At just 2g net carbs a serving and with a wonderful crisp texture, this keto cinnamon toast crunch cereal might just be the ultimate low carb breakfast (or fun treat!).
Grain Free & Keto Cinnamon Toast Crunch 🥛
Now Extra Crunchy!
We’ve got grain free keto cinnamon toast crunch cereal, and we’re (most definitely!) sharing. Here’s your childhood’s cereal bowl dream, low carb and with all non-processed ingredients. And most definitely, one of my favorite sweet treats we’ve cooked up as of late.
Who doesn’t remember getting home from school, and devouring a bowl of good-old cinnamon toast crunch with iced-cold milk. Or that late-night snack. That flavor will forever be engrained in our tastebuds. And since we’re in this woe for good, we thought we’d revive this classic for the sake of nostalgia.
Though do note that the taste cannot be replicated exactly, blame it on artificial flavorings, refined sugars and processed carbohydrates. But trust me when I say that it will more than satisfy your cinnamon toast crunch cravings. And more.
And talking about ideal, you can always freeze half the dough for a rainy day. 🌧
Keto-fied
Keeping keto macros in mind, aside from making this classic cereal low carb, I made sure to introduce a good amount of healthy fats into the mix.
And I absolutely adore grass-fed butter as the fat here. Though do note that coconut butter can be subbed in, just the resulting cereal will be denser and therefore slightly less crunchy.
So at 2g net carbs, I find these keto cinnamon toast crunch to be a very good deal. Particularly compared to the whooping 19g net carbs of the original!
Though let’s face it, just like with the original, you might be doubling the serving size on occasion always. Still, 4g net carbs!
Essentially a cookies & milk sorta thing, it makes for one truly special keto breakfast treat.
The Deets
Creaming the butter properly with the sweeter is paramount here to build a nice structure for the cereal (think rise and crunch!). And creaming with sweetener, in case you haven’t done it before, takes a bit longer to incorporate than with good-old sugar. But don’t give up, and keep going until you’ve got the sweetener well incorporated into soft and fluffy butter.
The other indispensable thing, is that the dough be thoroughly chilled before rolling and baking. Why? The butter in the dough has to solidify once again before you can roll it out and cut it up. Think 1 to 2 hours (or overnight).
And if the dough becomes too sticky while rolling and cutting, just pop it in the freezer for a few.
The Flours
I found that super fine almond flour did a super duper awesome job (solo!). Add a touch of xanthan gum, and we’re golden.
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds.
The Sweetener
Erythritol lends a very similar crunch and chew to sugar for crisp cookies, and no other low carb natural sweetener does that (xylitol takes up to a day to crunch up and will result in chewy cereal!).
My current favorite for these guys? Lakanto golden without a doubt. Least cooling effect, nice maple-like taste. But Swerve and Pyure (at half the amount) are awesome too.
As for the ‘sugar’ cinnamon topping, you can either carry on with erythritol or use xylitol (with a preference for the later, as it has less of a cooling effect).
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup or cat around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
The Cut-Up
This really depends how OCD you are (needless to say, I rank high on the scale). But please forget your pastry cutter or knife here, it’s all about the ruler.
Wash up a ruler and use one of its edges to press down on the dough and cut it up. Then take a small fork and prick down each square to avoid excessive puffing.
But note that I timed myself and it took 3 minutes 40 seconds to cut up and do the pricking for the whole batch. i.e. totally worth it for the sake of a true bowl of keto cinnamon toast crunch.
And… the video story!
Keto Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
Ingredients
- 192 g almond flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or 1 tsp flax meal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 80 g grass-fed butter at room temperature*
- 96 g golden erythritol or erythritol-based sweeteners
- 1 egg
For the cinnamon topping:
- 28 g grass-fed butter melted
- 2 tablespoons xylitol or Swerve
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- See recipe video for guidance!
- Add almond flour, cinnamon, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, 2-3 minutes. Add in sweetener and continue to beat until thoroughly light and fluffy and much of the sweetener has dissolved.
- Add in egg, mixing until just incorporated. The mixture will appear slightly 'broken' (i.e. not thoroughly smooth).
- With your mixer on low, add in half of your flour mixture- mixing until just incorporated. Mix in the rest.
- Wrap cereal dough with cling film (saran wrap) and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until nice and thin. Using a ruler, cut dough lengthwise and then crosswise into squares. Prick each piece with a small fork (optional).
- Transfer parchment paper with the keto cinnamon toast crunch to a baking sheet or tray, and place in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to baking. The shaped dough can be frozen for up to 3 months, and baked straight from the freezer (adding 2-3 minutes more to the baking time).
- Bake for 8-12 minutes, until fully golden (depending on size and thickness). Keep an eye out for them, and note that if you like them crisp you'll want to push the baking time as much as possible (until deep golden).
- Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon 'sugar'. You can also do this prior to baking for a more 'crusty' result, both work well just depending on your preference so feel free to experiment.
- Allow to cool for ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, as they'll continue to crunch up (this may take a few hours for the sweetener to harden up again!).
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Can you leave out the artificial sweetener altogether? Looks yummy but I don’t like erithritol and try to leave sugar out when I can as it tends to give me sugar cravings in the long run.
It just won’t taste like CTC then Jaclyn 😭
Haha that’s ok, not Looking for the flavor.. I know. I’m crazy! I just didn’t want to make it if it wouldn’t hold together.
Can I use hazelnut flour instead of almond flour?
Yes, just keep in mind that because it’s more ‘mealy’ than almond flour, it’ll likely not be as crisp (you can let it cool down and then bake it again for 4-6 minutes to get it extra crisp).
Why do you use kosher salt in all your recipes?
What is a serving? 1/2 Cup?
40g = 1/3 cup.
What is the size of a single serving?
I made these but they weren’t very crunchy. Took out of oven at 8 minutes and there were burnt edges, so I didn’t want to leave them in longer. I followed directions exactly.
Ovens vary quite a bit Bernadette, and you just need to get to know yours a little better for different baked goods! Simple solution is to crank down the temp and cook for longer so they crunch up and dry out rather than burn on the outside and stay mushy inside 😉 xo!
Any ideas for making this nutfree? Sunflower seed flour?
Yup! A reader reported back on it on instagram a while back (I haven’t tried it myself) xo!
Any ideas for nutfree? Sunflower seed meal?
Mine came out pretty soggy, too much liquid? Or maybe not enough flour?
I froze it for ten minutes too..
Did you make any subs Kevin? Roll it out thin enough? You can always let them cook then pop them back in the oven for 4-7 mins more (that way they won’t burn!). Otherwise keep in mind that erythritol isn’t like sugar and you cookies will be soggy until it hardens up (anywhere from 1-4 hours depending on the brand). xo!
Can you substitute the Pyure for monk fruit?
If it’s the Lakanto monk fruit with erythritol it works, pure monk fruit won’t unfortunately. xo!
Omg duh thanx doll😘 finally cereal i can eat!!!👏💜🎉🎊😘
I just made these and they are awesome
Can someone please help me out with these gram measurements not understanding!!☺😋
just click on US cups below the ingredients!
Can I substitute swerve with stevia?
You need erythritol (the sugar alcohol) too. So a mix of stevia and erythritol would work (such as Pyure) xo!
Awesome, can’t wait to try it !
Can someone please help me with these grams into cups etc….☺😋
just click on US cups below the ingredients!
Omg duh thanx doll😘 finally cereal i can eat!!!👏💜🎉🎊😘
Hey! Made them… Only a 5 serve batch… Had to make another one right away 🙂 I wonder if I can substitute the almond flour with coconut flour… Have you ever done that? Which substitution ratio would you recomend? Thank you!
Can’t use coconut flour here Michiko, it doesn’t crisp up 😉 xo!
I’m in the middle of making this now…so excited! PLEASEEEEEEE do a recipe for Golden Grahams. I could live off those!!!
Hi Paola, In the video you sprinkled some white powder on the parchment paper and the dough but no mentioned in the recipe instructions. Would you tell me what powder did you use? thanks, Ping
I keep seeing people ask this and she doesn’t respond. Maybe coconut flour?
I’ve answered so many times and I’m now seeing that I forgot to add a note to the recipe itself (as I’d promised a previous reader I would…. :-S!!!). It was actually arrowroot that I used, but if you use parchment paper you don’t really need to ‘flour’ it xo!
Can I use trivia granulated?
Questions for you
How thin the dough that you roll out? What size of the baking sheet do you use?
What size of the squares? How many squares approximately you’d get?
Hi Ping! I use a standard half sheet baking sheet (i.e. not the professional baking ones). You can divide the dough in two and work in batches, just roll it as thin as you can. In all honesty I didn’t measure the squares and theres no way I would’ve counted them all lol! 😉 xo
Has anyone used coconut flour instead of almond flour? I only have coconut flour and want to try this.
Unfortunately they don’t crunch up with coconut flour xo!
Love the taste of these! I did encounter one problem: my cereal remained really soft and mushy even after prolonging the baking several times. I had to stop baking them to prevent them from burning on the top. I followed every step and made no alterations, but the only thing I can think of is that I didn’t cream the butter well enough. Could that be the issue?
Thanks so much I appreciate it!
I’m so excited to try this recipe. One question, do I use granulated or powdered sweetener for the dough?
Either works fine!
Hi! This sounds amazing. What is the difference between using grass fed butter versus regular butter? I want to order to make and am trying to save where I can! Thank you 🙂
Hi Justine! It actually has a very different nutrition profile (vitamin k anti inflammatory properties etc). TBH it’s the one ingredient I do splurge on, but cooking wise you can use both regular or grass fed and it won’t make a difference xo!
Can I use another sugar substitute? Maybe monk fruit or stevia? And can I make less cuantity less say half of the batch I don’t have enough flour haha I suposse I just have to ajust the rest of the ingredients right?
Hi Bret! Keep in mind that you need an erythritol-based sweetener, so pure monk fruit or stevia unfortunately don’t work here 🙁 xo
Wow!! This was sooooo good!! The only thing I did different was I used less amount of sugar- 75g instead.. I’d probably go less cause I don’t like it very sweet, and I didn’t even do the post baking brushing with butter and sugar! Also, I didn’t have powdered almond flour- mine was a lil coarse.. but it still turned out sooooo good and crunchy!! Thank you so much for this!!
The recipes says flax meal can be used in place of xanthan gum – I haven’t got any and I’m hungry! Am I right in thinking flaxseed meal is the same thing? That I have!
The recipes says flax meal can be used in place of xanthan gum – I haven’t got any and I’m hungry! Am I right in thinking flaxseed meal is the same thing? That I have!
Lol yeah same thing! Autocorrect must have booted the ‘seed’ thanks for the heads up 😉 xo
Is it possible to substitute coconut flour for the almond flour?
Unfortunately no Hadley, coconut flour simply never crisps up properly xo!
Hello. I followed this recipe exactly. When I try to bake them they would start to burn and were more a chewy texture instead of crispy what could I be doing wrong? I tried to cook them on parchment paper first then tried a silpat mat
Hi Chantel! I can’t tell for sure whats going on without being in the kitchen with you, but it sounds like your oven is running too hot, so your cereal is cooking too quickly (burning and not crisping up). Most ovens are miscalibrated (oven thermometers are about 10 bucks). Also keep in mind that erythritol (swerve) takes a couple hours to crisp up. Hope this helps!