How To Make Homemade Amish Cereal

This homemade Amish cereal recipe comes to us from an Amish woman in Union Grove, North Carolina.  Homemade cereal is popular among the Amish.  Why buy an $8 big box of bran when you can do it yourself at home?  This is an interesting recipe and I'm not sure what to make of it.   It's a little different than some of the Amish granola cereal recipes I've seen. Well, first of all, it is delicious.  I'd not be sharing the recipe with you if I didn't think it was good. 

What was perplexing to me is how hard - like rock-hard, teeth-breaking hard - the cereal turned out.  That said, as soon as you add milk to the cereal, it softens and becomes delightful.  Part of me thinks the cereal shouldn't be this hard, but on the other hand, if it were soft when you added the milk, it'd practically dissolve instantly. I've read about how early versions of Corn Flakes were like teeth-breaking hard. So I think this Amish cereal recipe turned out exactly as it is supposed to. It's just not what most of are used to. Again, though, once you add milk, it's perfect.

The way this cereal turns out, you add milk and it's near-perfect.  But you can't "snack" on this cereal plain, you pretty much have to eat it with milk unless you want to be scheduling teeth replacement work.   Oh, also, and this is good, you can mix it into yogurt and the yogurt has the same effect, softens it to near perfection.  So, is it possible that the cereal would have turned out better if I had baked it less?  Possible but, again, the trade-off is that it seems like it'd get super soggy fast.

I did not, by the way, "crumble the cereal into fine pieces" as suggested.  It wasn't so rock hard that it wouldn't crumble, it would have and maybe I should have done that.  For me, with food, biggest is usually better and I just liked the bigger chunks of cereal...once it softens in the milk I could break them up into smaller pieces, but if you want smaller pieces from the get-go just crumble it fine right away. I've even heard of some Amish putting the homemade cereal into a grinder to make it super fine.

🌾 Do the Amish Eat Their Wheaties?

No. Usually they do not. Amish breakfasts are usually very variety-filled. I've been to Amish homes where cinnamon rolls, pancakes, pork chops, toast and jam, and cookies are all on the table at once. You hardly ever see boxed cereal on the table among the breakfast items. But you do see homemade cereals like this recipe or homemade granola.

But just having a box of Wheaties or Rice Krispies in the pantry to eat with milk? I'm not saying there aren't Amish that buy those boxed cereals, but it's not common, I think I am safe in saying.

What is wonderful about a homemade cereal is the super comforting smell that fills the house as the smell of brown sugar and maple drift upward from the oven.

📜 Step-By-Step Homemade Cereal

The recipe calls for whole wheat flour, but you could probably use any kind and it would come out fine. But I like the whole wheat.

If I were to do this recipe over again (and I might sometime soon) I would be more inventive and try adding all sort of "extras", like cashews, almonds, peanuts or peanut butter or pecans or any kind of nut. I'd add some cinnamon, because everything tastes better with cinnamon. The recipe calls for imitation maple flavoring, but there's no reason you couldn't use pure maple syrup. Or you could add some honey. Coconut flakes I have also heard makes a nice addition.

This tastes better, I think, that store-bought cereal. And as far as a homemade cereal recipe goes, this one is pretty easy! Again, you can definitely personalize this cereal to your taste, whether its adding oats or chocolate chips or cocoa powder. But I will say this recipe works great just as it is also if you wanted a simpler cereal.

Some people want fruit in their cereal (not me), but you can add raisins or dried cherries, apriocts, or cranberries if you want to give it that fruity flavor. Sunflower seeds or chia seeds would add some crunch.

This "cereal dough" goes into the oven and you'll get an amazing aroma throughout your house.

If you add cinnamon to the recipe, it'll smell like homemade cinnamon toast crunch.

I just kept my cereal in a freezer bag and used it as needed over a period of a few weeks and it always tasted fresh and good.

So, there you go, this is how you make homemade Amish cereal.

🙋 FAQ Amish Cereal

📜 Full Recipe

Amish Homemade Cereal

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Ingredients

  

• 4 pounds whole wheat flour
• 1 ¼ pounds brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 5 cups buttermilk
• ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon imitation maple flavoring
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¾ cup cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, melted

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• . Mix the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and salt in a very large bowl or container until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda until smooth.
• Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until the flour mixture is evenly coated.
• Add the maple flavoring, vanilla, and butter, and stir to evenly incorporate.
• Spread the mixture evenly on baking sheets.
• Bake until nicely browned (about two hours).
• Let cool completely, then crumble into fine pieces and toast in a warm (250°F) oven.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!