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Peanut Butter Cup Cereal

By March 15, 2011October 29th, 2021Breakfast, Camping and Travel, Dairy Free, Vegetarian

TESTIMONY OF THE DAY

“I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now.  The first two pictures are of me now, 52 lbs lighter. The next one is of me about a year ago and the other late October 2013 after losing 24 lbs.

I was very active in high school playing sports and eating what I thought was healthy.  Going keto-adapted last October has completely changed my life. I have never felt better in my life and I have so much energy. Learning about food and what I know now it’s no wonder why I still felt tired and sluggish in high school. It’s weird to be smaller and healthier now at 37 with 2 kids than I was even in high school.  I love the new me. I had major depression, aches, and pains, always edgy, on the verge of being diabetic. Not any more. Maria you have changed my life for the better. I can’t thank you enough.  You made it so easy. Your cookbooks are amazing and your recipes are so yummy.  I never felt hungry or unsatisfied with what I was eating.

My husband and children have supported me through it all. I couldn’t have done it without them either. I still have a little more to go and I know I will get there.  Now if I can just get the whole family to go keto-adapted it would be my cherry on top.” – Christal

If you want to get started on a path to health and healing, click HERE. You will not regret it!
cereal

 

Why We Crave Crunch

The theory of why crunchy foods are innately pleasing to our pallet is captivating.

Crunchy foods add a level of our senses to eating. If you are lucky and are able to smell and taste, you get those (I say lucky because I had a terrible ear infection that caused me to lose smell and taste for 2 weeks! Yikes). You also get texture in your hands and mouth when eating. One thing you may have not thought about is the sensual part of the eating experience of sound.

The crunchy sensation we experience is more significant for the sounds it makes inside our heads. The internal noises of chewing always happen as we eat, but eating a soft omelet are quite different than chewing on nuts or chips. This is one reason why “You can’t eat just one.”

Our neural sensory systems all experience something called “habituation” in which our sensory neurons become less receptive with constant exposure to a stimulus. We all experience habituation to the smell and taste of food as we eat. This is why we over-eat when we are eating at a potluck or buffet… so many choices to keep stimulating the senses. But if you have one food on your plate, your brain gets bored and signals to stop eating.

One reason that crunchy food may have more of an appeal to you lies in the extra layer of your senses when you eat; you may like a particular crispy food because you like the way it sounds in your head. Crispy foods have a special sensory place in the brain. They incorporate hearing into the sensory mix of eating, and it is very likely that the stronger and more varied sensory mix provided by crispiness staves off boredom and habituation while we eat these foods.

We also often crave crunchy foods because, in Paleolithic days, insects and fresh produce were our main source of crunchy. A soggy vegetable was tossed aside in lieu of a crunchy/fresh one. The problem now is that we still crave that crunch but it often isn’t for a crunchy piece of celery… it is most likely chips or cereal (thank goodness for people like Clark W. Grizzwald who invented “non-nutritive cereal varnish” in Christmas Vacation! lol)

So if you are in love with crunch, you MUST try this cereal!

cereal“HEALTHIFIED” CEREAL
2/3 cup SWERVE …see below for more info on Swerve
1 tsp stevia glycerite (omit if using SWERVE)
1 cup peanut flour
1 cup  chocolate egg white protein
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
2 TBS water (or 2 more TBS butter/oil for a “crunchier” cereal)
2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
OPTIONAL: 1 tsp pure chocolate extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (170 degrees C). In a large bowl, combine erythritol and stevia glycerite, peanut flour, whey, and extract in a small bowl. Stir in butter and water with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Divide the dough in half and place half of the peanut butter dough on a cookie sheet with defined edges. Keep the other half in the bowl and add the cocoa powder; stir to combine well.

Place the cocoa cereal dough on a separate cookie sheet with defined edges or the butter may leak off. Bake for 12-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and gently stir while still hot. Let cool in the cookie tin (it will crisp up A LOT). Break pieces apart and enjoy with unsweetened almond milk. Makes 8 servings.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Post Cereal = 220 calories, 3g fat, 3g protein, 45 carbs, 2g fiber
“Healthified” Cereal = 187 calories, 14.5 g protein, 12g fat, 3g carbs, 1.6g fiber

MILK COMPARISON (per cup)
Skim Milk = 90 calories, 13g carbs, 13g sugar
Unsweetened Chocolate Almond milk = 45 calories, 1g carb, 0g sugar

NOTE: if you use coconut oil, no refrigeration is needed! It works great for camping or traveling! Happy Spring Break!

SWERVE: Swerve uses a Non-GMO erythritol manufacturer who employs technology that relies on the inherent ability of certain natural yeasts to convert sugar into erythritol. The resulting erythritol is then purified, dried, and sieved. This process does not require any solvents, other than water. No synthetic chemical processes are required and the resulting Erythritol is identical to that which is found in nature.  It measures cup for cup like sugar and it also does not have the same “mouth-cooling” sensation compared to other brands of erythritol on the market.

 

Maria Emmerich

Maria is a wellness expert who has helped clients follow a Ketogenic lifestyle to heal and lose weight for over 20 years. She has helped thousands of clients get healthy, get off medications and heal their bodies; losing weight is just a bonus. She is the international best selling author of several books including "Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on the Ketogenic Diet.".

84 Comments

  • Jennifer says:

    That’s clever, Maria. I’ve never been a cereal person, but I can appreciate how this would be a handy recipe for those who are cereal lovers.

  • Connier62 says:

    Thanks for great info.And here is a question for you.Can we drink Atkins shakes on BFC?

  • France says:

    that sounds delicious!

  • Lucy says:

    I AM a cereal person! I’ve been eyeing Frosted Flakes for the past month – I know, I know. Knowing what it will do to my bg has kept me from putting it in my cart. Call me weak, but it hasn’t been easy.

    I finally tried this recipe and ended up making 3 batches! Totally satisfies my craving: totally. Very impressive!

    My husband LOVES it too – he was totally amazed and grateful!

  • Yahoo! Lucy! I’m SOOOO happy you liked it!!!

  • Dinah says:

    oh I am SO making this! I have missed cereal, and PB cereal is my absolute favorite…. thanks!

  • Dinah says:

    getting ready to put it in the oven now. my mixture was way pasty, not crumbly. hope i didn’t screw it up!

  • Dinah, I usually do the extra coconut oil rather than water and that makes it more crumbly… You will still love it!

  • Dinah says:

    well if I would read the recipe right, it may have come out right! I put a whole cup of coconut oil in it, like an idiot. colossal fail on my part! will definitely be trying this again, and do it right this time! and is there a difference between whey protein and protein powder?

  • I say whey or egg white protein because some people are allergic to whey and some people are allergic to eggs;)

    Better luck next time;)

  • Dinah says:

    believe me, i’ll be trying it again. it smelled heavenly, tasted really good, i just screwed up and put in too much coconut oil. drats!

  • Anonymous says:

    This cereal is absolutely delicious! Reese’s Puffs were my favorite cereal before I started eating low carb, and not only is this healthy, but I like it even better!

  • vc says:

    Just put mine in the oven and can’t wait to have it for breakfast! Maria have you ever tried making it with just like sugar? I’m finding I like the flavor of it better but was curious if it would turn out right.

  • SWEETENER TIPS (more information in The Art of Eating Healthy)

    My recipes will call for erythritol and stevia glycerite. I use these separate to help keep my costs down. In any recipe you can use ZSweet, Truvia, Organic Zero, Xylitol or Just Like Sugar. In order to use a different product, use the same amount of sweetener for the amount of erythritol in the recipe and omit the stevia (except for Organic Zero, that is only erythritol and you will still need stevia for sweetness). TIP: Most people report that ZSweet is their favorite for sweeteness!

    1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup ZSweet
    1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Truvia
    1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Xylitol
    1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Just Like Sugar
    1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Organic Zero and 1 tsp stevia

  • This is so delicious I can’t believe it’s not really a sugary cereal. Even my kids love it! There’s no way this is going to wind up being 8 servings 🙂

  • Mimi says:

    I tried this too! Overall I LOVE it. I just have a quick question — did you flatten yours on the cookie sheet? I wasn’t quite sure on that part. I flattened it and baked it. The only snag I ran into was that it was verrrry crumbly. Like, there was a lot of “meal” rather than chunks. Any tips? It tastes great but I know I’d like it more if it looked like yours 🙂

    • Carrie says:

      Mine wasn’t chunky either & I only used coconut oil. I also sort of flattened mine too since it was a smaller cookie sheet. Weird thing is, is that I made the Nutella one before this one & it had chunkier pieces. It’ll still get eaten though! 🙂

  • Thanks Mimi!

    The more oil/butter you add, the more chunks you will have. I added extra oil, but even water will create it to stick together better.

    Maybe add a few more TBS of water next time.

    Happy Eating!

    • Anonymous says:

      Could you replace the peanut flour with almond flour or coconut flour and still get similar results? I can’t have peanuts due to the fact they are a legume and am replacing things like peanut butter with almond butter, etc.

    • Yep! Almond flour will work! Coconut flour won’t though.

      Happy baking!

  • Debbie T. says:

    So glad to read almond flour will work! Don’t you work about the high omega-6 in the peanut flour? Love your blog–just discovered it!

  • Debbie T. says:

    I have erythritol and NuNaturals Pure Liquid Alcohol Free Stevia—will the latter work in place of stevia glycerite?

  • Debbie T. says:

    Thanks, Maria. I meant to ask “Don’t you WORRY about the high omega-6 in the peanut flour?”

  • Anonymous says:

    nice idea.. thanks for sharing...

  • I don’t recommend Atkin’s products if they have soy protein or malitol in them … this will increase estrogen and it is bad for many reasons.

  • Just made this… and yum!! I ordered one of your cook books a few days a go and I am so excited to start trying more recipes! I am loving everything we have tried. I have 6 kids and overall they all eat it too! Thanks for helping me help my family become healthier!!!

  • Lisa Pflaum says:

    Maria, this is SO good! My husband said “This must not be healthy since it’s so good.” 🙂 He’s had a bowl every morning for the last week. I find that the erythritol upsets my stomach a little. Do you have suggestions for something different?

  • Now this one had a few questions. I grind my own almond flour-can you do the same for the peanuts? And for the Jay Robb, I was thinking I could maybe get packets for certain recipes…so curious how much this makes as I noticed many of your recipes I’ve made make a lot so hope the cost of the Jay Robb (so good but so pricey) will be offset by lots of cereal 🙂

    • I made the serving size the same as on the cereal box (3/4 cup) and it came to 8 for me. You could try it with peanut butter. Just don’t blend to long or you will have peanut butter. 🙂

  • K awesome not too bad then so about $1 worth of Jay Robb per serving-not too bad. And k will try, I got a Nutribullet and I buy the blanched slivered almonds at Whole Foods for $2.50/bag so for $5 a lb I throw about a cup I believe in my Nutribullet and no lie it’s done in many 10 seconds, it’s much easier than in my food processor! 🙂

  • vjbakke says:

    If we don’t have the peanut flour is there something else you can use in place of it? Ground sunflower seeds?

  • d.o.wife says:

    Omg I was eating the dough before it went in the oven! Haha! I am going to make an all peanut butter flavor as well.

    I can so see these as awesome peanut butter cookies too….

    Fantastic recipe thank you!!!

  • Aliya G says:

    Coming from a teenager, this recipe is amazing! I don’t know why, but to me it tastes exactly like Samoas! YUMMM. totally satisfied my craving.

  • Kristaleen says:

    Oh my goodness! I just made this and it is soooooooo yummy!!!! Tastes just like Reese’s puffs-scratch that, it’s even yummier!!!! I had a tiny bowl and now I’m excited for breakfast tomorrow!!!! Thanks Maria!!!! I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made so far!!!!!

  • Patty says:

    Maria, you mention using natural peanut butter (which I agree) but where in the recipe do you use it? To replace peanut flour? My son LOVES peanut butter cap’n crunch, so I am trying to figure out how to adapt this to just peanut flavor. I am also trying to use more whey protein powder in his food, so I am loving this recipe so far! Can’t wait to try it! Thank you!

  • Tara says:

    Is there anything other than a tin that this can cool in? Glass Pyrex?

  • Tara says:

    Thanks! Our family tried it this morning (we have 4 kids!) and my oldest and *ahem* pickiest eater 🙂 loved it! So did my husband. I, personally, thought it was amazing! Keep your kid-friendly recipes coming…we love them.

  • Michelle Spaeth says:

    Patty, I’m thinking that using almond flour (since I don’t have peanut flour) and subbing natural peanut butter for the 1/2 c coconut oil or butter might work for what you want. My favorite is peanut butter cap’n crunch too and if I can find a “Healthified” version I would be in heaven. 🙂 Maria, do you think my idea would work (I would have to sub vanilla whey also for the chocolate since I don’t have chocolate protein powder at the moment). Let me know! 🙂

  • Laurel says:

    I’m a little baffled, I think I messed up either the math or the recipe here! A small bowl comes out to 727 calories.

    I used 1 cup almond flour, 1 cup isogold whey (pretty standard sucralose-sweetened whey), 2tbsp cocoa powder, 110g butter (a little less than the 1/2 cup called for), 28g coconut oil (2tbsp), which totals just about 2000 calories. The entire batch only weighed 318 grams when done, and a small bowl of it weighed 123 grams!

    Did I do something wrong here? I am looking at this bowl of cereal and trying to figure out where that number of calories even comes from, high fat or not.

    • Laurel says:

      Woops, scale error. Haha. The batteries were dying. The small bowl ended up being 68g, which is still ~400 calories, but that’s more palatable. 🙂

  • rmjw3 says:

    Okay, this is my 2nd batch today. I experienced similar results as previous post-ers abt the batch not being lumpy prior to going into the oven… So, I’m trying this a 2nd time WHILE USING 1/4 CUP + 2 TBSP of the coconut oil for the recipe portions Maria listed above. The 1st batch was, as listed, at 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp, so I’m trying it this way now to see if it works better… So far, the lumps look great & about to go in the oven! #fingerscrossed

  • Destiny says:

    I turned the oven off and left mine in there to crunch up. I also stored in the frig. It was yummy, just it seemed to pack into my teeth…in a weird way. I had to drink hot tea with it to melt away all the cereal crammed in the grooves of my molars. Weird.

  • Lorrie Lou says:

    Fabulous! Used half butter, half coconut oil. Only had vanilla whey, so I used that and extra cocoa powder. Whole family loved it and were so thankful to have cereal again! Thanks , Maria!!

  • Janet t says:

    Maria, did you notice that if you use the egg white it is a big dryer? I ended up using about 2 times the coco oil and still adding water. it doesn’t hold together the same as the whey. did you notice that too? I made this chocolate peanut butter and also the strawberry one with jay Robb egg white … and it was dry even though I added more oils. I cooked other cereals that came out great. do you attribute it to that and how can I correct this?

  • Janet t says:

    you are the bomb maria, thanks for your help, I appreciate it..(ooohhhhh it’s probably a bit meringueyyyy cuz of the egg white and that’s why it’s dryer ohhhh) thanks again. 🙂

  • Nichole says:

    Made this cereal to change up my breakfast routine. It wasn’t as crunchy as I had hoped it would be even after letting it sit for many hours. Also, I enter the ingredients into myfitnesspal.com and it keeps giving me 22g net carbs, not 3g. Frustrating. I do love your recipes and they’re working for me regardless of what myfitnesspal says, I’ve lose 12lbs in less than a month.

  • Heather says:

    This looks awesome! Can you tell me about how big a serving size is please? With 8 servings, and just looking at the recipe – it looks like it would be less than 1/2 a cup?

  • Azziza says:

    Swerve *does* have the mouth cooling sensation. It’s not just erythritol either. From their own website: “The secret to our zero calorie sweetness is a combination of erythritol, oligosaccharides and natural flavors…” They don’t seem to specify what those “natural flavors” actually are.

  • Nicole says:

    how don’t you store it? In the refrigerator? Or shelf? Thanks, it’s delicious!!

    • Maria Emmerich says:

      If you used coconut oil, it could probably be store on the shelf for up to 2 weeks or so. With butter, the fridge would be best. 😉

  • Joy says:

    I have yet to figure out how this makes 8 servings!!! I usually double and a lucky to get 8 from a double batch.

  • Barbara Petrini says:

    I just finished my first bowl and I had to write to say THANK YOU for this recipe! LOVE IT!

  • Gail says:

    Not sure if it is too late to add a comment, but we used chocolate Vegan protein powder so I am not sure if that changes the consistency. We just pulled the chocolate batch out of the oven and are waiting for it to crisp up before storing. One thing we noticed was that both batches (the one without the added cocoa and the one with the added cocoa) are both dark and not like the picture. It is delicious, so we are not complaining!

  • June Schreiber says:

    This is my favorite “go-to” snack. I take a little baggie to work to munch on in the afternoon. I can’t tell you how many different ways I have made it! Today, I just subbed the peanut flour for almond meal, added 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup Lilly’s sugar free chocolate chips and instead water, I used 2 tblsp of DaVinci’s sugar free carmel syrup. YUUUUUUUM!!! To me, these are like broken up cookies. what a great snack!

  • Dena says:

    I’d like to make this, but I only have unsweetened, no flavor whey protein. Can I add cocoa powder and sweetener to make up for it? How much would you suggest of each ingredient? Thank you!

    • Maria Emmerich says:

      Yes. But I’m unsure of the amounts. I would try adding a little more of each and tasting before baking.

  • Julie Ferrell says:

    Made this last night! A bit moist with the adding the extra coconut oil to the mixture. .I added more peanut flour and came out pretty good! Will use less oil next time. I also used Jay Robb egg white. This was Wonderful! Thanks Maria!

  • JJ says:

    Mine was soft did not crumble I guess I should have added a bit more almond flour to make it crumbly , will try again thanks for the recipe!

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