20+ Ways to Eat Cereal for Dessert

Lucky Charms Cookies Recipe

Hearts, stars, horse shoes, clovers, and blue moons, pots of gold, and rainbows, and the red balloons… all stirred into a buttery, cereal inspired cookie dough. In addition to all of the signature marshmallow charms, these Lucky Charms cookies have ground cereal incorporated right into the dry mixture for the sugar cookie dough. In other words, yes, they are magical.

Snickerdoodle Puppy Chow Recipe

A simple cinnamon-sugar mixture tops this variation on Classic Puppy Chow for a treat reminiscent of freshly-baked cookies. Add to Mason jars with a tag and bow, and you've got a giftable Holiday snack.

Honey Nut Cheerio Muffins Recipe

Imagine: You’re halfway through a bowl of cereal. And it's fine. But you wish you'd had a muffin for breakfast instead. Or wait, no, you want a fat slice of banana bread. OK, you’re indecisive. But don’t worry, your prayers have been answered. This muffin is packed with Honey Nut Cheerios (you can use whatever O-shaped cereal you have) and mashed banana. It’s everything you’ve wanted and more.

The best part about these muffins is that their delightfully honey-nut flavor is all thanks to the powdered cereal that goes in the batter along with the dry ingredients. Give it a good zip in the food processor with flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Toss the mixture with eggs, brown sugar, butter, and plenty of mashed banana. Spoiler alert: Not only do the bananas make these muffins taste like banana bread (duh), they also help keep the muffins nice and tender, which is exactly what we all need in the morning, am I right?

Honey Nut Cheerios Muffins

Unicorn Snack Bars Recipe

These sweet unicorn treats are adorable enough to serve at a birthday party, but easy enough to throw together for after-school snacks during the week. Adding almonds and apple chips into the mix make these snack bars more substantial and flavorful than a plain rice cereal treat, but these ingredients are easily swapped to accommodate your favorite mix-ins or nut allergies. We added a touch of food coloring to give the bars a cheerful pink hue, but it’s A-OK to leave it out if you would prefer.  

Double-Chocolate Cereal Treats Recipe

Skip your boring breakfast and opt for these decadent chocolate-on-chocolate cookies that boast full satisfaction and a dose of whole-grain goodness. Rich, decadent, and ultra-crispy, these healthy, bite-size snacks are the perfect start to the day. And they're ready to eat in a fraction of the time needed to prepare typical sweet treats.

Birthday Cake Puppy Chow Recipe

Sprinkles and white chocolate are the only mix-ins you need to create this birthday cake-inspired treat. Sugary-sweet, colorful, and fun, it makes an easy, portable snack for a birthday party or holiday celebration. Pro tip: For a festive July 4 treat, use red, white, and blue sprinkles instead. You can change up the colors for any holiday.

White Chocolate-Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars Recipe

Fact: Cinnamon Toast Crunch makes everything better.

If the sweet, warm, crunchy cereal was a more frequently used ingredient, the world would be a much better place. That's why we created these super easy, 3-ingredient White Chocolate-Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bars using Pampered Chef's Snack Bar Maker (read all about this amazing pan here). Don't worry if you don't want to shell out the $25—you can get a cheaper alternative on Amazon OR you can forgo the special pan and make White Chocolate-Cinnamon Toast Bark instead. Truly, the sky's the limit when it comes to these homemade candy bars. 

Orange Dreamsicle Crispy Treats Recipe

From the Kitchen of Robin Wilson, simplysouthernbaking.com, Altamonte Springs, FL

"You can also use yellow and pink food coloring gel to make peach. Practice on a piece of wax paper, adding a little at a time to achieve your perfect shade. I serve these to family and friends, and there's never a square left."

Cereal Popsicles Recipe

Milk and cereal is a classic breakfast combo that calls for just two ingredients and a couple seconds of your time. It’s also pretty darn cheap. You can’t not love it. So it’s no surprise that food-loving humans have used cereal in some outrageous concoctions. I mean, cereal milk cocktails are a thing. So is Count Chocula beer and cereal-crusted French toast. But in an effort to keep things fun, let’s talk about milk and cereal breakfast popsicles—also known as “the answer to your hectic AF mornings.”

Any kind of food on a stick makes it easy to eat breakfast on the go. The best part is that there’s not much cleanup, if any. Everything also just tastes better when served on a stick, whether or not you like to admit it. Don’t believe me? It’s been proven by breakfast science, taste buds, and happy stomachs everywhere.

A milk and cereal ice pop is one of those make-ahead breakfasts that food bloggers love so damn much. It also calls for zero fancy skills or prep time. No mess, no problem.

Milk and Cereal Popsicles

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars Recipe

These bars are a perfectly portable snack you can prep on Sunday and enjoy throughout the week. Wrap leftovers tightly in plastic wrap, and store in the fridge. The bars will continue to firm up as they chill.

Triple-Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Puppy Chow Recipe

This recipe is a staff favorite. Sweet, creamy, and slightly salty, Triple-Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Puppy Chow will become your new, go-to way to make the classic chocolate-cereal treat.

Layered Peeps Crispy Treats Recipe

Why make boring Rice Krispie treats when you can make colorful and festive bar treats using Peeps and Rice Krispie cereal? You can use any 4 colors of Peeps that you prefer--or even double up on two colors for a half-and-half treat. To make pops: Cut 1-inch think slices widthwise, and then cut the slices in half. Insert a cake pop stick into the bottom of each treat, dip in melted chocolate, and decorate with sprinkles or crushed candy pieces. Display pops in a jar or candle votive holder stuffed with Styrofoam.

Rice Brittle Crunch Recipe

Invite friends to make the toppings for an indulgent ice-cream potluck party—peanut brittle mixed with crispy rice cereal, fresh blueberry sauce and an over-the-top mix of crushed chocolate-covered pretzels, cookie crumbs and more.

Confetti Frozen Yogurt Recipe

A bowl of yogurt is a very fine breakfast, but we’re not always interested in fine. It’s moments like these that we make frozen yogurt with colorful cereal instead. In the time it takes to make a batch of overnight oats, and with just a few basic breakfast ingredients (Greek yogurt, honey, milk, and cereal), you can make a frozen treat that’s just as exciting to have at the end of the day as it is at 10 a.m. 

Whisk a bunch of plain Greek yogurt with a gob of honey, whole milk, and a splash of vanilla extract, then stir in a big scoop of cereal—here we’ve gone the colorful route with Fruity Pebbles, but why not change it up and try gently crushed Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Life, Honey Nut Cheerios, or even a crunchy granola-based cereal. Freeze the mixture for a few hours, then scoop it into a bowl and devour, preferably in comfy clothes.

Confetti Frozen Yogurt

Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow Recipe

4 ingredients are all that's standing between you and this delicious treat made with white chocolate morsels and plenty of Oreo cookies. We cut back on the powdered sugar here because the white chocolate adds plenty of sweetness. If you're feeling Parent Trap vibes--add 1/2 cup of melted creamy peanut butter to the melted white chocolate.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Snickerdoodles Recipe

This cookie jar classic just got a major upgrade, straight from the cereal aisle. Besides being melt-in-your-mouth tender, lightly tangy, and utterly decadent, these snickerdoodles are loaded with toasted Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. We bake the cookies at a high temperature for a short period of time in order to create a thick snickerdoodle that’s just-baked, but maintains a deliciously gooey center. The cookies also have a rich, fluffy texture thanks to the cream cheese dough, which provides the perfect backdrop for the pieces of crunch-tastic, cinnamon-laced breakfast cereal present in every bite. And to really drive the cereal flavor home, we incorporated ground Cinnamon Toast Crunch into the cookies’ cinnamon-sugar coating. In short, these CTC Snickerdoodles were an instant staff favorite. 

Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats Recipe

This healthy version of crispy rice cereal bars uses brown rice cereal, natural peanut butter, honey instead of corn syrup, and dried cherries.   With 2 grams of fiber per bar, you don’t have to feel guilty about indulging. 

Swag Bars Recipe

These no-bake bars come together quickly with common pantry ingredients. Make sure the cereal is well crushed (try packing it in a sealed zip-top plastic bag and using a rolling pin) so it incorporates into the peanut butter mixture.

Mocha Puppy Chow Recipe

A teaspoon of instant espresso powder and rich dark chocolate morsels are all that's needed to add depth and a slight coffee-flavoring to classic puppy chow. You can use chocolate cereal in place of plain cereal for extra-chocolatey flavor. This delicious homemade chocolate-cereal treat comes together in less than 10 minutes for an easy, sweet, and portable snack. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

1-Minute Peeps Cereal Treat Recipe

Enjoy an individual crispy marshmallow treat in a mug and use up leftover Easter candy while you’re at it. That’s a win-win!

Strawberry Yogurt Cream Pie with Cereal Crust Recipe

Made with a fiber cereal-crusted pie shell, this strawberry yogurt cream pie is the ultimate no-bake dessert. With a fruity, rich filling (made even more digestive-friendly with the addition of Greek yogurt and berries *you’re welcome*), this breakfast-inspired treat is everything you want in a (somewhat) guilt-free dessert. It’s ultra-satisfying with just the right amount of sweetness, without sending you over the edge.