Everyone loves a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but even better? A bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream! This easy-to-make recipe has all the elements of your favorite breakfast cereal including the crunch!
Sugary cereal. The best, right? Growing up, sugar cereal was always a dessert for me since I definitely wasn’t allowed to eat it for breakfast. We ate things like Cheerios and oatmeal for breakfast. Or toast with peanut butter. And fruit; lots of fruit. We mostly never even had sugar cereal in the house, but very occasionally my mom would let us pick one out for dessert purposes. It was almost always Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Lucky Charms. And I almost always ate it dry out of the box for an afternoon snack or dessert.
I knew I had to make ice cream in the week before my vacation since I had a quart of heavy cream in the fridge and couldn’t let it go to waste. I know. Life is super tough. I started thinking that Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream might be the best idea ever. And now that I’m an adult, I wouldn’t even have to wait until dessert to eat it. Cinnamon Toast Crunch ICE CREAM for breakfast? I’m such a rebel.
At first I was just going to jump into the kitchen and start whipping it up. But then I did a little bit of research and thank goodness I did. Because I learned that simply adding Cinnamon Toast Crunch into the homemade ice cream would just end up making a big soggy ice cream mess. There were several solutions to this. Like coating the cereal in chocolate. Meh, that would take away from the CTC flavor, I thought. So, I decided to do something similar to what a few other recipes did and coat the cereal in brown sugar and butter before adding it into the ice cream. Staying true to the flavors, while preserving the crunch of the cereal. And Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream was born. Amen.
Start by making yourself a bowl of cereal. Not really. But pour the milk in a bowl and put one cup of the cereal in it. You really only need one cup of milk, but some of the milk is going to get absorbed into the cereal, so it’s best to use 1 1/4 cups.
Let the cereal sit in the fridge for as long as you can. Six hours is probably best, but if you have to do less, it’s really not the end of the world. When you take it out of the fridge, it will be all soggy-like. But the milk will be that incredible sugary cereal-infused milk. You know, the kind you want to slurp right out of the bowl.
Strain the milk from the cereal, making sure you have a cup of milk (if you need more, just pour more plain milk). Put milk in a medium saucepan.
Heat the milk with the salt and sugar in the saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer and then remove from heat.
Whisk egg yolks in a separate bowl.
Pour half of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then pour that back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
Pour the cream into a separate bowl placed in an ice bath. I just put ice packs into a big bowl. Now, strain the warm milk mixture into the bowl of cream. Mix in vanilla. Stir over the ice until cool. Then put the bowl into the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.
In the meantime, you can prepare the cereal, so it’s nice and crunchy when you add it into the ice cream. First, put the two cups of cereal in a bag and crush it a little bit. But not too much!
Now, heat the butter and brown sugar in a bowl in the microwave until it’s melted. Whisk it all together.
And pour it over the cereal.
Spread the cereal over a parchment-lined cookie sheet, so it’s in a nice even layer.
Bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees, until it’s nice and caramelized.
Let it cool and then break it into little pieces. This is what I like to call Cinnamon Toast Crunch taken to the next level.
When your milk/cream solution is niiiice and cold, you’re ready to process your ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. I churned mine for about 40 minutes.
Oh, and while it was churning, I realized that it might be nice to have a little extra cinnamon in the ice cream. So, I tossed in 1 teaspoon of Penzeys’ cinnamon.
See how the ice cream is thickening up?
When the ice cream is almost done, mix in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces. Then store the ice cream in a separate container and let freeze for another few hours, or overnight.
Serve Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream and sprinkle a little bit more Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top if you so desire. And why wouldn’t you. I you’re going to go for it, you may as well go all out.
And. Heaven. The ice cream really did taste just like the cereal. And I might not be lying if I told you Chris ate this whole entire bowl after I photographed it. OK, so I told him he had to eat the whole thing and he claims he didn’t realize I was joking. Suuure.
I was also really happy with the consistency of this ice cream. It was perfectly creamy, without any of that icy-ness. Must be those 5 egg yolks.
I didn’t really eat this for breakfast. Because all those habits my mom taught me, like eating a good healthy breakfast in the morning have stuck with me through the years. And I still would never even eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch before 11 a.m. (unless it was my birthday). Much less Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream! But it just felt good knowing that I could eat this for breakfast if I wanted.
Also, yesterday was National Ice Cream Day. Since it was a Sunday, I hereby proclaim today a continuation of the major holiday and give you full permission to celebrate today as well. I’m still on vacation, so I’ll definitely be partaking. Today I’ll also be playing golf and doing lots of lounging by the pool. Mondays never looked so good 🙂 If yours doesn’t sound so hot, trust me, ice cream will make it better. So will sugary cereal. Lots better.
Were you allowed to eat sugary cereal as a kid? What was your favorite kind?
Next, I think I’ll have to tackle Lucky Charms Ice Cream…
- 3 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, divided
- 1¼ cup whole milk
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- Put one cup of the cereal in a bowl and pour milk into it.
- Let cereal sit in fridge for as long as you can for about 6 hours (you can do less time, but for maximum flavor, I recommend 6). When you take it out of the fridge, it will be all soggy-like. But the milk will be sugary cereal-infused milk.
- Strain the milk from the cereal, making sure you have a cup of milk (if you need more, just pour more plain milk) and put milk into a medium saucepan.
- Heat the milk with the salt and sugar in the saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to a simmer and then remove from heat.
- Whisk egg yolks in a separate bowl.
- Pour half of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then pour that back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
- Pour the cream into a separate bowl place bowl in an ice bath.
- Strain the warm milk mixture into the bowl of cream. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon and stir over the ice until cool.
- Put the bowl into the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put the remaining two cups of cereal in a bag and crush it a little bit.
- Heat butter and brown sugar in a bowl in the microwave until it's melted. Whisk together until blended and pour it over the cereal in the bowl.
- Spread the cereal over a parchment-lined cookie sheet into an even layer and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until it's nice and caramelized.
- Remove from oven, let cool, and break into small pieces.
- When milk/cream solution is done chilling, process according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions.
- When the ice cream is almost done processing, mix in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces. Then store the ice cream in a separate container and let freeze for another few hours, or overnight.
- Serve ice cream in individual bowls and sprinkle a little bit more Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top if desired.
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This makes me wonder why my Kitchenaid ice cream attachment is currently in storage and not making me Cinnamon Toast Crunch ice cream at this very minute.
And my mom would only let us eat Rice Krispies (plain) and Cheerio’s (plain) as children so when I was in high school and college, it was all about the CTC, Lucky Charms and Golden Grahams!
ah my favorite cereal! i would be all over this!
OMG I am in love with this ice cream!
wow! you really need to patent this and sell it!
Thats so fun! I loved cinnamon toast crunch as a kid! We were also not really allowed to have the sugary cereals in the house. My most favorite was captain crunch. My grandma always bought it when my sister and I were visiting
Wow. THat’s all. Wow.
LOVE this!! My parents definitely never bought us cereal like Cinnamon Toast Crunch when my brother and I were kids, so of course I loaded up at friends’ houses ;). Three Sisters (available at Whole Foods) makes a slightly healthier version of the cereal called Cinnamon Sweets, and I’m psyched to try this ice cream using that cereal.
This ice cream looks soo yummy!! I loved fruit loops when I was a kid, but we were never allowed to eat them!
Cereal in ice cream… LOVE IT!!! I wonder how cocoa puffs would taste in ice cream..??!! 🙂
This may have been asked before, but where did you get the container for your ice cream???
how well do you think this would ship? 🙂
We never had sugar cereal in our house while growing up, sugar cereals were a special treat when I visited my grandparents!
This looks sooo good, I love homemade ice cream!
What a GREAT idea. Who needs to eat sugary cereal with just milk when you can eat it with cream, butter and more sugar?!
I ate CTC for breakfast ALOT. Lucky Charms, too!
gosh, this is heavenly!! first time i’m seeing cinnamon toast crunch, dont think it’s available here but anyway, your ice cream is marvellous and i just read thru your instructions, very clear!
This is GENIUS. I grew up eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch – it’s still one of my favorite guilty pleasure cereals/snacks!
Wow… very clever! Looks like creamy, crunchy yumminess!
YOU ARE A GENIUS! want this, right now.
laura
Agree, TOTAL genius. As I am a completel slacker, I will be making a shortcut version using store-bought ice cream, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
you just stopped. my. heart. this is BRILLIANT.
*complete
Obviously learning to type should be right up there with learning to make homemade ice cream. 🙂
When I make ice cream in my maker, after storing it in the freezer, it gets super hard. Does that happen to you? I’ve heard it can help to chill the container I store it in first (I store in glass).
@Catherine- I got my ice cream containers from Zak! Designs on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Zak-Designs-Insulated-Ice-Cream-Freezable/dp/B001R1ZVWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1299214935&sr=8-1-spell
It looks like they’re all sold out now, but I think they should get more in soon (or I’m sure they sell them other places, too).
@Ann- I usually have the opposite problem… But I think it might be worth trying to process it in your ice cream maker a few minutes longer? That will incorporate more air into the ice cream, which will hopefully make for a softer ice cream. Easier said than done, of course! You might just need to let the ice cream sit out a bit before serving it 🙂
Dan from Food in My Beard made the chocolate-coated version, and I have been dying to try it ever since! It sounds great this way too… but I have to admit, I’m a huge fan of chocolate.
Given how hot its going to be in D.C. this week I think I’m going to have to make this!!
MMm looks delicious!!!
I didn’t really get to as a kid. In college I made up for it, though, with prepackaged bowls and poptarts from the local cafeteria, lol.
I love how you infused the milk with the cereal first! Genius. Wish I had a big scoop right now! Fruity pebbles were always my fave and cinnamon Life.
OMG, literally tonight when I was getting some ice cream for me & my hubby I told him that I thought a great ice cream idea would be to have a line of cereal milk ice creams… raisin bran, frosted flakes, trix, honey nut cheerios… and then 30 minutes later I saw your post. What are the odds?!
This gets like SIX “amens” and a few “hallelujahs” thrown in for good measure. Too amazing even for words.
Oh my goodness… this is quite the creation! It sounds SO FANTASTIC, I’m going to have to try it asap!
Oh! I used to eat tons of cinnamon toast crunch…now that I have own an ice cream maker I will definitely make this ice cream, love the different texture in it. So yummie!
Hope you are having a fantastic week 🙂
I was definitely not allowed to eat sugary cereals growing up and I ate my fill in college (I know, CRAZY, right?). Now, I’m back to boring but healthy cereals. I guess Mom really knew best!
haha, i haven’t had cinn toast crunch in ages, but love the thought of this ice cream 🙂
Bravo! Breakfast and dessert in one! I was always a coco pops fan as a kid so maybe I’ll give that a go!
You just combined my two favorite foods! Ack, I must try!
Yum! This is so clever!
I think I am in love. Cinnamon toast crunch is my all time favorite cereal, and ice cream is my favorite dessert. I am bookmarking this 😀
*kisses* HH
Definitely best idea ever – love it!!
Well this is just brilliant!