These fun Cereal Milk Pudding Shots can be made with your favorite sweet breakfast cereal. This version uses Froot Loops, which makes a colorful party food that’s kid-friendly, too!
Sometimes I forget how good scratch-made pudding is. Whenever I make it I always wonder why I don’t make it more often. This pudding is extra good, because it comes with a hit of childhood nostalgia. We have Milk Bar to thank for introducing the world to cereal milk as an ingredient. The thing is, we’ve all likely made this as kids sitting in front of the TV, eating sugary cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons. Who knew we’d be using it to make desserts?
Selecting a cereal.
Start these Cereal Milk Pudding Shots with the biggest bowl of cereal, ever! Five cups of milk to four cups of cereal. I must admit, stirring this together was super satisfying. I was tempted to take a big bite.
Froot Loops (with marshmallow shapes) is my sweet cereal of choice, but you could use Fruity Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, or even less sweet Cornflakes. You might remember my previous recipe made with cereal milk – Toasted Corn Flakes Cupcakes with Cereal Milk Pipettes. Still love those!
Cover the enormous bowl of cereal and refrigerate it. Let the mixture steep for at least an hour. Longer is better to coax out as much cereal flavor as possible. Aim for 2-3 hours.
Next, strain out the cereal. The loops will soak up some of the milk, so you’ll have less than you began with. You should end up with about 4 1/2 cups of cereal milk.
Divide the cereal milk. 4 cups will be heated in a saucepan, and 1/2 cup will go in a bowl with cornstarch and egg yolks to make a slurry. Add this little bowl of ingredients to the saucepan to thicken the pudding as it cooks.
After the mixture was all whisked together and thickened, something was obviously missing. The thick, pale yellow pudding didn’t really resemble the colorful Froot Loops cereal milk I’d had as a kid. A drop of red food color will make it look more authentic. This is optional.
Cool the pudding before dividing it between shot glasses. I used a piping bag with a tiny hole cut in the end to portion it into the glasses, but you could also just spoon it in.
Party perfect.
Add some whipped cream and crushed cereal on top, and you’ve got instant party food! This recipe will make about 20 shots served in these 2.4 oz. dessert shot glasses. However, you can also divvy the pudding up in larger servings to serve 6-8 people.
How fun would these be for a kid’s party? They’re so creamy and they’re a good summer refresher when chilled. They can be made a couple of days ahead, so if it’s hot where you live right now, wait until night time when it’s cooler to make them. It takes about 15 minutes on the stove top. Enjoy!
Cereal Milk Pudding Shots
Equipment
- 20-24 shot glasses, 2.4 oz. each
- Piping bag
- large closed star piping tip
Ingredients
Cereal milk pudding
- 5 cups whole milk
- 4 cups fruity breakfast cereal such as Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 drop liquid red food color optional
Whipped cream and topping
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup loosely crushed fruity cereal such as Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles
Instructions
Cereal milk pudding
- Combine the milk and cereal in a large bowl and stir to combine. Let the mixture steep for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. Strain out the cereal. You should be left with about 4 1/2 cups of cereal milk. Discard the cereal.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the cereal milk in a medium bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch egg yolks and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add 4 cups of the cereal milk to a saucepan and set over medium heat until steaming but not boiling.
- Add 1/3 cup of the hot cereal milk from the saucepan to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once mixed, add the egg mixture back to the saucepan of milk in a pencil-thin stream, whisking constantly as you pour.
- Cook over medium heat, whisking continually, until the mixture thickens up to the consistency of pudding, about 7 minutes.
- Stir in food color, if using. Transfer to a bowl and place plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature until barely warm. Portion into approximately 20-24 shot glasses, 2.4 oz. each. Alternatively divide between 6-8 ramekins or dessert cups.
Whipped cream and toppings
- Beat the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the granulated sugar while beating. Add in the vanilla extract. Beat until stiff peaks form.
- Transfer the whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip. Pipe whipped cream on top of each pudding shot. Garnish each with crushed fruity cereal.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
My soon-to-be 4 year old is having a unicorn birthday party in two weeks, and this is exactly what I needed! Thank you!!
Oh, what a sweet party theme. I agree, these would fit right in!