Buttery Toasted Captain Crunchies

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I’ve really been enjoying my new cookbook and am getting all sorts of inspiration from it.

Like buttering and toasting one of my favorite childhood cereals.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

What I love about Christina and her book, is that she’s not afraid of unusual food and ingredient pairings.

Although some of the ingredients she uses are quite unusual (glucose and acetate strips), breakfast cereal is about as ordinary as it gets.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch in bowl

Ordinary, schmordinary.

Cap’n Crunch could never be ordinary to me, but it did just get even better.

Box of Cap'n Crunch cereal

With butter.

Stick of butter

A stick of melted butter makes anything better, even cereal.

These taste like very crunchy buttered toast with just a hint of sweetness, not Cap’n Crunch.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

The secret ingredient that makes these little nuggets so special is a milk powder coating. Christina recommends never to actually try to make milk from milk powder because it just wouldn’t taste good (this is a woman who loves heavy cream) but it lends a special flavor depth to recipes.

I realized that she’s right and that milk powder is magical for deepening flavors when baking with it. Up until this recipe, I had never bought milk powder, used it, and didn’t even know what it looks like and was surprised at how granular and course it is, almost like Kosher salt.

Mix 'n drink real skim milk dry milk box

These crunchies don’t have a milky taste. What they do have is a buttery toast taste.

 It’s like eating a whole bowl of buttery toast crumbs, that are slightly sweet, and more than slightly addictive.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

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Buttery Toasted Captain Crunchies (with Vegan and Gluten Free Suggestions) – very loosely inspired by Corn Flake Crunch from Christina Tosi’s Momofuku Milk Bar

Makes about 4 cups

4 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal, slightly crushed by hand* (or try Puffins, Kix, Chex, Cheerios, Cornflakes, Special K, Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles)

1/2 cup dry instant milk powder

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt, optional

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 275F and prepare a baking sheet with a Silpat liner, foil, or parchment paper. In a large bowl, add the cereal and crush it with your hands by either taking fistfuls of it and squeezing or pressing the cereal firmly against the mixing bowl. *Note: Crushing is not necessary and if you’re going to eat it as a snack later you may not want to crush it. The reason to crush it is because the butter and milk powder will coat and absorb into the cereal somewhat better if it’s slightly crushed but the downside is you have crumbs. Your choice and I would crush no more than about one-third of the total amount cereal.

To the crushed cereal, add the remaining dry ingredients and pour the melted butter over the top, stirring and tossing to coat uniformly. Transfer the coated cereal onto the baking sheet, spreading it in a uniform layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it has barely begun to brown. Remove from the oven and allow cereal to cool on the baking sheet before transferring to an airtight container or baggie. Cereal will keep for at least two weeks.

Ideas: To the finished and cooled crunchies, add chocolate chips, pretzels, M&M’s, raisins, dried fruit, seeds, nuts, add them into homemade Chex mix or your favorite (storebought) party mix, sprinkle them over oatmeal, over other kinds of cold cereal, use them in cookie or muffin recipes, crush them and use their crumbs as “flour” or the dry ingredient to bind the wet in no-bake energy balls.

To keep vegan, use margarine and in place of the milk powder, use coarsely ground cashews, or simply omit. Use a crunchy vegan cereal of your choice. To keep gluten free, use a crunchy gluten free cereal. Take care that all ingredients used are suitable for your dietary needs.

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Slightly crush the cereal in the bowl, first, before adding the remaining ingredients. The advantage to crushing the cereal a bit is that the coating will adhere better and the smaller pieces were ever more delectable than the bigger pieces.

The con is that crushed cereal equates to cereal crumbs and I don’t like crumbs. But the crumbs could be used in oatmeal, in granola, used as flour for cookies, or just eat the crumbs regardless.

Cap'n crunch and other ingredients in bowl

Pre-baking

Pre-baking Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

You’ll know these are done when your entire house smells like the combination of bread baking and like a giant piece of buttered toast is directly under your nose, which was about 22 minutes for me.

I did not flip them or toss them during the baking process because in Christina’s baked cereal recipes, she doesn’t toss or mess with them. There were a few pieces that browned more so than others on the bottoms, really resembling toasted bread crust.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

I put a little baggie of these in Scott’s lunch and he called me to ask what they were. He had no idea they were made from Cap’n Crunch and I said take a guess what they are and he said, well, I have no idea but I’d guess there’s butter in them? Smart man, yes, there is.

These buggers are addictive and after they’ve cooled you could add chocolate chips, pretzels, M&M’s, raisins, dried fruit, seeds, nuts, Fritos, potato chips, mini-Ritz sandwich crackers (cheese or peanut butter), or just about anything that’s taking up space in your cupboard.

You can also incorporate them into your favorite homemade or storebought Chex-type party mix.

Or just eat them by the handful.

Buttery Toasted Captain Crunch

Related recipes:

Crunchy Snacks & Mixes

Peanut Butter Chex Mix, aka “Puppy Chow” (vegan, GF)

Peanut Butter Chex Mix
Peanut Butter Chex Mix

Vanilla Cake Batter and White Chocolate Chip Caramel Corn

Vanilla Cake Batter and White Chocolate Chip Caramel Corn

White Chocolate Vanilla Peanut Butter Puppy Chow (GF)

White Chocolate Vanilla Peanut Butter Puppy Chow

Breakfast Cereal Recipes

Double Chocolate Caramel Corn & Cocoa Rice Krispies Candy Bars (No-Bake with Vegan & GF options)

Double Chocolate Caramel Corn & Cocoa Rice Krispies Candy Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Marshmallow Stuffed Rice Krispie Bars (No Bake)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Marshmallow Stuffed Rice Krispie Bars

Special K Bars (No Bake) – One of my favorite bars/desserts of all time

Special K Bars
Special K Bars

Nutter Butter Special K Bars (No Bake)

Nutter Butter Special K Bars

Do you like Cap’n Crunch? Do you like cereal in general?

As I noted in the recipe, you could make this with any number of cereals from Corn Flakes to Puffins to your favorite vegan, gluten-free, or specialty cereal.

I, however, have a soft spot for Cap’n Crunch with it’s uber-crunchiness, the extreme texture of it (I love highly textured foods; mushy doesn’t work for me), and the slight almost peanut-buttery undertone in flavor of Cap’n Crunch makes it a favorite and truth be told, on a per serving basis, probably has less sugar than a Starbucks latte.

I almost bought the Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter cereal, or the Peanut Butter Cheerios, or Peanut Butter Puffins for this and I think they’d be excellent doctored up with this recipe.

I grew up on breakfast cereal for breakfast, as a snack in lunches, and ate breakfast-for-dinner many nights as a kid.

In college and my early 20s, I think I lived on it. That, and Triscuits. I got my crunchy carbs in, indeed.

Have you made anything great using cereal? (links welcome)

Have a great week!

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. What an addicting looking snack! I used to love Capt’ Crunch with the berries. I love your pictures,! It looks retro to me, maybe because it takes me back to childhood.

    1. I tried to give it a different feel than the doughy desserts or the rich bars…more stark and “harder” with the black because of the hard crunch. Clearly I overthink…everything!

  2. Oh, and I meant to add that I grew up drinking powdered milk (it’s no wonder I’ve been a vegan for so long, eh?). I grew up in a big family, and one of the cost-saving measures my mom used was to make powdered skim milk instead of buying carton milk. I would get so excited when I went to friends’ houses or on fields trips and got to have ‘real’ milk!

    1. A friend of mine grew up with four kids in the family, not much money, and milk powder was a way of life for her. And she’d come to my house and chug skim milk like it was the best thing ever.

  3. This sounds yummy! I never would have thought of making anything like this – it is a great idea.
    To make it vegan, I wonder if either soy milk powder or soy protein powder would work, instead of cashews…..probably, I think. Ground cashews have a fabulous buttery taste, though, so they’d probably add both texture and flavor.

    1. I went with the cashews as my suggestion b/c of their buttery taste AND the texture. But if there’s a soy protein that would work, go for that. Or use vegan breadcrumbs, or…just omit :)

  4. I don’t think I have ever had Captain Crunch! I like cereal occasionally … I will crave it about once a year. I haven’t made much with cereal, but I have eaten other peoples goodies with different types of cereal and they are always great.

  5. These are just over the top! I have never tried using Milk Powder in a recipe before. I have kind of shied away from it for some reason. But not any more!

    1. It adds a wonderful depth and richness to cooking and baking I’ve learned…sort of like some women toss in a packet of pudding mix into cakes, or cookies, or Ovaltine…this kind of does that, too, but in a more neutral/vanilla way, if that makes sense.

  6. I do love cereal but have actually never baked with them. My favorites are Cheerios and Peanut Butter Puffins :)

  7. So simple, but such a great idea! I love Momofuko Milk Bar and it looks like I really need to get my hands on that cookbook.

    1. Thanks for your email; responding soon.

      And you’ve been to The Milk Bar? Oh what I wouldn’t give to go!

  8. I used to eat an entire box of peanut butter capn crunch daily. I ate it for every meal. At first, they tore up my mouth, but they tasted so good, I soldiered on and eventually built up my tolerance. The only way to make this recipe any better would be to use pb capn crunch. And maybe sprinkle in some chocolate chips. You know, since we’re already talking about a rich and sugary dessert. ;)

    1. It’s not even that sweet. You’d think, oh yeah that’s a sugar bomb but really it’s not. Something about the butter..it sort of neutralizes the sweet, as well as the milk powder.

      C.C. tears up my mouth, too! I just wrote back to a woman above you in the comments the same thing! We are twins, again.

  9. I needed that reminder for your white chocolate puppy chow, soooo good! That’s definitely the best thing I’ve ever made with cereal.

  10. Those snacks, they’re just so crazy, they just might work…and be delicious.
    What i remember about the capt’n was the kind of cut up in the inside of my mouth. Does the addition of butter help with that?

    1. I thought I was the only person that got the tore-up roof of mouth feeling..I thought maybe my mouth was just sensitive! It still does that, but not nearly as much with the butter and milk powder coating.

  11. what a delicious and creative snack-y treat, Averie! Captain Crunch was one of my favorite childhood cereals… i also LOVED lucky charms. i always saved the marshmallows for last. :) your white chocolate peanut butter vanilla puppy chow looks out of this world! the only thing i’ve made with cereal recently (or ever) are rice krispie treats. I made cake batter ones last week!

    http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/03/25/cake-batter-rice-krispie-treats/

  12. I’m addicted to cereal, I can’t wait to try this with some of my favorite kinds!