Silky smooth, creamy, milky, and tastes like the cornflakes-soaked milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl – this Cereal Milk Ice Cream is one of my all-time favorite summer-time treats!
This cereal milk ice cream is a simple recipe with an unforgettably unique flavor that both kids and adults will enjoy!
Even though summer here in Ottawa is quite a bit milder than those that I’m used to in mid-Missouri, the heat still gets to me. I’ve never been a summer girl. That means plenty of frozen desserts and treats throughout summer in our house. This Cereal Milk Ice Cream ranks as one of my all-time favorite summer treats! It is such a unique flavor.
I’ve been obsessed with cereal milk ice cream since I first heard about it on a random You tube video. So you better believe that I made the trip from Columbia, Missouri to NYC to check out this glorious cornflakes ice cream at the famous Milk Bar! 🙂 Not once, but twice!
I love the idea of cereal milk so much that I even created this fantastic No Bake Wake Me Up Breakfast Cheesecake recipe from my Secret Layer Cakes cookbook! Complete with a fruity pebbles crust with popping candy and a cereal milk cheesecake and cereal milk whipped cream!
No Bake Wake Me Up Breakfast Cheesecake from my Secret Layer Cakes cookbook
The funny thing though is that I’m not a big fan of cornflakes, but the cornflakes-soaked milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl… now that’s a different story!
Is this recipe a copy cat of the original Milk Bar cereal milk ice cream?
Not really. This ice cream tastes EXACTLY like the cereal milk ice cream at Milk Bar, BUT it has a thicker consistency. The original cereal milk ice cream has a soft serve consistency, and probably has very little (if any) eggs in the recipe. This however is an actual ice cream recipe, made with egg yolks, so it has a richer and thicker consistency than that of a soft serve.
However, if you eat this ice cream as soon as it’s churned, it still has a soft serve consistency too!
How do you get the cornflakes flavor into the ice cream?
I’ve tried a number of ways to infuse cornflakes flavor into ice cream.
- Cook cornflakes and milk together and let the cornflakes soak in the milk?
- Cook or soak cornflakes with all of the ice cream ingredients?
- Simply soak cornflakes in just milk, or milk and cream?
- Soak overnight or just for a few hours?
I’ve tried ’em all! And here’s the best way to do it.
Tips for making cereal milk ice cream at home
Soaking cornflakes in just milk, or a mixture of milk and cream gives the best results. I prefer to use just milk, so I can control the milk to cream ratio in the recipe.
You’re more than welcome to do an overnight soak, but the shortest time I’ve tried is 2.5 hours and that works just as great! This way, you can make the custard on the same day and let that sit overnight in the fridge to chill.
I prefer using Kelloggs cornflakes, and I wouldn’t recommend using off-brand cornflakes since they may not add the same amount of flavor. I tried it once with a cheaper store-brand cornflakes and the lack of flavor was very prominent. Also remember to really push on the cornflakes to get ALL that flavored milk out of it.
Salt and sugar! Salt really enhances the flavor of this ice cream, so don’t forgo it! And since cornflakes is neutral in flavor, sugar is also a must to make this ice cream dessert-worthy. And since the salt enhances the sweetness, don’t skip the salt and sugar combo.
Next, milk to cream ratio. For vanilla ice cream, I prefer to use more cream OR 1:1 milk to cream. However, for this cereal milk ice cream, I’m using a 2:1 milk to cream ratio. Since the cereal is infused into the milk, I wanted more of the milk in this ice cream. This also makes the ice cream lighter, and taste delightfully milky.
How to make cereal milk ice cream
Just like the other ice cream recipes I shared with you guys last month, this one’s super easy too. The only extra step is having to soak the cornflakes in the milk for a few hours before making the custard.
The egg yolks are whisked with the sugar and salt. Once you get a smooth paste, whisk in the cereal milk and cream. Then you heat up the mixture until it starts to steam. I heat the custard until it registers at 165 – 170°F on my thermometer.
I don’t add any vanilla in this cereal milk ice cream, just so that the cereal milk flavor is the lone and shining star.
Next, chill the base in the fridge (for a few hours or overnight), until it’s at the right temp. for your ice cream machine.
Once you’ve churned the ice cream, you could serve it as is, for a soft-serve type of ice cream, OR you can let it freeze for a few hours to let it harden for a regular ice cream.
I personally LOVE adding crushed cornflakes on top when serving and eating this ice cream. The crunchiness of crushed cornflakes stands beautifully in contrast against the silky smooth, creamy, milky ice cream!
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If you liked this recipe, then you may also like,
Delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream
Vegan cardamom spiced coconut ice cream
EQUIPMENT I USED FOR THIS RECIPE
EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE
ICE CREAM MAKER – An inexpensive freezer bowl ice cream machine will be perfect for the average cook/baker. I have used & recommend this Cuisinart model. If you do constantly make ice cream in summer, then I would recommend investing in an ice cream maker with a built in compressor. These machines do not require to be pre-chilled and you can make many batches of ice cream over and over again. I currently own, and recommend this Cuisinart model.
THERMOMETER – An inexpensive Cooking thermometer or a more expensive instant read thermapen.
LARGE STRAINER – A large strainer or nut milk bag to strain the cereal milk.
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Cereal Milk Ice Cream
Common Measurement Conversions
What You Need:
- Ice Cream machine
- Thermometer
- Half Sheet pan
- Strainer or Nut milk bag
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups kellogs cornflakes
- 3 cups full cream milk
- 4 egg yolks
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp corn syrup optional, but helps keep the ice cream smooth
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup whipping cream
- Crushed cornflakes to serve
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C. Spread the 2 ½ cups of cornflakes on a baking tray and toast it in the preheated oven for about 10 - 15 minutes. The cornflakes should become slightly darker in color.
- Once cornflakes are toasted, remove from the oven and transfer into a large saucepan or bowl.
- Pour the 3 cups of full cream milk over the cornflakes. Mix to combine and let it to sit in the fridge for about 3 hours until the cornflakes are fully soaked and the milk is fully infused with the flavor. You can refrigerate it overnight as well.
- To make the custard, strain the cornflakes milk through a sieve. Press down on the cornflakes to extract as much of the milk as possible. Mix the cereal milk and then measure out 2 cups of it and set aside. If there's any cereal milk remaining, you can use it to make amazing hot/ice chocolate for kids (or yourself of course!).
- Place the 4 egg yolks, 2 tbsp corn syrup, ¾ cup of sugar and ½ tsp salt in the saucepan and whisk to create a smooth, creamy paste.
- Whisk the 2 cups of cereal milk into the egg-sugar mix. Add the 1 cup of whipping cream and whisk well to combine.
- Heat the saucepan over medium heat, while stirring the milk mixture frequently. Heat the custard until it registers at 165 - 170°F (I heat it to 166°F). If you don’t have a thermometer, then you can heat the milk mixture until it's steaming, but NOT boiling.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down. Whisk occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on top. Once cooled down, let it to chill in the fridge for about 2 - 4 hours, or even overnight.
- Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Transfer the churned ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 2 - 4 hours until the ice cream is completely frozen.
- Serve with crushed cornflakes on top.
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Andrea says
Hi! Is it also okay to put in the already soaked conrflakes for texture? When can you add it in? Thanks!
Dini says
Hi Andrea
I wouldn’t recommend it, as the cornflakes will be very soggy and almost disintegrating.
You can add some fresh cornflakes for crunch if you like, during the last stages of churning your ice cream. However it can also become soggy / chewy the longer it sits in the ice cream.
I hope that helps.
Ice Cream Mad says
After getting the Milk bar soft serve three times in one NYC trip (the trip from NZ is so long, I had to!), I think about it a lot. I was recently gifted an ice-cream maker, so this was the first thing I looked for and made. And wow — this might be even better! It’s thick, creamy and has that perfect cereal milk flavour. I’ll be making it again as soon as this batch has been eaten (very soon). Thanks Dini!
Dini says
Thank you so much! It really is an amazing flavor combo, isn’t it 🙂 I’m so glad you liked it!
Kelly Jones says
When I tried to make this recipe, the corn flakes absorbed so much the of milk that it became so difficult to squeeze the milk out of the cereal. It became super thick and creamy. Do you know what I did wrong? I did use heavy cream instead of milk to soak the cereal in but you said it didn’t matter.
Dini says
Hi Kelly,
As stated in the post, it is OK to use a mixture of milk and cream (at a 1:1 ratio), but I don’t recommend using all cream for the soaking step. Since cream is much thicker, it’s harder to squeeze out, and because of the starch from the cornflakes, the mixture will become even more thick, and unfortunately that’s what happened here.
That’s why I prefer to use all milk (and control the fat / cream content). But a 50-50 mix can also work, but will create a thicker base.
If you didn’t get 2 cups of the base, then I recommend adding milk to make up for the rest of it. I also recommend maybe adding fewer egg yolks, because the base is already so rich with all the cream.
Also, when you add the rest of the cream to the custard base later in the recipe, you will end up with a very rich, thick ice cream that’s likely different from the recipe I’ve shared here. I hope that helps!