This week marks 5 years since I launched this website – hooray!! And nothing says celebration like cinnamon! Actually, a lot of things say celebration. I was trying to make note of this milestone and link it to a completely unrelated recipe. Aaaanyway, thanks for following along all these years and cheers to many more! Now, onto the cookies….

I’ve seen recipes for this type of cookie done so many ways over the years, all reaching similarly delicious results. My recipe is sort of the same, except I made a spiced cookie that would compliment the cereal. Why cereal in cookies? I think the addition of the cereal gives it a nice texture so you get a cookie that’s fun to munch on. Plus, if somehow your cereal goes stale, this is a good way to use it up instead of tossing it out.

Also, I know that Cinnamon Toast Crunch can be expensive – especially if you’re not buying it when it’s on sale and without a coupon. But this recipe will work with any other store brand equivalent.

Spiced Cinnamon Cereal Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ½ of a cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• ¾ of a teaspoon baking soda
• ½ of a teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or baking spice mix)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups crushed cinnamon square cereal (it doesn’t have to be finely crushed into dust, but they need to be broken down into smaller pieces so it mixes in better with the cookie dough).
• Extra whole cereal pieces for decorating

Steps

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 350º F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar for at least 5 minutes…or until the mixture becomes well combined, pale, and fluffy.
3. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Be sure to scrape the bowl between the addition of eggs so that everything is mixed in well.
4. To the butter mixture, add the baking soda, salt, spices, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined.
5. Add the flour to the mixing bowl and combine until there are no dry spots of flour left.
6. Stir in the crushed cereal until just mixed through and distributed throughout the dough.
7. Place one heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a non-stick baking sheet), ensuring that there is about 2 inches of space between each mound of dough – this cookie dough will spread out when baked.
8. Once the you’ve filled a sheet with mounds of dough, press three of four squares of cereal onto each of them, flattening the scoop so it’s not mounded.
9. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 16 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish resting.
11. Repeat steps 7 through 9 until there’s no dough left.
12. If you really, really want to treat the cookies like it’s cereal since they’re made with cereal, I’m not gonna stop you from filling up a bowl with them and adding milk.

These will keep in an airtight container for up to a week, but I have a feeling they won’t last that long!