Cereal Milk Pie Has Entered the Chat
When I walk through the cereal section as an adult, it’s like the opposite power scenario I encountered as a child: “Wow, I loved fruit pebbles! Too bad I can’t eat it now because it’s baby cereal.” Then I remember that I am an adult and I can eat any cereal I want. So why stop at cereal in a bowl? You can take a box of your childhood favorite cereal and turn it into the most indulgent, nostalgic, laugh-inducing dessert you’ve ever tasted and bake a milky-cream cereal cake .
The cake is inspired by exactly what it sounds like: the sweet taste of milk left over after eating a bowl of your favorite childhood cereal. It’s sweet chocolate milk born from Cocoa Puffs, a cream-flavored puddle made by Fruity Pebbles, the cinnamon sugar elixir you’d expect after a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It will forever remain popular with seven-year-olds around the world, but Christina Tosi , owner of Milk Bar, has made a career out of advocating the treat that is grain milk , and making it famous off the cereal plate.
Grain milk is powerful and easy to make. (Just ask your child if you’ve forgotten how to do this.) Once you’ve made your own bowl of cereal milk, you can flavor any sweet recipe that uses milk as the main ingredient, such as ice cream, panna cotta, or pudding. for example. In this case, I wanted a cereal and milk cream pie that tasted like a Fruity Pebbles fever dream topped with whipped cream. I was completely satisfied with the results.
I love the taste and color of Fruity Pebbles, but any cereal will work for this pie. You can use any pie crust you want (like a graham cracker or puff pie crust), but for the most intense experience, I suggest using cereal crumbs. (If your choice of cereal contains dried fruit, leave it to soak in the milk, but remove the fruit for the crust—they might burn.) I made the baked cereal crust following the recipe below, but you can also try no-bake cereal . Fill the pie crust with cereal milk pudding and refrigerate for at least six hours, but it’s best to cut it overnight.
A few hours before serving, garnish the cake with lightly sweetened whipped cream. Anywhere from a half-inch layer to a mountain pile is ideal and entirely up to your preference. If you’re in the 0.001% of the population that doesn’t like pies, feel free to make your own cereal milk pudding and have just as much fun doing it.
Cereal pie with milk cream
Ingredients:
For grain crust:
- 1 ½ cups ground cereal (you can use more whole grains, depending on what you use)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
For the milk grain pudding:
- 2 ½ cups whole milk
- 2 ½ cups dry cereal
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅙ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 egg yolks
For whipped cream:
- 16 oz heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place a 9-inch pie plate on a baking sheet. Start the pudding component by soaking the cereal in milk for 20 minutes in a large bowl. Stir occasionally during this time.
Meanwhile, for the crust, grind the dry cereal in a food processor until you have 1 ½ cups of crumbs. Pulse about 10-15 times or until the flakes are as fine as grains of sand. A few large pieces are fine. The photo below is for reference, but make the crumbs smaller than what you see in the picture. It ended up crumbling too easily and I wish I had gotten better.
Pour cereal into a small bowl and add sugar. Once the sugar has blended, add the melted butter and stir with a spatula until all the crumbs are coated in the butter. Press the mixture into the pie pan with a rubber spatula and press it firmly against the edges with a spoon.
Bake 10 minutes at 350ºF. The crust should be fragrant, but not acquire color. Set aside at room temperature while you prepare the pudding.
After the cereal has soaked for 20 minutes, strain the milk from the cereal into a medium saucepan. Throw away raw cereal (or eat it). In a small bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt until smooth. Take ¼ cup of cereal milk from the pan and place it in a medium bowl. Add egg yolks to a medium bowl and whisk. Add the cornstarch mixture to the yolk mixture in a medium bowl and beat until fully combined. You will soon mix the milk into this egg mixture.
Heat grain milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to boil and small bubbles start to form around the edges. Do not boil. Turn off the heat and slowly pour a small amount of the hot cereal milk into the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Add some more hot milk while whisking. Repeat this until about ¾ of the cereal milk is in the egg yolk mixture. Constant beating will keep the eggs from cooking into scrambled eggs.
Place the pot of remaining grain milk back on the stove and whisk the egg mixture back into the pot. Everything should now be back in the pot. Turn on medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens to a pudding consistency. Don’t let it get cold. Pour the hot cereal milk pudding directly onto the pie crust. Smooth out the top. You can cover it with plastic wrap or a square paper towel to prevent it from drying out and forming a film. Put it all in the refrigerator for at least six hours or overnight.
A few hours before serving, prepare the whipped cream. (If you’re short on time, you can do this just before serving, but the whipped cream will firm up a bit if you let it time, and it will make the cuts cleaner.) Pour the heavy cream and sugar into a bowl and stir. beat until you get medium firm peaks. Stir in vanilla extract.
Garnish the pie with a heap of whipped cream and garnish with a few flakes. Serve the pie, eat the pie, and then start brainstorming all the other cereal you want to turn into a pie. This breakfast/dessert hybrid keeps well in the refrigerator for up to three days.