Homemade Corn Flakes Cereal
Did you know you can make your own homemade corn flakes cereal? I found a recipe on a blog called Always Order Dessert and when I tried it, I was thoroughly impressed! It works out to be more economical too. On average, it costs about $4.00 for a 440g box of corn flakes from the grocery store. A 2kg bag of cornmeal costs around $3.00. So you can make quite a lot more homemade corn flakes for the same price as store bought.
Why Are They Better?
Homemade cornflakes, like anything else, are way tastier than the store bought kind. The flavour is more natural and pronounced, and you can’t compare the crunch. Commercial corn flakes become soggy in a very short time in milk, but your artisan version will stay crunchy for a long time. Plus, just like my homemade peanut butter recipe, you can customize the flavour; why not add honey instead of sugar for sweetener? Or maple syrup? A touch of vanilla or cinnamon really takes it to the top. Add whatever you want—it’s your masterpiece!
Make A Batter
Homemade corn flakes cereal starts with a batter. It’s just yellow cornmeal, water, sugar and salt. I modified the recipe a little; for every 3/4 cup of cornmeal you use, you need 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3/4 cup of water. (The original recipe calls for 1 cup cornmeal, but I found this to be a little thick.) You can also add a flavouring at this point, but just the above ingredients gives you just as tasty a product. The above measurements are for each average sized baking tray, measuring 10”x 15” or similar size. You can make however many trays you want (I normally do four), but be sure to rotate the pans while they are baking. I did not do this the first time, and my trays of batter that were on the lower rack turned prematurely crisp!
Spread It Thin!
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and divide the batter evenly among them, however much you are making. Try to make thin, even layers, but don’t worry if you have a few uneven spots. It will lose moisture in the oven and even out in the end.
I suppose you could leave out the sprinkling of wet cornmeal on top, but I found this really added an irresistible crunch that would be missed if left out. So my advice, don’t skip this step!
Twice Baked
Like biscotti, you need to bake your cornflakes two times. Preheat your oven to 350F and bake once for ten minutes. Then you remove your trays from the oven and reduce the temperature to 250F. While it drops to this temperature, take a look at your trays of batter. They should look dried out and beginning to crack.
After a few minutes of cooling, peel the cereal from the paper and break it into little pieces or “flakes.” This is the fun part, and now your efforts will begin to look like corn flakes! Return them to the oven and bake for another 40-45 minutes or until the flakes are fully dried and even a bit golden.
How Do You Store Them?
I keep my homemade cornflakes in a tall mason jar with a swing top lid. They stay fresh for days! You can also keep them in any type of plastic container with a tight fitting lid. Want to be a real smarty cat? Store them in a previously used corn flakes bag—and pop it back into the original box! I can bet you won’t have the problem of this home crafted artisan cereal going stale. Try making your own cornflakes today—I would love to know how they turned out—especially if you create a flavour variation!
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350F/176C. Line a 10”x 15” baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a bowl combine 3/4 cup cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Whisk together until well incorporated.
- Add water and stir well. The mixture should resemble a pancake batter. If it’s too thick, add more water.
- Spread batter as thinly as possible onto prepared baking sheet. It should pool slightly with milky liquid around the edges (the thinner the better).
- Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of cornmeal with enough water to resemble wet sand (1-2 tablespoons). Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the batter looks dry and the surface is cracked. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 275/135C. While oven temperature reduces, allow batter to cool enough to handle. Peel from the parchment paper and tear into little flakes, spreading them evenly back onto the baking sheet. Bake another 35-40 minutes, stirring once or twice, until flakes are fully crisp and slightly golden. Remove from oven to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
This recipe for homemade corn flakes yields enough for 2 small bowls. You can easily double, triple or quadruple the amount, but be sure to rotate the pans during baking to prevent uneven cooking.
24 thoughts on “Homemade Corn Flakes Cereal”
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What kind of flavoring would one add please ? Thank you ,, love your videos !
I like to add vanilla extract. Instead of sugar, you can use maple syrup. Add a tablespoon of cocoa if you like chocolate or a pinch of cinnamon. I hope this helps. Thank you for your nice comment!
Just go online and look at the ingredients of some of your favorite flake cereals and spice it like they did! For example, I like a cornflake cereal that is based off a golden latte and on its ingredients it had cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, and honey. So I put all of those in this recipe and it tasted great! Just like there other cereal, but without the unhealthy corn syrup and oils ^^
Hi!
I tried this recipe out and it turned out great! I spiced it like a golden latte 🙂
Im curious though, for your cornmeal, what are you using exactly and what brand? Is it actually cornmeal, or polenta? Is it precooked cornmeal (masarepa) or not (madaharina)?
I used polenta, which is technically cornmeal, but i felt like your stuff looked a little more powdery than mine.
Thank you!
Hi there, thank you for the nice feedback. I would have never thought of such a cool flavour, I must try it! The product I used was definitely cornmeal and the brand was Unico. It looks very fine in the video but it was actually quite coarse. Happy Cooking!
Hello. My recipe stayed completely sticked in the parchment paper! =(
Any idea?
Hi there! That’s unfortunate! It is most likely the brand of parchment paper—sometimes food sticks and the only way to find out is the hard way. Now that you know this, I would try spraying or oiling the parchment next time you make it.
In your cost estimate difference did you include the costs of parchment paper, sugar, salt, and electricity? Those should be included and you could add your time and clean-up costs (soap, dishwasher energy etc…) for an even better estimate. I won’t include the pans or gas to go to the store.
Does corn flour work the same as corn meal in this Recipe?
Or for example, corn masa?
I’m pregnant and craving this cereal like mad! And I prefer home made.
Thank you!!
Hi! No, unfortunately corn flour/masa harina etc won’t work for this recipe. It has to be cornmeal. I hope you will still make and enjoy it!
Hi. I tried the recipe with just cornmeal, salt and water. It tastes crunchy and nice. But mine got burnt a little esp on the edges of each flake. I tried reducing the temperature to 200 for the next batch but the results were the same. Could you suggest something?
Hello, thank you for reaching out to me about your results with this recipe. It sounds like you have a hot oven! I suggest turning it off for the second baking and just leaving the flakes in there to dry until the oven is cooled. I really hope this helps so you can enjoy a lifetime of your own homemade cornflakes 🙂
Hello
How can I incorporate https://originalhomesteading.com/how-to-use-diastatic-malt-in-making-bread/ into the corn flakes cereal recipe?
Hi! That’s a good question! I would probably try a ratio of 25% malt to cornmeal for the batter and see what happens. Then maybe you could add more? I have never worked with diastatic malt so I can’t be sure. I hope this helps 🙂
Amazing idea! I’m going to try this recipe out as a way to make a corn flake crunch mix in for cookies instead of using store bought corn flakes. This should give a much crunchier crispier texture and more flavor I think! Adding some ground freeze dried corn to it would really amplify the sweet cornbread like taste I bet.
What a great idea to use it for other recipes! Never thought of that, going to try for sure!
Can I mill dried corn and use for this recipe? Thanks!
I have never tried but you should be able to. As long as it forms a similar consistency 🙂
Hi, how do you think I could add peanut butter to the recipe?
Great question! I would try to incorporate it into the water somehow maybe by warming it? You would probably only need a couple of tablespoons. I hope this helps!
Thanks for the recipe.
You’re so welcome 🙂
Can I use instant polenta for this?🤔
I would think you can, but I have not tried so I can’t be 100% sure. Nothing to lose if you test a fraction of the recipe 🙂