warmed up.
After we got home, Ashley and I were on the phone chatting about her cinnamon sugar socca cracker recipe. Does that make us crazy? Completely unsolicited, she said, “If you cut these up to be bite-size, they would taste just like Cinnamon Toast Crunch.”
Lightbulb!
Cinnamon Toast Cereal
*Gluten-free and vegan, inspired by Ashley’s Cinnamon Sugar Socca Crackers
Makes 4 cups
- 1/2 c. garbanzo/fava bean flour
- 1/2 c. millet flour (can be made by grinding whole millet, or sub any other gluten free grain)
- 2 T. vegan margarine (i.e. Earth Balance), melted
- 3/4 c. water
- 1/4 t. salt
- 2 T. organic sugar, divided
- 2 t. cinnamon, divided
- 1 t. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, add flours, margarine, salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 t. of cinnamon and vanilla. Add water. Whisk until completely smooth.
Pour batter onto lined cookie sheet and spread batter evenly to each edge of the sheet.
Sprinkle with remaining sugar and cinnamon.
Bake for 22-27 minutes, until edges are starting to brown and center is just starting to crack.
Remove parchment from sheet and cut the cereal into 1-inch squares.
Eat the imperfect squares and any crumbs. That’s an order.
Spread the squares back onto the unlined sheet and bake for an additional 2-4 minutes, turning at least once. Cereal should be crisp and crunchy.
And delicious.
And nutritious. A one-cup serving of this cereal has 172 calories and only 2 grams of sugar. The same size serving of the store-bought kind? Nearly 14 grams of sugar. And nonfat milk. And butylated hydroxytoluene.
That’s just crazy.
Chances are I won’t make it to the store to get some “healthy Cinnamon Toast Crunch.”
Even if it doesn’t snow.
And something tells me no one is going to care.
sooo cuteee
This is seriously one of my favorite recipes of yours! I love homemade cereals.
I love this idea! I make an oatmeal cereal here and we all LOVE it. Funny how we think we have to go to the store and buy crazy ingredients filled cereals when we can make better products at home with simple wholesome ingredients! I just bought 12 bags of garbanzo flour. I guess I need to give up some of it from my socca addiction and make this cereal!
This looks like something my kids would love!
I was going through your recipes the other day and ended up making this! I burnt half of it, my daughter ate two bowls of the un-burnt stuff and I had to pick through the rest, so good! I will be making this again..when she’s at school so it’ll be all mine! Muhahahaha
test
Holy moly. Forget light at the end of the tunnel. I’m pretty sure cereal is at the end of any and all tunnels.
I must try these. They look almost like homemade crackers, which I just made for the first time last week, and now I can’t stop making them. My family thanks you for breaking me out of that rut.
I remember this post but am glad for the refreshed.
On my to-make list from you: those oyster crackers, this cereal, goldfish crackers. I guess I like carbs
And the ZeeBars!
I hope you two kids are having a blast in Maui or once you get there. Happy travels!
Eating the odds and ends is always the right of the chef. They aren’t that good anyway (at least that’s what we tell everyone else, ha!) Hope you’re having a great time right now!
I so wanna be you when I have kids. Real bad. You’re my hero Mrs. Pea
Hahaha, awesome! I need to make these again but without the chickpea flour as it turns my stomach into a knot!
HAVE FUN!!
Has anyone tried this with regular flour ….. Any success?
I’ve had reports that whole wheat pastry flour worked fine!
THIS REPLY just made my day, because that totally was going to be my question. I was recently bitten by the baking bug, and I just so happened to buy a bag of WW pastry flour last night! Think I’ll try that for the first flour and regular-ole organic all purpose flour for the second.
BTW, I’m so delighted to see this recipe! I love age-inappropriate cereals (well, the organic versions nowadays) so I’m a sucker for chocolate, honey or cinnamon in my cereal bowl. I was denied a bag of the Three Sisters version of this cereal last night at Whole Foods due to the sugar content, and I’m just now feeling the wave of embarrassment from what I’m pretty sure was a public temper tantrum. Oops.
I’ve wanted to buy those Three Sisters cereals too. I’m glad we have an alternative now!
Hope you like this recipe!
Echoing RJ-what if I want it to be glutenous? Can I use reg flour?
Whole wheat pastry flour!
Would it be a cup of WW flour, then, to sub for both of the gluten-free flours? And could you use real butter in place of the margarine? I’m not a great baker, but I’d love to get off the boxed-cereal bandwagon!
oh this is brilliant! Hope you’re enjoying your vacay!
Thank you so much for the recipe! I bought millet flour at my indian supermarket and did not use it once because I just did not knwo what to do with it. Now I know…
Ooh I remember when you posted these the first time and I couldn’t wait to try them! I’m ashamed to admit that I still haven’t (I just continue to drool over the photos) but I’m printing the recipe now!
That is a lot of work to go to for a bowl of cereal!
This brings me back to my childhood! I loooved this cereal. I’m sure yours is WAY better though ;D
Happy Vacation. Just relax and come back refreshed. Oh, yeah, I making this tormorrow. Sounds way to good to pass up, and it will be a nice change for breakfast, or a snack for my always hungry son.
Can you adopt me? Those girls are so lucky!!
I’ve made this recipea many times….so tasty!! Love me my cereal, especially when it’s a kind I can feel good about
Have a beautiful relaxing vacation!!
I don’t think I’d ever buy a $5 box of cereal again if I could make my own! I definitely want to try this!
Love this! We cut out cereal because we are trying to eat clean. Love that we can make these! Thanks!
what a great idea, I need to do this!
Thank you for a cereal recipea….you come up with some of the coolest stuff!
I love these!! But for some reason whenever I make them, they stick to the waxed paper even if I spray it! Any idea why? Do I need to buy the name brand waxed paper?
It looks like she’s using parchment paper, Amy, which is very different from waxed paper.
Really? I haven’t ever bought parchment paper. I wondered if that could possibly be the case. Thanks Beth!
Wow, making your own cereal! That sounds really ambitious, but awesome! Cinnamon Toast Crunch was my FAVOURITE cereal growing up but it’s just so sweet – and so I love that this is less sweet AND gluten-free. Thanks Mama Pea!
I have to make this!! I love cinnamon toast crunch but I always feel sick after I eat it.
That’s my husband’s favorite cereal (the kind Whole Foods sells) but I won’t buy it because it is so high in sugar! I am definitely going to make this for him. Even if I boost the sugar a little bit it will still be way less than the boxed stuff! Thanks!
What a fun recipe, I need to try it!
Well I made this today and will never make it again. I ate almost the whole batch in one sitting. It is so awesomely delicious and addictive I can’t have it in my house. Great recipe, if I could control myself!
I am loving the gluten free recipes! Keep em coming!
AWWWWEEEEE!!! Your daughter is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
I love this — what an AMAZING alternative to store-bought cereal. And so much healthier, too!
Looks so yummy!!! Have fun in Maui, its my favorite place in the world
I am pretty sure my head got stuck in our staircase rails when I was growing up!
OK, awesomeness!! My biggest beef with cereal is that most have too much sugar. We are rather anti-sugar around here.
This is hilarious! Just read your blog for the first time, and I love it! I love that you had to use a saw to rescue your daughter’s leg. And oh my…did you really just buy wrinkle cream for the first time now? I’ve been using it since my mid twenties. I think I’m in trouble!
Can’t wait to read more
I LOVE this!!
I have such a hard time finding good gluten free cereal. This is so delicious. I discovered a little tip–the cereal was SO much easier (and faster) to slice into squares using a pizza cutter. Who knew it would be good for more than just slicing pizza. Thanks so much for the recipe! 
Thanks for the tip!