Start Your Day Right with Homemade Chai Cinnamon Toast Crunch
It all started with a misunderstanding. Holly Haines (who goes by @itsholly on Instagram and id a total kitchen wizard) posted some homemade duck fat crackers and commenter after commenter proclaimed that they had been fooled — they thought the little squares were homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Then Holly did the best thing possible: She immediately made homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch and posted about it.
Her video shows nicely spiced little flaky, crispy squares topped with milk. Frankly, the homemade cereal looks dreamy — like an upgraded, extra-tasty version of the grocery-store staple.
To make Holly’s homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch, add Chai Masala Blend from Diaspora Co. to give it a little extra something-something. Whisk the spice mix together with cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Melt a few tablespoons of butter and let cool.
While the butter is cooling, whisk together the flour, dark rye flour, more Chai spices, salt, and malted milk powder. Work in a cup of cubed, cold salted butter with your hands — just like when you’re making pie dough or biscuits. Add vanilla bean paste and enough ice water to bring the dough together into a ball. Divide it in half and form each into a disc before wrapping them in plastic wrap and chilling for half an hour.
Roll out one disc of dough onto a floured piece of parchment. Brush with half of the melted, cooled butter and sprinkle with half of the spiced sugar. Cut into squares, gently separate them, and then repeat with the other disc of dough. Transfer the pieces of parchment with the squares onto two baking sheets and bake until browned on the bottom.
At the end of the video, Holly tries her homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch and says “That’s dumb.” As in, I made something so good, it’s just plain dumb. Judging by the looks of things, I don’t doubt it. I could see eating these by the handful with or without milk, or even using them to top a spice cake to take it to a whole other level. It feels like a delightful weekend project, and I definitely see some chai-spiced homemade cereal in my future.