This week we officially welcome summer, though we’ve definitely been in that mode here in Arizona for quite some time. There’s nothing like homemade ice cream to celebrate.
I recently watched an episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix about Christina Tosi’s creative spin on soft serve ice cream and was inspired to play around with the idea at home. If you are like me and have never been to New York to visit her famous Milk Bar Bakery, you might not know that Cereal Milk Ice Cream is a thing! And what a beautiful thing it is!
Let me explain… Cereal Milk Ice Cream is made just like regular homemade ice cream with cream, milk, and sugar except before you churn it, you steep cereal in the creamy mixture overnight. What you are left with is a glorified (hello cream and sugar!) version of the cereal milk you find at the bottom of you bowl each morning after breakfast.
See where this is going?
The soggy cereal is strained out, and the cereal flavored cream mixture is churned into ice cream. The result is beyond amazing… and a little hard to describe. This is one of those times where pictures really don’t help me explain how wonderful this recipe is, and if I could put on a little hairnet and hand out samples at the grocery store, or on the street corner, I would gladly offer you some to try!
I guess you are just going to have to trust me on this one, and either fly to New York for the real thing, or make some for yourself! The Cereal Milk Ice Cream served at Milk Bar is made with cornflakes, but I used plain Cap’n Crunch in my recipe and I loved the sweetness and flavor it added. Give it a try!
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Homemade Cereal Milk Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 5 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Homemade Cereal Milk Ice Cream is the perfect way to celebrate summer. If you’ve never had it before, this is a MUST TRY!!!
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups cereal
Instructions
- Stir heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, salt and vanilla together in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add cereal, cover, and allow to steep overnight.
- Just before churning, use a strainer to remove the cereal, pressing down on the strained cereal to drain as much of the cream mixture back into the bowl as possible. Discard strained cereal.
- Pour ice cream batter into ice cream maker canister, and churn according to directions. I have had this ice cream maker for several years and love it!
- Scoop into a container, cover, and freeze until firm.
Nathan says
This recipe is so much more simple than the other cereal milk ice creams I found and that made me a bit concerned it was too good to be true. But boy was it amazing! So simple to make and incredibly delicious. We ate it with fresh peaches and some crumbled cereal on top.
Julie says
Fresh peaches sounds amazing with this recipe! So glad you enjoyed!
Laura Worthington says
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! I just made it this afternoon and it is, hands down, the best ice cream I have ever had – and my husband agrees as well 🙂 one small change I made was to spread the cereal out on a baking sheet and toast it in the oven for 10 minutes at 325. Perfection! I am going to make this for my family to give as gifts for Christmas. It’s absolutely incredible!
Ishwen says
Did you add roasted cereal to milk ? Or sprinkle on top ? I would love to make this icecream so curious to know 😊
Andrea says
Thank you for this recipe – it was simple and delicious. My only issue is that I didn’t make enough! 😋😁
Pinko Palino says
I made this with Count Chocula cereal and topped it with white balsamic creama and cayenne dusted toasted sesame seeds on top – it was the bomb!
Emma says
So I haven’t made this yet, but am on an ice cream making kick and I’m pretty much on fiiiiire with my homemade ice cream this summer! Not to gloat, and it most definitely shows (😬 I have no self-control when it comes to ice cream)
So far I have started by using a very similar base for all my ice creams which is very close to this base, however I use just a slight variation with one additional step, I hope you don’t mind me sharing, and would also love your feedback if you think this would work with this recipe.
I slowly bring the mixture to a boil after adding a few TBS (3 if I’m making 2 quarts) of corn starch to thicken the base, and then after it cools a tiny bit, I add the vanilla (If I have fresh vanilla beans, I scrape one out and use that if I have more time) and 2 egg yolks (again this is for 2 quarts so I double everything) and whisk them together.
After allowing the mixture in the pan to come to a slow boil, and keep it at that slow boil around 10-15 minutes to on medium-low – ***You don’t want to walk away while this is boiling, because it is so sugary that you risk burning all that precious work to the bottom of the pan, a mistake I’ve made twice 😫 Once it thickens, allow it to cool a bit, and then ever so slowly adding the whisked egg and vanilla mixture it to the mixture ever so slowly in order to not accidentally cook the egg.
Then I pour it into 9×5 glass Pyrex, take Saran Wrap and cover entire Pyrex but allow the wrap to sit right on top of the mixture so that no freeze burn settles on top (in my opinion, this is a crucial step!) So I’m assuming after I boil my mixture and whisk in the eggs mixture, this is when I would add the fruity pebbles. And then I cover the Pyrex with the plastic lid after Saran wrapping, and then I usually just cool it overnight. So then I would strain it before putting it into ice cream maker.
Just a couple of notes in case you’re interested, 1) I find it’s just easier to do it before bed and make the ice cream the next day – just because I like the harder store bought texture rather than the soft serve right out on the ice cream maker.
I use a Kitchenaid Mixer ice cream attachment (I would rather have purchased the Cusinart Ice Cream Maker, but it’s a space issue.
Where I live (Connecticut) we have this amazing ice cream place MilkCraft where they make your ice cream right there with co2 or whatever it is to freeze it right there, and they serve it in a bubble waffle cone 🤤 I just HAD to buy one of these babies! or in a Krispy Kreme like donut. One of their flavors is cereal milk and they use fruity pebbles, SO amazing!
Would love any thoughts on variations, and am excited to try it tonight!
Julie says
I think that sounds like a fantastic method! Yes, I would add fruity pebbles for your overnight cooling. The only thing I’m wondering about is if they would completely dissolve into the ice cream base, or if there would still be little bits to cool? I’m excited to see what you think!
Emma says
Okay, soooo….this sounded like a great idea, but I think that because I did it with the other recipe base that I use with the simmering with cornstarch to thicken, so when I poured the cereal into it, it was as thick as condensed soup (whoops!) I didn’t account for your recipe doesn’t require the custard like preparation because of the added thickness and texture of the fruity pebbles I used. So after a night in the fridge, when I went to go put it through the ice cream machine, all the hot thick liquid now cooled overnight, the fruity pebbles basically absorbed the entire milk mixture 🤭 Whoops! It was literally an entire solid block of goo 😂😂😂😂 alteration=fail! So I remade it tonight using your recipe, and toasted the fruity pebbles first like the other poster above, and we will see what happens in the morning! The recipe is RIDICULOUSLY easy, it’s hard to believe! From experience though, I can tell it’s gonna be the booommmbbb!
I live in Connecticut (I don’t know if it’s just a CT thing) and have this place in new haven called Milkcraft, where they make these amazing ice creams, and the use liquid nitrogen(? Maybe? Lol) and they make every order fresh, it’s so cool they use a kitchenaid mixer and the ice cream is indescribable! Cookie butter blue, milk and cereal, sea salt caramel, bourbon cream, the names don’t even do them justice!!! And, it comes in either a bubble waffle cone (half waffle cone half waffle, unreal! Or basically in a Krispy Kreme donut. Hah annnnyywaaay, will let you know how it turns out with this batch, thanks again!
Austin says
Is there a reason you strain the cereal? Could you just leave it in for color/speckles or does it mess up the texture? I’m excited to give this a try with captain crunch!
Austin says
Amazing. The only change I made was adding about a quarter cup of ground cereal in at the end to add a speckled look to the ice cream. Can’t wait to try it with other kinds!