Cereal Cookies

The cookie post has finally arrived!

It took so long for me to make this recipe because I didn't have any cookie friendly cereals in my house and then I kept forgetting to buy some.

The cereal cookie recipe is 2 parts - the cereal crunch and the cookie dough. The recipe I used was derived from an interesting one I found in last month's InStyle magazine.  The recipe author uses cereals in different recipes and I thought her cookie one looked really cool.  The picture with the recipe showed whole piece of Cap'n Crunch sticking out - that finalized my plans.  I edited the recipe because I felt it called for way too much of the ingredients for a recipe making 12 cookies.

**Notes: This is a salty & sweet treat. If you don't like the salty and sweet mixed, I would recommend decreasing the salt in the cereal bit and/or dough part. It also came out very buttery/oily.  I'll probably cut the butter next time. 3/4-1 stick in the bits and 1 1/2 in the batter.
The original said it was for 12 cookies, but I ended up with 17 large cookies and 1 tiny baby cookie.

The cereal bits:

Watch for sneaky fingers - this stuff will disappear, eaten by nibblers

* The following measurements made much more than I needed, but I saved it because I think it might be good with some ice cream

4 cups Cap'n Crunch (off brand is fine off course, I used it)
3 to 4 cups Fruity Pebbles (again, off brand is fine)
1 stick of unsalted butter (8 Tbsp)
4 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder
1 1/3 tsp salt

1) Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
2)Melt butter in bowl using microwave. 45 to 50 secs will usually get it done.
3) In separate bowl mix all the dry other ingredients
4) Add butter to dry ingredients & toss to coat
4) Cover baking sheet w/ parchment paper or aluminum foil
5) Layer cereal mix on baking sheet
6) Bake for 35 - 40 minutes


Dough

* The magazine recipe called for 2/3 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 light brown sugar, but I ran out of white

2 sticks of unsalted butter (16 Tbsp) at room temperature
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup + 1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Cereal bits

1) In a mixer or with hand mixer, beat butter and sugar (white and brown) until creamy and fluffy
2) Add vanilla and egg, blend in
3) Add remaining cereal, fold in by hand so the pieces don't get too broken up - I wanted to be able to see the normal shape of the cereal pieces
4) Roll dough into balls of the same size and place on a baking sheet. Bigger the ball, thicker the cookie. Space out so cookies have room to spread as they cook (unless you want a giant cookie sheet).
5) Refrigerate for 1 hour
6) Preheat over to 350 degrees F
7) Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown
8) Cool.

Again, the original recipe that I altered was done by a chef interviewing with InStyle. If you want the original look for last month's issue of InStyle or check there website.

Now go enjoy some cookies!