Muffins and cupcakes. French toast casserole and bread pudding. Smoothies and milkshakes. Many breakfast foods are just a technicality away from being dessert. After all, donuts are a breakfast food, at least in the U.S. So why not start your day with a bowl of cookies and milk? TV personality and celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis seems to agree, based on a TikTok video in which she whips up a batch of homemade Cookie Crisp-inspired cereal.
To create this tasty treat – or rather, energizing breakfast – de Laurentiis takes a package of Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough and cuts it up into mini squares, which she then shapes into balls, and bakes. Once they’re out of the oven and cooled, all you have to do is add milk and enjoy!
The finished product looks perfectly crispy, and both de Laurentiis and her daughter Jade (stepping in as her sous chef) give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Sounds like a great way to solidify your status as a cool parent – or to just get your own day off to a sweet start.
Pack in protein by making your own
While de Laurentiis’ method of using prepackaged dough is perfectly valid (and very efficient, from a timing perspective), making your own cookie cereal lends itself to the possibility of adding additional protein, fruit, etc. to the mix. All you have to do is make miniature versions of your favorite cookies, taking care to bake them until crispy. In fact, this might be a good opportunity to opt for a recipe that uses coconut oil, as that is a tried-and-true butter substitute that will leave you with crispier cookies.
Many cookie cereal recipes incorporate peanut butter or other nut butters, or more fiber-rich flours like almond or whole wheat. You can even add pecans or walnuts to your batter. If you choose to make oatmeal cookie cereal rather than chocolate chip, you could mix in raisins or other dried fruit.
If you remember General Mills’ Sprinkle Spangles cereal (one of the discontinued cereals we want back on the shelves) as fondly as we do, you may know what’s coming next: Sugar cookie cereal. It’s not all about extra protein – sometimes, a healthy dose of nostalgia is just what the doctor ordered.