Cinnamon-spiced vanilla cream filling in a Cinnamon Toast Crunch crust topped with buttery clusters of Cinnamon Toast Crunch crunchies! Enjoy your favorite cereal in pie form!
It’s definitely no secret on here that I love me some cereal. I’ve made Cereal Milk Ice Cream, Cotton Candy Cap’n Crunch Cereal Cake, Cereal Milk Cake, and even Cinnamon Toast Crunch Hot Chocolate. No matter how many bowls of cereal I inhale, my love for this not-so-balanced breakfast option will never die.
So this week, I decided to make a dreamy creamy pie dedicated to my most favorite cereal of ALL time………Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
When I say that this pie is absolutely loaded with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I’m not exaggerating. It’s made with over SIX cups of the cereal, so you know it’s not skimping on that deliciously iconic flavor at all! It has a Cinnamon Toast Crunch crust, a rich Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal milk filling, dollops of Cinnamon Toast Crunch whipped cream, and buttery crispy clusters of Cinnamon Toast Crunch crunchies! So if you were counting, this pie contains a whopping FOUR times the Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
The beauty of this pie is that’s it’s mostly no-bake. The only component that involves an oven is the Cinnamon Toast Crunch crunchies on top. Although I was kind of aiming for a true no-bake pie, I will say that HANDS-DOWN the crunchies are totally worth it!!
So, let’s get down to business, shall we??
First things first! We gotta get started on the cereal milk! Now, in case you’re unaware of the magic that is cereal milk, it’s basically the nectareous liquid that’s been infused with all of the delicious sweetness and flavor of the cereal. In other words, it’s the leftover milk in the bottom of the bowl once you’ve eaten all of the cereal. For this recipe, however, we’re technically going to be making cereal cream since heavy cream is used in place of the milk.
You’ll basically combine equal parts cereal with equal parts heavy cream and allow them to soak for about 45 minutes in the refrigerator. I like to stir it from time to time just to make sure that the heavy cream is thoroughly absorbing every piece of the cereal. Because once it’s done soaking, we won’t be using any of that soggy cereal.
While the cereal is soaking in the cream, it’s a good time to work on the crust. This pie crust is essentially a graham cracker crust, but instead of graham crackers, we’ll be using Cinnamon Toast Crunch! You’ll need to crush your cereal either in a food processor or a large ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Make sure that every single piece of cereal is finely-crushed, so that the crust stays together when you cut into later on.
Although Cinnamon Toast Crunch might seem sweet enough on its own, a few tablespoons of brown sugar are definitely a must for extra flavor, and of course, sweetness! After everything is tossed with some melted butter, the mixture gets pressed evenly into a pie dish. No need to bake this crust! Just place it in the refrigerator while you get started on the filling.
After your cereal has soaked long enough in the cream, place a fine mesh sieve over your mixing bowl, and pour the cream through the sieve. Gently press down on the soggy cereal to extract any extra flavor. Discard the cereal, and whip the cereal cream until soft peaks form. Add some powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla, and continue whipping the cream until stiff peaks form.
To avoid extra clean-up, just transfer the whipped cream to another bowl, and return the bowl to the mixer. Switch the whisk attachment out for the paddle attachment, then start beating your cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and salt together. Once the mixture is smooth, add 1 cup of the whipped cream and beat until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in another cup of the whipped cream. You’ll save the remaining whipped cream for the top of the pie!
To finish off the filling, remove 1 cup of the filling from the bowl, then spread the rest of the filling into the pie crust. To the reserved 1 cup of filling, stir in a teaspoon of cinnamon. Spread the cinnamon filling evenly over the other filling, and refrigerate the pie for at least 4 hours.
Now it’s time to make the Cinnamon Toast Crunch clusters! With your hands, coarsely crush the cereal into a bowl, then toss in some sugar and a little milk powder. Milk powder is essentially milk in its most concentrated form. There’s no liquid at all–just millions of tiny pebbles. Although milk powder is kind of a random ingredient, I love using it for all kinds of baked goods. It might look rather plain right out of the box, but it adds incredible texture and depth of flavor to whatever you add it to!
After a little melted butter is stirred into the mixture, it goes into the oven for about 20 minutes to get nice and toasty. Allow it to cool completely before breaking it up into bite-sized clusters. I recommend placing the clusters on top of your pie an hour or two before you serve it. They retain their crunch for a while, but after a day or two sitting on top of the pie, they’re not as crispy crunchy.
This pie is definitely a Cinnamon Toast Crunch lover’s dream come true. However, you don’t even have to be a super fan of the cereal to enjoy this pie. In fact, my mom REALLY enjoyed this kiddie concoction of mine and she’s nowhere near the cereal connoisseur that I am. So I think it’s safe to say that this pie will mostly likely please anyone at your next gathering!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Pie
Ingredients
Cereal Cream:
- 1 ½ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- 1 ½ cup heavy cream
Crust:
- 4 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 7 Tablespoons butter melted
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Filling:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons sour cream
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Crunchies:
- 1 ½ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- 1 Tablespoon milk powder
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
Make the Cereal Cream:
- Pour the cereal into a medium bowl. Pour the heavy cream over the cereal, stirring to coat the cereal. Allow cereal cream mixture to soak in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes, while you make the crust.
Make the Crust:
- In a food processor (or a plastic ziplock bag with a rolling pin), finely crush the cereal. Pour crushed cereal into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon and melted butter, stirring until combined. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish; refrigerate.
Make the Filling:
- Strain the soggy cereal from the heavy cream. Pour cereal cream into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to another bowl.
- Return bowl to stand mixer and replace whisk attachment with paddle attachment. To the bowl, add the cream cheese, granulated sugar, sour cream and salt. Beat on high until smooth and combined.
- Add 1 cup of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture, mixing until combined. Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in another cup of the whipped cream. Reserve the rest of the whipped cream for the top of the pie.
- Remove one cup of the filling to a separate bowl. Spread the remaining filling evenly into the pie crust.
- Stir cinnamon into the one cup reserved filling. Spread cinnamon filling evenly over the filling. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Make the Crunchies:
- Preheat the oven to 275ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the cereal into a medium bowl and slightly crush them with your hands. Add the milk powder and sugar, tossing to mix. Add the butter and toss to coat--small clusters should form as the ingredients bind together.
- Scatter the clusters evenly on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until nicely toasted. Cool the clusters completely.
- Decorate the pie with the reserved whipped cream and cooled cereal crunchies.*