Updated June 2024 :: This is just a fun one. This stuff is really fast and easy to make, and it’s tough not to smile at a bowl of cereal that YOU MADE YOURSELF. Like, what?! Yes you did that. This is my healthy-ish homemade cinnamon toast crunch recipe and it’s a keeper for sure. Toasty, sweet, and perfectly spiced (because cinnamon is great that way), this is a great thing to make on an easy Sunday morning (do a double batch!), so you can enjoy it all week long.
What makes this homemade cinnamon toast crunch cereal healthy?
Rather than using all-purpose flour and regular granulated sugar, as many recipes for Cinnamon Toast Crunch call for, we’re going to use much better-for-you almond flour (I use super fine) and oat flour. Both of these items are things that are readily available in the baking aisle of just about every supermarket, and they’re also things that are really nice to have around. I love to use oat flour in oatmeal cookies, along with whole rolled oats, to really double down on the “OAT” effect.
We’ll also use unrefined cane sugar here, instead of granulated, as it is a bit better for you as well. That said, you can use white sugar if you like.
WANT TO MAKE IT PALEO?
To make this homemade cinnamon toast crunch recipe paleo, simply swap in coconut sugar for the cane sugar. The recipe still works great.
But to be honest with you, I’m using these flours and sugar not because they’re better for you. I’m using them because they’re the best. They’re the most delicious and best ingredients for this amazing cereal, and will get you to a final product that is so incredibly similar to the one on grocery store shelves that you’ll just be so, so pleased.
How to Make This Healthy Homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch Recipe
The real powerhouses here – the backbones of this homemade cereal – are the flours. We’re using a combination of both super-fine almond flour and toasty oat flour to build the dough, and the textural and flavor results are absolutely spot on.
Coconut oil + Egg Whites = perfect binders. To bind the flour and cane sugar together into a dough, we’ll use some melted coconut oil and an egg white. Also healthy! You can use any kind of coconut oil that you’ve got or like, but I really love unrefined because its more, umm … coconutty. It tastes like coconut and it smells heavenly. It works perfectly here, but again, you can really use refined instead. Or canola, vegetable, grapeseed, or even avocado if you really just want to use what you’ve got on hand.
Just not olive oil.
Homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch Tips
- I have found that the easiest way to make this homemade cinnamon toast crunch is to cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or a Silpat, as I’ve used) and put your wet, sand-like dough right on there – no need to roll it out elsewhere and deal with tricky transfers of tiny squares, you know? No thanks.
- It’s helpful to place a second sheet of parchment paper over the dough and then roll it out over top of that, to prevent your rolling pin/glass from sticking to the (very wet) dough. I use either a rolling pin or a heavy-bottomed glass and I begin to roll out the dough until it is as thick as I can get it. We’re looking for around 1/16-inch.
- Next, cut it into squares! I don’t measure this part – no need. It’s cereal. Just eyeball it and make the squares bite-sized and as close to the real deal as you can get. I love to use a pizza cutter for this, as it works so well, but of course a knife is great too.
- Now, once you’ve cut your squares – do it again. Go back over all your lines and really make sure the dough is separated and that the squares are defined. The dough will sort of bake together in the oven, but this “scoring” step will make it a breeze to cut them up once they’ve baked.
- Bake the cereal for about 5 minutes at 425 degrees F, but keep an eye on them, as this thin dough is susceptible to burning. So, just watch them! They will be soft when you take them out of the oven. This is when we’ll shower them in cinnamon-sugar. I don’t do this prior to baking, as the sugar will scorch and burn and ruin everything, so later is better. Trust.
- Just run your pizza cutter/knife back over your original cut lines to break up the squares and voila! Best homemade cinnamon toast crunch around.
If you like the looks of this recipe, you might want to try:
The Best Recipe for Cinnamon Toast. Ever.
Maple Cream Stuffed French Toast Casserole
Cream Cheese Stuffed Carrot Bread
Homemade Berries and Cream Toaster Strudel
Easiest Cinnamon Sugar Popovers
PrintHealthy Homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup superfine almond flour
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 3/4 cup pure cane sugar plus more for sprinkling
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Adjust your oven rack to the middle position. Place a Silpat or piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond and oat flours, cane sugar, and salt. Mix to combine. Add the melted coconut oil and the egg white. Use your hands to mix everything together into a cohesive dough. It will look and feel like wet sand. Transfer to the parchment paper or Silpat on your baking sheet.
- Top with another piece of parchment paper (this isn’t completely necessary, but it makes rolling easier). Using a rolling pin or a heavy-bottomed glass, press and roll the dough out until it is very, very thin. We’re going for 1/16th inch, if possible. The thinness is what gets you the crunch. Otherwise, you’ll just get soft squares. Still delicious, but not quite right.
- Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into small, equal, bite-sized squares. Go back over all of your cuts a second time (this helps really score the dough, making for easier cutting once it’s baked).
- Bake for 4.5 to 5 minutes, or just until things start looking golden brown. Keep an eye on them. Shower with cinnamon-sugar (see note) when they’re out of the oven, pressing it into the soft cereal very gently. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Once they’ve cooled for a few minutes, go back over the cuts you made before and fully separate the squares from one another. This is the fastest, easiest way to do this. Add a little more cinnamon-sugar and allow to cool completely before enjoying.
Notes
NOTE: to make cinnamon-sugar, I combine about 1/3 cup of cane sugar with a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon (maybe 1 teaspoon) in a small bowl – to taste. Stir together and shower with abandon.
