Cereal Milk Pana cotta.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
As a Gen X-er, I have fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons – the only opportunity we had to watch them in a non-streaming world – and I was strategic to plan Friday night sleepovers with friends whose parents bought the best junky cereals. (My house was stocked with plain Cheerios and Shreddies.)
Ready-to-eat cereals such as corn flakes and Grape-Nuts were introduced in the late 19th century, touting ease and a multitude of health and nutritional benefits including, as seen in a 1903 ad for Grape-Nuts, the ability to help limit or eliminate alcohol consumption. By the fifties’ postwar baby boom, companies introduced cartoon cereal mascots such as Tony the Tiger and began advertising presweetened, brightly packaged cereals to kids.
In recent decades, sales of breakfast cereal started to slump as the morning meal market became inundated with convenient cereal bars and breakfast sandwiches, but have been on the rise again, making a significant jump in 2022 – around the time many of us were growing weary of the pandemic forcing us to cook every meal at home.
Though a Kellogg’s CEO recently suggested cereal as an affordable option for dinner (generating heated backlash), most consumption still happens at breakfast. But because cereal is so snacky – sweet and crunchy, crispy, with no preparation required beyond a pour of cold, creamy milk – manufacturers have begun designing products and packaging with snacking in mind, and restaurants and bakeries have been tapping into our collective nostalgia by adding cereal to doughnuts, cookies and other desserts.
Momofuku’s Christina Tosi made cereal milk a thing back in 2006 – everyone knows the pleasure of drinking the last of the milk from the bottom of the bowl, even if it just contained corn flakes. It makes a delicious panna cotta, with a crunchy cereal garnish contrasting the creamy custard underneath.
Cereal Milk Panna Cotta
Panna cotta is a simple Italian dessert made of sweetened cream or milk set with gelatin or agar agar powder, which is derived from seaweed. Any milk will work; coconut is particularly rich and delicious.
3 cups milk (any kind – coconut, oat, almond, cashew, cow)
1 cup cereal
1 1/2 tsp agar agar powder (or 1 pkg/1 tbsp plain gelatin)
1-2 tbsp brown sugar, if the cereal you used wasn’t sweetened
cereal, for topping
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and cereal until steaming; remove from the heat and let sit for half an hour or so to infuse the milk with the flavour of the cereal. Strain through a fine sieve and return the milk to the pot; sprinkle the agar agar overtop and let sit for a few minutes to soften.
Turn on the heat, add the brown sugar (if you haven’t used sweet cereal, or would like it sweeter) and warm the mixture through, whisking until the brown sugar and agar agar powder are dissolved. Divide among four ramekins or other small bowls or glasses. Refrigerate for three to four hours, or until set.
Sprinkle your choice of cereal over the panna cottas just before serving. Serves four.