So what exactly is cereal milk?
The idea is truly brilliant.
A wildly popular drink created by pastry chef Christina Tosi of the famous Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC, cereal milk is exactly what it sounds like: an ice-cold milk drink that tastes like your favorite breakfast cereal. See? Brilliant! After all, what child doesn’t look forward to that sweet cereal-infused milk left over when all of the frosted flakes, apple cinnamon cheerios, or cocoa krispies are gone?
The sweet cereal milk is the best part!
Intrigued by the Momofuku idea of infusing regular milk with toasted cereal, I experimented to come up with a homemade cereal milk recipe. Although I’ve never tasted the original to compare, I really love this version. It’s especially great for anyone who doesn’t want to pay $5 for a glass of cereal milk, anyone who wants to control the amount of sugar that goes in, or anyone who is a vegan or can’t have dairy. Oh, and anyone who doesn’t happen to live in a city (NYC or Toronto) with a Momofuku Milk Bar location.
Homemade Cereal Milk
(inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar)
- 1 cup cereal of choice
- 1 3/4 cup milk of choice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
- sweetener of choice to taste (amount will depend on the type of milk you use. For example, if you use unsweetened almond milk, try 2 tsp sugar or a pinch of stevia extract.
Preheat oven to 300 F. Spread cereal out on a baking sheet, and bake 12 minutes. (I used Whole Foods bran flakes for this recipe, but many other types of cereal will work. I’d just recommend not using granola.) Transfer to a large glass, add the milk, stir and let sit 30-35 minutes. Don’t rush this step. When the time is up, set a fine mesh strainer over a container and pour the mixture into the strainer. Really squish the flakes down, using the bottom of the glass or a spoon, until pretty much all of the liquid has been pushed into the strainer. (Compost the mushy cereal, or save it for another use.) Add all remaining ingredients to the container, and stir. Voila! Cereal milk!
 
Question of the Day:
What was your favorite childhood breakfast cereal?
When I was really little, my favorite was Cocoa Krispies because it turned the milk into chocolate milk. I also really liked Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and only stopped eating them when I was in high school because we moved overseas and one box cost eleven US dollars! Although I don’t often eat cereal anymore, I’ll sometimes pick up a box of Love Crunch granola for snacking. And I usually have a box of Whole Foods bran flakes on hand for recipes like the Healthy Butterfingers.
Link of the Day:
Oh my gosh, I just had to say what a crazy coincidence.. I had just read about Momofuku’s cereal milk yesterday, and made a huge batch, and I come here and you’ve made one too!
I have got to share this with you though: half of the cereal milk I heated up, and stirred some agar-agar in to make some sort of pudding-like dessert. Didn’t put enough agar-agar though, but still yummy. : D
I seriously can’t believe I haven’t thought/heard of this before. Cereal milk is definitely the main reason I eat cereal!
I cannot believe that I haven’t thought of using non-diary milk to make cereal milk before, genius! I’ve been to Momofuku Milk Bar plenty of times before, but I’ve never tried the cereal milk because, frankly, drinking cow’s milk like that skeeves me out. I’ll definitely be trying this, though. So excited!
I think my favorite childhood cereal was frosted shredded Wheaties. I still love them, but they are high in sugar, so I avoid them.
When I was younger, I knew how to make ice cream by mixing milk, sugar, and flavoring, and shaking it in a bag of ice. It wasn’t Breyers, but it was good. I used Fruity Pebbles milk once, and the milk tasted good, but the ice cream tasted bad.
BQ: How do you feel about vegans who ridicule the rest of the population, simply because they aren’t vegan?
You can finde the recepie in ms. Tossis book.
Since first hearing of this idea/concept, I’ve LOVED it! I think it is such a clever idea, because, really, the flavor the milk takes on after mixed with cereal is the best! I’ve always wanted to visit that spot in NYC, but now I’m so glad I can make it at home; thanks so much for posting the recipe!
Far and away Reese’s Puffs. Fortunately, by mixing chocolate and peanut butter Cheerio’s, I can get the two tastes (though I miss that perfect sweetness). Now that I look at the nutritional info…I never want to put that stuff in my stomach again.
But Cocoa Krispies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, far and away, produce the best cereal milk. And those I can at least bear to treat myself to occasionally.
I’ve never hears of this before! How creative and sounds delicious ! Must try…
Whoa, Katie liked a chocolate cereal? NO FRICKIN WAY. It’s not like it’s in your blog name or anything 🙂
As for my favorite cereal… Trader Joe’s used to make this incredible cereal with chunks of chocolate and slightly sweet cereal flakes, but they discontinued it a few years back. You can bet I’d still eat cereal every morning if they did, though!
I totally want to try this! And now I want to try the original since I go to NYC and Toronto often! Thanks for the recipe 🙂