Cinnamon Toast Crunch Butter Mochi-Cereal Killa
I am always on the lookout for mochi recipes. Aside from being downright delicious, it is nice to have gluten-free options in your arsenal. The blog, Little Fat Boy caught my attention with a recipe for Cinnamon Toast Crunch Butter Mochi. Holy moly, dessert with not just one but TWO of my favorite foods, mochi and cereal, I am all in.
Bad, Bad Mom
I’m going to admit, I was one of those crazy militant moms about snacks and cereals. The only cereals that graced our table included Special K, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Rice Krispies. BORING. The grams of sugar had to be in single digits for any box to make the cut. Hostess was not part of our family’s vernacular. To this day, I’m not sure if my kids have had a Hostess Twinkie.
Eventually, I came clean to my kids, and the flood gates opened. They rolled their eyes with righteous indignation as I rattled off my favorite childhood snacks and cereals-Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, HoHos, Milk Duds, BigHunks…lol. Hey, I was a latch-key kid…unlike them…so lucky to have a mom to constantly police, I mean, watch over them!
Welcome to Adulthood
The perks of growing up, my days of being their sugar police are long over. In fact, during their college days, care packages with Dad’s Good Cookies, Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and candies were sent on a regular basis. We made up for years of deprivation.
All Things Mochi
Ground Zero for mochi recipes is Butter Mochi Muffin, adapted from Snixy Kitchen (a gorgeous blog featuring gluten-free recipes), and still the most popular recipe posted on 3Jamigos. Variations followed, Mango Mochi Muffins, Chocolate Mochi Donuts and Brownies, and Misugaru Mochi Muffins…in fact mochi has its own category on 3Jamigos. This is the latest in my mochi mania recipes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Butter Mochi. Remember the cereal milk at the bottom of your bowl you savored when you were a kid? Yep, use it to make your mochi.
Soak the cereal for a minimum of an hour in one and a quarter cups of milk, stirring occasionally. The recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and half a can (200ml) of coconut milk. The cereal will absorb some of the milk, after soaking, if there is less than 1 cup of milk, add extra coconut milk to bring it to 1 cup.
For the first batch, I followed Little Fat Boy, made them in a pan, and cut them into squares. For the second batch, I made muffins because everyone deserves their own sweet treat.
To further crisp the Cinnamon Toast Crunch topping, I used Christina Tosi’s method to make cereal crunch. Toast crushed cereal bathed in butter in the oven.
Delicious, sweet, with cinnamon and caramel undertones and the characteristic gooey, springy texture of mochi, this is a keeper. Add this to your bucket list.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Butter Mochi
Ingredients
Wet Stuff
- 2 large eggs
- 1.25 cups milk, I like whole but lowfat, skim and alternative milks will work to soak Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- 1/2 can of coconut milk 200ml I prefer full fat coconut milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup or Golden Syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The Dry Stuff
- 1/2 box Mochiko sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour) 254 g
- 1 cup brown sugar preferably dark brown
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1-1.25 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal to soak in milk
Topping
- 1 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal for topping
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- unsalted butter to grease pans
Instructions
- Soak 1.25-1.5 cups of milk with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for at least an hour or overnight. Strain milk into a measuring cup. You should have 1 cup. If it is less than this, use extra coconut milk to make up the difference,
- Preheat an oven to 350° F. Generously butter an 8x8 baking pan. For muffins, butter a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together rice flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients in large bowl, 2 large eggs, 1 cup milk (soaked in Cinnamon Toast Crunch), coconut milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth.
- Slowly pour dry ingredients into a bowl of wet ingredients, whisking as you pour until it becomes a smooth batter. Mix in melted butter into the batter until incorporated, then pour batter into the buttered pan. If making muffins, pour batter into each muffin tin approximately 7/8 full. Should fill 12 cups. Tap pans on the counter to release air bubbles.
Topping
- Crush the extra Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a small bowl and add melted butter. Stir to coat cereal with butter. Pour onto a small baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees for 20 minutes or until toasty and fragrant. Remove and cool.
- Sprinkle toasted cereal on batter just before baking. You can forego the toasting of the cereal but you lose some of the crispiness.
Da Finish
- Cake pan mochi: Bake for approximately 60 minutes until golden brown and set. Stick a toothpick or bamboo skewer in, it should go in smoothly and come out without any sticky stuff. If you like your mochi a little more set bake a bit longer. The less time you bake the gooey-ier your mochi will be.For muffins bake approximately 40-45 minutes.
- Once cool, sprinkle powdered sugar on mochi before serving. Slice cake into squares like brownies and serve.
- Will keep a couple of days at room temp. Do not refrigerate. Mochi is freezable.