Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Breakfast Cereal Ice Cream

-Yes, this is what you think it is. Read on and trust me that it is awesome.-

This post will split my readership into two factions: those that think this recipe is vile, and those that will think that this is the best thing ever. Allow me to explain first why I did what I did in making this ice cream. You might better understand.

A few days ago BF and I went out to one of those trendy little yogurt places. You know, the kind where you pick a soft-serve flavor and then load it up with fruit, or candy, or whatnot. Feeling the need to break away from my usual two options; pistachio with granola and strawberries, or chocolate covered with broken up Reese's; I went with a simple vanilla ice cream.

In the corner of my eye I saw prismatic flare of Fruity Pebbles cereal. The epileptic, multi-color overload seemed so whimsical and fun, and so with a jaunty little smile I took a small scoop of of cereal and tossed them in the cup. I took a whiff and recalled that sweet, sugary smell of faux-fruit flavors and the few rare days I was allowed to eat such a treat as a child.

You see, as a kid we grew up with Cheerios and oatmeal and were happy to do so. Dad would cut up bananas, sprinkle on cinnamon, or toss in a handful of raisins and make these breakfasts special. It was how my brothers and I bonded with our dad every morning. We were never left wanting for sugary cereal as we were raised knowing that a box of Lucky Charms was a treat reserved only for visits to grandma's. Still, every so often, maybe on a vacation, we were afforded the luxury of a box of Captain Crunch or, perhaps, Fruity Pebbles which would be greedily eaten in ginormous bowls as my brother and I watched Power Rangers in the morning.

It was tasting my 10 year old life in eating that ice cream when suddenly it hit me: I could make Fruity Pebbles ice cream. The most special childhood Saturday mornings frozen in time and heavy cream. I had had something similar before; the Secret Breakfast ice cream at Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco, a Corn Flake and Bourbon flavored ice cream which is stunning in its flavor and simplicity. It could be done again. I could do it.

-Looking at it too long may cause a stroke.-

So I did. I bought a box of Fruity Pebbles, soaked the cream and milk with it, and then churned that into a basic, Philadelphia-style ice cream (meaning no eggs). It tasted like the milk at the bottom of the bowl. And it was so good. SO good. It was toy commercials, waking up at 6 AM trying not to wake mom and dad, and not having to do homework on Saturdays.

You can do this with any cereal you want, whatever milk in the bowl you liked best, though I think the unhealthier the cereal the better. (BF wants me to try Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)

Yes, part of me should hate it. It's anti-Slow Food. Not sustainable. Certainly not healthy or responsible. But the memories are there. The recipe is fun and it makes me smile. That, sometimes, is reason enough.

-Garnish this ice cream with some of the cereal. It makes it all the better.-

Breakfast Cereal Ice Cream
2 cups of cream
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
3/4 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups of cereal (your choice)

Bring the cream, sugar, and salt to a simmer and stir over medium-high heat until the sugar and salt dissolve. Add the cereal and milk, stir and let sit for two hours. Strain the mixture and discard the soggy cereal. Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Place in a bowl in the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour to firm up. Serve immediately.

*Note: I made this, coincidentally, on a Saturday morning and wasn't feeling the desire to make a custard base ice cream. You very well could if you wanted. The flavoring method is simple enough.

34 comments:

  1. Dude, that is so far in the wrong that it is technically more right than right itself. I'm thinking Lucky Charms, the ultimate in nutritional vacuity, is a shoo-in here. Or Boo Berry. Or that Cap'n Crunch with "berries" that alwats lacerated the shit out of the inside of your mouth but you always wanted more.

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  2. This is absolutely genius and reminds me a bit of Momofuku's cereal milk panna cotta (which I haven't eaten) in terms of re-fashioning cereal milk.

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  3. What fun! This kind of non-slow food makes me smile too. There's not quite the same variety of truly junky cereals here in Australia but I know this would work a treat with Coco Pops or Froot Loops. :-)

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  4. I, too, was rarely allowed sugary cereals as a kid. (Of course, being in Australia, we didn't have anywhere near the range of sugary cereals as you do in America!) Cocoa Pops markes family holidays, and that's it.

    I think this recipe is brilliant, and makes me feel devastated that there's no such thing as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, that graham squares cereal, etc in Aus. I'm also crying because we don't even have frozen yogurt shops.

    Thank you for letting me live vicariously, at least!

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  5. That recipe makes me happy just reading it. And I have to echo the interest in Lucky Charms, since that was my forbidden cereal. Mom said there was just something wrong with any cereal that called those hard little things marshmallows. So I wasn't allowed to eat it based on semantics.

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  6. Holy crap! bet that ice cream tastes very similar to Blue Moon (which, by the way, is the best flavor ever and I can't get it here in Louisiana). I must try this sometime and maybe it'll save me the mass amount of cash I'd have to spend to ship pints of blue moon from Michigan. Yay, thanks for the idea!! (And seriously, get some blue moon if you can get your hands on it)

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  7. oh my god best thing ever. not the first time i've wished i was your neighbor.

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  8. I hope next time you're in New York, you check out the famed Cereal Milk softserve with cornflake crunch topping at Momofuku Milk Bar. ;)

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  9. This takes me back to days of Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, and Chip and Dales: Rescue Rangers. Thanks you!

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  10. I thought I was the only one who grew up on Cheerios, oatmeal, and farina.

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  11. Love it! The inner cereal lover in me says "Rock On!" Now, to bookmark this and make it for my baby cousins who absolutely LOVE Fruity Pebbles!

    Great post! :)

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  12. You had me until the part where you mentioned the milk left in the bowl. LOL It makes me gag even thinking of it. However, I'm sure my husband would be thrilled with it, so I'll be adding it to my recipe file. :D

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  13. Genius! When I was in New York a couple of months ago, I wanted to try the cereal milk frozen yogurt at Momofuku, but tried a couple of pies instead. I love this idea because you can pick your favorite (or most taboo from childhood) cereal. I can't wait to try this!

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  14. I have a violent distaste for sugary , food colored cereal...except for lucky charms. In fact, I imagine them eating up my children's insides.

    I applaud your creativity though!

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  15. Captain crunch cereal and rainbow sprinkles in vanilla Ice cream, try it.

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  16. This is brilliant! I agree with BF on the cinnamon toast crunch front, and believe that will be the one I try first!

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  17. Brilliant! Totally giving this a try...

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  18. Cool. I didn't realize non-custard ice cream was Philadelphia style. I usually don't bother with custard, and actually like it better. Though maybe I just say that because I'm lazy.

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  19. "The Milk in the Bowl" is the *best* part....now I can't wait to try it frozen into my summer ice cream treat! And those brightly colored pebbles on top? Perfect beach umbrella colors! Great, great, great idea---and thank you so much for the idea and the inspiration.

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  20. How funny... I just used Fruity Pebbles to make "Rice Krispy Treats." I had strawberry marshmallows, so I melted them with some butter, and was looking for something to to put in that gloppy mixture, when I found my roommate's Fruity Pebbles! It was so good! Next time, I'll share some with my roommate. :-P

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  21. Oh. My. God yes. YES. Other cereals? No! It SHOULD be fruit pebbles.

    I'll bet that snob that you met at the slow food conference would absolutely sneer her lip into a permanent twist upon reading this post.

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  22. You are now officially my hero!

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  23. That's so awesome! There's a place in Tallahassee like that...the yogurt + whatever you want to top it with kind of places. (And of course I've moved since then.) But I totally put some Cap'n Crunch on mine (plain). It was delicious. :D

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  24. Oh I love it!!! Sometimes you just need food like this in your life.

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  25. I for one am always in favor of turning breakfast into dessert. Last summer I was standing over my bowl of granola and yogurt with sliced banana and wondered why I couldn't just turn it into ice cream? The next morning using the exact same ingredients, with a little swirl of honey I dumped it all in the ice cream maker. My boyfriend harassed me endlessly about eating ice cream for breakfast, but really how was it any different from the morning before? I thought I had been so creative and original, so I did a google search...to my disappointment Haagen Daz already make the same exact flavor!

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  26. This would be AMAZING with Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!! But the Fruity Pebbles version looks so durned happy I can't help but smile. Love this!

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  27. I can't wait to try this with Cookie Crisp

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  28. Oooooh, fruity pebbles are my favorite - and they're supposedly gluten free!

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  29. Okay, while I definitely do not ever make my own ice cream, I felt the need to drop a comment on this post - mainly because it reminded me of my own childhood Saturday mornings (including Power Rangers...but also, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)! The rare occasions my brothers and I got to pick 'garbage cereals,' as my mom referred to them, we ALWAYS went with Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

    Anyway, the second reason I felt the need to comment was because I JUST saw cereal CUPCAKES (http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/search/label/Flour%20and%20Sun%20Bakery) - scroll down - and I thought to myself, HOW hasn't Garrett done this??

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  30. didn't Michael Pollan say something about avoiding cereals that change the color of your milk? and if so, you might be safe here, my friend. If only because the dairy substance is frozen ;)

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  31. Sounds perfectly reasonable. I have ben mixing cereal and ice cream (already prepared) for years. Personal favorites is chocolate ice cream and Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, vanilla ice cream and Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Peppeemint ice cream with Cocoa Pebbles.

    But for me, I like the cool, creamy mixed with the crunchy. It's a texture thing.

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  32. What a great idea! Thanks for posting this. I have a good friend that is turning 30, and his two favorite foods are ice cream and cereal. Guess what I'll be making him for a birthday present. :)

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  33. Fruity Pebbles was one of those cereals that you didn't just eat...you INHALED it. You could eat a massive bowl of it and still be hungry because the pebbles were so small and contained virtually no nutritional value. Not that that would deter me, then or now.

    That being said, this recipe rules and pushed me one step closer to ordering an ice cream maker.

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  34. I'm a member of the "this is awesome" camp. I almost never got to have sweet cereal as a kid, so every now and then I buy a box of something sinfully sweet and delight in how bad it is. Mixing it into ice cream is genius.

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~Garrett