Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Many people might be surprised to learn that making your own homemade cereal is well worth your time! The reason is that boxed breakfast cereals are some of the most toxic, unhealthy foods you can possibly buy!
What’s more – believe it or not – organic cereal brands and whole grain cereals are the absolute worst!
The reason is that the violent processing required to make boxed cereal (called extrusion) is so high in temperature and pressure that the proteins in the grains are completely denatured and rendered toxic from the ordeal. Organic boxed cereal is the worst of all because it is whole grain and therefore higher in protein. (source)
Ever wondered how all those shapes and flakes are made? The cereal grains are actually liquefied in order to create the slurry necessary to create the desired form. This destroys the integrity of the grains making them difficult to digest and toxic for the body too.
So don’t be fooled by boxed cereals that only have a few ingredients. The ingredients label tells you nothing about the dangerous processing that occurred to produce the cereal!
Toxic foods are frequently the most addictive (think MSG and aspartame/nutrasweet), so even though it is difficult, you simply must eliminate these foods from your pantry for good! Cold breakfast cereals are some of the most addicting processed foods on the market in fact.
I just cringe when I see parents giving their toddlers Cheerios and other boxed cereals as finger foods. If these parents only knew how toxic these foods are, perhaps they would think twice about handing it out so freely to their children.
The good news is that you can make a very delicious, healthy alternative yourself at home!
How to Make Breakfast Cereal (How-to Videos)
The first video below demonstrates how to make and bake the breakfast cereal batter. The second video shows you how to crumble it into bite size pieces and gently dehydrate for the satisfying crunch in a bowl with milk!
The written recipe follows 🙂
If you would like to know how to make this cereal Paleo, here is a homemade grain free cereal recipe to try instead.
Homemade Breakfast Cereal Recipe
Recipe for how to make cold breakfast cereal so that you can avoid the toxic, overly processed boxed versions at the store. Organic cereal isn't any better!
Ingredients
- 6 cups flour preferably freshly ground for optimal nutrition
- 3 cups whole yogurt plain
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup maple syrup dark, preferably organic
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple flavor
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbl ground cinnamon preferably organic and freshly ground
Instructions
-
Mix fresh flour and soaking medium of choice in a large, glass bowl. Cover with a clean cloth and rubber band and leave on the counter for 24 hours.
-
Mix all the remaining ingredients including fresh cinnamon into the batter after soaking is complete.
-
Pour into 2 – 9x13 pans and bake at 350 F/ 177 C for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Do not overbake!
-
Let cool and crumble the coffee cake into small pieces (see second video above for ideal size) and dehydrate on cookie sheets at 200 F/ 93 C for about 12-18 hours. Turn cereal pieces every few hours to dry evenly.
-
Store in airtight containers in the refrigerator.
-
Serve alone as a finger food snack or in a bowl with either dairy or nondairy milk.
Recipe Notes
Substitute whole milk kefir, buttermilk, or clabbered milk for yogurt if desired.
For dairy free cereal, use 3 cups water plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice or store bought or homemade apple cider vinegar.
Substitute date syrup for the maple syrup if you wish to sweeten only with fruit. Do not substitute honey as cooking honey is not healthy.Â
Other healthy breakfast cereal ideas
- Homemade corn flakes
- Homemade rice krispies
- Overnight oats
- Homemade grain free cold cereal
- Teff porridge
- Amaranth porridge
- Buckwheat porridge
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I accidentally left the oven on 350 for an hour before I realized it, turned the finish time into about 6 hours!
If you have an oven on for 18 hours won’t it hike up your electrical bill? I want to make this recipe because my husband needs some variety but I cannot afford to adf more to my electric bill. We also do not have a dehydrator. Any suggestions?
I haven’t noticed much of a difference.
I really did not follow anything but the basic outline of the recipe, because that is just how I cook, nothing against the recipe. I have health problems that chemicals are causing and have to stay away from anything GMO, glyphosate and other artificial stuff. I used an organic heritage grain mix of mostly Sonora wheat with some Kamut. I soaked it with a little yogurt and some juice concentrate to help with increasing acidity. A bit of water and a hint of Apple vinegar.
After soaking 26 hours, I made a syrup out of non GMO far less refined natural sugar and bottled water. I added that, loads of apples chopped really fine (reconstituted dry apples heated a bit first, sorry had to get rid of them and the recipe was an experiment anyways), and real cinnamon (organic special order real stuff that is healthy, not the fake stuff). After cooking and crumbling, I increased the water content of the syrup I had made earlier and not used up to decrease the amount of sugar per volume of fluid. I then coated the crumbles in it to make for a reasonable but not too extreme sugar coating.
I know a bit too much of a Frankenstein recipe, and maybe too much sugar for some. I reduced the sugar in the batter enough to allow for the coating and still be reasonably healthy. Hey the Dr said reduce GMO and chemicals, he said natural sugar is just fine to have. Either way, it is way addicting and far superior to anything boxed.
What I like is the freshly ground organic flour health and flavor, but with a very nice easy to eat texture. The flavor the juice concentrate brings is more subtle than you would think, but I like it. The coating as much as I know you will probably be doing something like a facepalm while reading that, is something that made a HUGE difference too. I will absolutely make this on a regular basis and sorry about the added sugar, but yes with the coating.
Oh and I am using a food dehydrator on the last step, not an oven. Works better to hold more.