When I was in college my roommate and I always had boxes of cereal in our dorm room.  It was economical and a nice alternative from the breakfast fare served in the dining hall.  Since we were both cereal aficionados, the kinds of cereal we had was always rotating.  Some weeks it was Quaker Ohs (so good), other weeks included Honey Bunches of Oats and Rice Krispies, and sometimes we would go out on a limb and get Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms.  Looking back on it, those were definitely not the healthiest selections, but they were oh so delicious.

Then I found out about my food allergies and my cereal eating habit came to a screeching halt.  Pretty much every cereal out there had some form of food starch or corn syrup (I’m looking at you Cherrios) so my options were limited to puffed rice, shredded wheat, and Whole Foods’ Organic O’s.  Eventually I got off the cereal train all together and started making oatmeal for breakfast every morning.  If only I had known that I could make my own cereal from scratch!

Lately I’ve been craving cereal so I began to look up recipes online and found one for Paleo Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Minimal ingredients?  Check.  Easy to make?  Check.  I decided to give it a whirl and put my own spin on it by making Paleo Pumpkin Spice Cereal (since it is the season and all).

The great thing about this cereal is that it is grain-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free so it’s perfect for a wide variety of diets.  And while the texture might be slightly different than your traditional cereal, the taste is so much better.  Who needs artificial ingredients anyway?

Paleo Pumpkin Spice Cereal (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 1/4 cup blanched almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

1 cup tapioca starch

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

3 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp almond milk

For the Topping:

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.  Place your dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine until the mixture is slightly sticky (you might need to add more almond milk).  Divide your dough into two balls.

Place each ball on a sheet of parchment paper and cover with another sheet of parchment paper.  Slowly roll each dough ball out until the dough is nice and thin.  You should try to make the dough as thin as possible.

Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and place each sheet of dough on baking trays and sprinkle the pumpkin pie spice/cinnamon and brown sugar on top.

Using a pizza cutter or a knife, gently create horizontal and vertical lines in the dough to create small squares.  My squares were definitely not symmetrical and they still came out fine.

Place your baking trays in the oven and bake for 8-9 minutes.  Be sure to watch your dough to make sure the outsides do not burn.

Remove your cereal from the oven and let cool.  Gently break apart your cereal into small squares and enjoy with some milk.

What is your favorite cereal?  Before I knew about my food allergies I loved Honey Nut Cheerios and of course Quaker Ohs.