Homemade Cookie Crisp Cereal

Our Homemade Cookie Crisp Cereal is crunchy, chocolatey, delicious, and WAY better than the original! It's made with maple syrup instead of regular sugar so it's not overly sweet like most cereals. Plus, it only takes 10 minutes in the oven!

This recipe is part of our Better Than Store-Bought series, where we share homemade versions of your favorite store-bought snacks, meals and more.

Homemade Cereal is Better

It's interesting to go back and taste the things we loved during childhood, because they usually fall short of our expectations. Maybe our tastes have changed over time, or maybe the products just weren't that good to begin with!

Store-bought cookie crisp was one of my favorite cereals as a kid, but tasting it now... it just seems a bit (okay, a lot) artificial and super sugary. Our homemade version uses a combination of oat flour and all purpose flour and a touch of cornstarch, so they're light and airy but have a wholesome flavor.

We also left out the corn syrup or granulated sugar and opted for maple syrup instead. Some chopped mini chocolate chips provide those signature chocolate flecks. The batter is piped out, piece by piece, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and then the cereal bakes until it's slightly browned around the edges.

The end result is absolutely delicious. They're crisp, have just the right amount of chocolate chips, and I mean, they're basically mini cookies, so you really can't go wrong. It's challenging to get them quite as crisp as commercially produced cereal, so to prevent sogginess, just have a small quantity and refill your bowl as desired.

This recipe is also great to make, and then enjoy, with kids. If this sounds up your alley, then keep reading, or try our Homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal or our reader-favorite Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts.

Key Ingredients and Tools Needed for Homemade Cookie Crisp

• Oat Flour: Oat flour is readily available at most grocery stores, and our favorite brand is Bob's Red Mill. This recipe could be made with all oat flour rather than a mix of oat/all-purpose, which would make your cereal gluten free.
• Maple Syrup: For best flavor, make sure you use 100% pure maple syrup.
• Piping bag and piping tips: You can always use a plastic zip-top bag to pipe, but investing in a piping bag set like the one we have makes things much easier and the end result more uniform. We use our piping set to finish pies and tarts, like our S'Mores Tart, to ice cupcakes, like our Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes, or when making choux pastry, like our Cheddar Gougeres.

How to Make Homemade Cookie Crisp

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F / 175˚C.
2. To a small bowl, add the all-purpose and oat flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine until fully incorporated, and set aside.
3. To a larger mixing bowl, add the melted butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and egg. Whisk to combine until fully incorporated.

4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, fully combining between additions until no dry streaks remain in the batter.
5. Fold in the chopped chocolate chips.
6. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 2A size piping tip. You can also use a plastic zip-top bag to pipe the cookies, and cut the tip a little smaller than ½ inch.
7. Pipe small circles about the size of a dime onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. The cookies don't spread much, so they can be close together.

8. Bake for 5-8 minutes, until they're golden on the bottom and around the edges.
9. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the pan. They'll crisp up more as they cool.

10. Enjoy by the handful, or in a bowl with milk!

Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!

• The batter is pretty sticky, so to avoid the parchment lifting off the sheet every time you add a bit of batter, you'll want to spray your sheet pan with cooking oil before putting the parchment down. Alternatively, you can pipe out a little bit of batter in the corners and the center of the sheet pan before putting down the parchment paper.
• These are pretty small, so they cook really quickly. You'll want to check in on them after about 5 minutes, but we found they were perfect after about 8 minutes. The bake time will really depend on exactly how large you pipe them, so look out for golden brown bottoms/edges to know when they're done.
• We were able to get about ¾ of a cup of cereal onto one sheet pan, and this whole recipe will make about 4 cups, so you'll need to use multiple sheet pans or cook in batches if you're making a whole batch.
• You don't really need to worry how the cookies look when piped. If they are a little smeared or they have a distinct tip, don't worry. They tend to flatten out into a cookie shape regardless.

More Better Than Store-Bought Recipes You'll Love

We can't wait for you to bake this homemade cookie crisp cereal in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!

Recipe

Lexi

Homemade Cookie Crisp Cereal

5 from 1 vote

Our Homemade Cookie Crisp Cereal is crunchy, chocolatey, delicious, and WAY better than the original! It's made with maple syrup instead of regular sugar so it's not overly sweet like most cereals. Plus, it only takes 10 minutes in the oven! 

This recipe is part of our Better Than Store-Bought series, where we share homemade versions of your favorite store-bought snacks, meals and more.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Total Time 18 minutes mins

Servings: 8 (makes 4 cups)

Course: Baking, Better Than Store Bought, Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Calories: 324

Video

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lexi Harrison & Beth Sinclair (@crowded_kitchen)

Ingredients Method Nutrition Video Notes

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup oat flour
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
• ¾ cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup mini chocolate chips chopped

Method

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F / 175˚C.
2. To a small bowl, add the all-purpose and oat flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine until fully incorporated, and set aside.
3. To a larger mixing bowl, add the melted butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and egg. Whisk to combine until fully incorporated.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, fully combining between additions until no dry streaks remain in the batter.
5. Fold in the chopped chocolate chips.
6. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 2A size piping tip. You can also use a plastic zip-top bag to pipe the cookies, and cut the tip a little smaller than ½ inch.
7. Pipe small circles about the size of a dime onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. The cookies don't spread much, so they can be close together.
8. Bake for 5-8 minutes, until they're golden on the bottom and around the edges.
9. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the pan. They'll crisp up more as they cool.
10. Enjoy by the handful, or in a bowl with milk!

Notes

It's challenging to get them quite as crisp as commercially produced cereal, so to prevent sogginess, just have a small quantity and refill your bowl as desired. 

The batter is pretty sticky, so to avoid the parchment lifting off the sheet every time you add a bit of batter, you'll want to spray your sheet pan with cooking oil before putting the parchment down. Alternatively, you can pipe out a little bit of batter in the corners and the center of the sheet pan before putting down the parchment paper.

These are pretty small, so they cook really quickly. You'll want to check in on them after about 5 minutes, but we found they were perfect after about 8 minutes. The bake time will really depend on exactly how large you pipe them, so look out for golden brown bottoms/edges to know when they're done.

Nutrition

Calories: 324kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 4gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.5gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 191mgPotassium: 134mgFiber: 1gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 397IUVitamin C: 0.03mgCalcium: 69mgIron: 1mg

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