Cereal Milk Ice Cream

One of the best places to go for a cold treat on a hot day in NYC is Milk Bar for their cereal milk ice cream. Actually, Milk Bar is always a good idea. Every single one of their snacks is delicious and addicting. The corn cookies are my absolute favorite. But I try to avoid them altogether because I simply can’t stop at one.

If you’re a fan, make sure to watch the Chef’s Table episode on Christina Tosi, the founder of Milk Bar… It’s the first episode of season 4. My mom, as you guys know, is a baker. She mostly does cake pops, but also takes requests and will do everything from chocolate chip cookies to first birthday smash cakes. Someone once requested the famous Milk Bar birthday cake and so she bought the cookbook and has been doing them ever since. When I discovered the Milk Bar episode, I called her to make her turn it on right then and there. She cried through the whole thing!

This weekend, while I was visiting, my mom made another one of the birthday cakes. It was my first time watching her put one together from start to finish. I did a bit of it on my Instagram Live and then followed up the next day with the final product on my Story. A bunch of people DMed me asking for the recipe. You can get the official Milk Bar cookbook, which is what my mom uses. But you can also find most of the recipes online.

Because I did the Live video, I was terrible about getting photos. Next time I’m there I’ll have to do an official post with it because it’s a really good cake.

After we did the cake, we decided to make some of the cereal milk ice cream. I know it kind of sounds gross, but it is ridiculously delicious. Christina Tosi first created “cereal milk” with cornflakes, but in the cookbook, she also includes a swap for Fruity Pebbles. My mom made the original cornflake cereal milk ice cream for a dinner party and everyone raved about it. Instead of fruity pebbles this time around though, we decided to use Lucky Charms. I rarely have cereal anymore, but Lucky Charms will always have a special place in my heart.

You first make the cereal milk and then make the ice cream with said milk. It looks/seems pretty gross until it’s done… and then it’s the best thing ever.

For the Lucky Charms cereal milk:

– 2 cups of cereal
– 3 3/4 cups cold milk
– 2 tbs tightly packed light brown sugar
– 1/4 tsp kosher salt

1. Crush the cereal until it has the texture of coarse sand or gravel. The Lucky Charms was difficult to do with my hands so I put it into a Ziplock and rolled it with a rolling pin.

2. Combine milk and cereal in a pitcher and steep at room temperature for 20 minutes.

3. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting the milk in a medium bowl. Use the back of a wooden spoon to wring the milk out of the cereal… but don’t push the cereal through the sieve.

4. Whisk the brown sugar and salt into the milk until fully dissolved. Store in a container, refrigerated, for up to 1 week.

Milk Bar has a different recipe for the ice cream part, but my mom wanted a simpler recipe with fewer ingredients or steps. She found this one on Brit + Co and it worked wonderfully. The recipe on there though is not written out in a clear way, so I retyped it here so it’s easier to read/follow. My mom also splurged on a new ice cream maker and, let me tell you, if you’re in the market for one, this is AMAZING. I couldn’t believe how fast it was. Once the thing cools down, it only took 20 minutes to churn it into ice cream.

For the Lucky Charms cereal milk ice cream:

– 1 cup heavy cream
– 1 cup cereal milk (see above!)
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 4 large egg yolks

1. 1. Pour the heavy cream into a medium bowl and place it in the fridge until needed. Combine cereal milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.

2. In another medium pot, whisk 4 egg yolks together and pour in the warm milk mixture from step one while whisking constantly. Place over medium heat and stir until the mixture forms a custard and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Pour the custard through a strainer into the bowl of chilled heavy cream and stir to combine.

5. Chill the mixture overnight.

6. To prepare, freeze it in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Again, my mom uses the Breville Smart Scoop!

7. Garnish with cereal and enjoy!

I can’t wait to have a bigger kitchen again so I can do more fun baking projects. It was so fun to be in my mom’s giant kitchen whipping up everything.