Intensely chocolatey and extra crunchy, this grain free and keto cocoa puffs cereal is bound to have you swooning!
Grain Free & Keto Cocoa Puffs Cereal 🥄
Extra Crunchy ⚡
This recipe for keto chocolate cereal has been a long time coming. Fact is, ever since we published our grain free keto cinnamon toast crunch requests have been pouring in. We have, however, been working on making it extra crunchy.
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 (and a sprinkle of cocoa powder always helps too).
The Chocolate 🍫
Cocoa or cacao? Both work great, just know that quality really matters here. Our favorite will forever be the Dutch-processed alkaline cocoa Valrhona, known to be one of (if not the) best cocoas in the world. But feel free to use a raw cacao powder (arguably more nutritional perks here), though keep in mind that your cereal will be lighter in color and more reddish in hue. Both are well and good, as long as they’re unsweetened.
How dark? Talking dark chocolate versus milk is a sure way to divide a crowd! And we like these keto Cocoa Puffs with a nice and dark chocolate cookie. But since we know dark isn’t for everyone, the main recipe is a more ‘milk chocolate’ version like the traditional cereal.
An optional coating. If you want your cereal to ‘stain’ the milk, simply brush with melted butter right out of the oven and sprinkle with a sugar and cocoa mix.
The Flours
We found here that super fine almond flour did a killer 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 🍯
This recipe works best with Swerve, without a doubt. Not only is it roughly 1-to-1 in sweetness to sugar (and the volume is important here), but it lends a very similar crunch and chew. No other sweetener did that. And if you’re generally bothered by it’s cooling effect, you won’t bat an eyelash here with all the minty goodness going on.
Just note that erythritol (i.e. Swerve) takes a while to crunch up post baking. So give your cookies ample time (think anywhere from 2-4 hours) to get nice and crisp.
Also keep in mind that, as much as we’re fans of xylitol in general, it results in chewy rather than crisp cookies here (as it takes up to a day or two to go back to it’s solid state!). So no xylitol please. And in case you’re wondering about Pyure, we’re never fans of stevia (in any shape or form) coming in contact with chocolate (a not-so-nice aftertaste). But if you’re immune to it, technically Pyure also works here.
Grain Free & Keto Cocoa Puffs Cereal
Ingredients
For the keto Cocoa Puffs cereal
- 144 g almond flour *see. notes for a 'dark chocolate' version
- 50 g cocoa powder *see. notes for a 'dark chocolate' version
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 80 g unsalted grass-fed butter at room temperature
- 128 g Swerve
- 1 egg
For the topping (optional)
- 1 tablespoon melted grass-fed butter
- 1-2 tablespoons Swerve or xylitol, to taste
- 1/2-2 teaspoons cocoa powder to taste
Instructions
- Add almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, xanthan gum and baking soda to a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Begin to cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, 1-2 minutes. Add in sweetener and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed and much of the sweetener has dissolved (3-5 minutes).
- 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 1 hour (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and have a baking tray handy.
- Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until nice and thin. Cut out by pressing down with a ruler (takes a couple minutes this way, for real). Alternatively (and only if you have an hour or two to kill), pinch little rounds of dough and form into balls.
- Transfer cutout cookies with the parchment paper onto prepared baking tray. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes prior to baking.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes. Since the cereal is dark already and you can't guide yourself by color, check in often the first time around. When ready, the cereal will have puffed somewhat and smell amazing (this is our best cue here), but you'll want to push the baking time to get them nice and crisp. So just keep an eye out for them.
- Optional topping (to 'stain' the milk): brush with melted butter right out of the oven and sprinkle with cocoa sugar.
- Allow to cool for ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, as it'll continue to crunch up (because of the sugar alcohol, this may take a few hours!).
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week. And keep in mind that these cookies can be baked, once shaped, straight from the freezer (the batter keeps well frozen for up to 3 months).
Notes
Nutrition
More Breakfast Goodies 🍳
and some food (for thought) 👁️
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xo! Paola
I love your recipes, thank you! I wanted to mention the ad content is overwhelming and covering a lot of your recipe and blog content. I understand they can be closed out. Just wanted you to know.
I made this and it was delicious!!! I wasn’t able to put them in the freezer once I rolled it out them because it was too long. Im about to try the coco puff one this time and I think this time I will cut it in half and roll it into 2 different sheets.
Has anyone tried putting the dough thru a potato ricer? It would make strands that can be cut into short bits….wondering if that would work, not only save cutting time but make a cereal more on the lines of coco pebbles? Any input on adjusting baking temp & time? I’m going to try soon, will post results.
Ooooh! I would be interested in hearing back! What a genius idea Cynthia!!
Hey! Does it need to be granulated swerve or will confectioners work?
Can’t wait to make this!!
Hi! I’ve just rolled the dough out and cut it into small squares but my freezer is too small to put the cereal in before baking. Would putting them back into the fridge before baking for an hour work the same if I can’t put them in the freezer? I’m super excited to make these 😊
I would love to try this recipe but I con’t cook or measure in grams. no one I know does. is there any possibility of converting to cups instead of grams?
Just click on US cups below the ingredients Carol 😉
So I’m wondering if you could cook these in the microwave like you did your crackers? Would they turn out just as crunchy?
Honestly I haven’t tried… but maybe?!
Soooooooo Yummie this is the best Keto chocolate cereal ever!!!!!!!!!!
☺️
could i use flax meal instead of xanthan gum? any recommendations for a substitute
Hey! This looks soooo good! I miss cereal so much. Can I use Splenda?
Heavenly!
Easy to make (takes some to shape into balls, though)
I’m lactose and gluten intolerant so this saved me TONS of time in the morning when I could just grab some with almond milk. They come out so crispy and puffy (only god knows how)
Thanks!
I am so excited to try this! I miss my cereal so much on Keto! Mainly because it was my “go to, don’t have time to cook” meal!
Questions about the cocoas please. Can I use a non-Dutch processed type cocoa powder and if so, how would the results differ? I researched and saw something about acidic vs akcaline but honestly don’t know what that means if we are not using baking powder or soda (and do you decide which cocoa based on the soda or powder or vise verse)?And is it best to measure or weigh cocoa powder? I tried weighing the grams and it seemed like I had way too much!
Thanks in advance! Btw I have only been able to do Keto because of your website.
WOW. I just made these (used coconut sugar as a sweetener) and they turned out amazing. Super puffy and taste great. Thank you!
Wow wow wow. I missed cereal so much and this was the solution. Weighed everything out using a scale and it came out perfectly. Soooo impressed! I’ve also made your tortillas. Everything has been so tasty! Thanks for sharing these recipes! 🙌🏾
Question – can this be made with coconut flour instead of almond flour as well?
Unfortunately it won’t crisp up. If it’s an allergy you can also try sunflower seed flour xo!
OK, that is good to know – I have both, I was just curious
Do you think I could make this with monk fruit sweetener?
If it’s Lakanto yes (the one with the erythritol base) xo
Oh my Stars!!! I have missed cereal, I can’t wait to try these along with the cinnamon toast crunch and the gingerbread crunch cereal!! I’m wondering if a pb crunch cereal could be made using this recipe and subbing out the cocoa powder for pb flour? If so, heaven!!
These were so easy to make and were just like the real thing. Making these was so much fun and the outcome was great. These are perfect for children who love the sugary cereal but who’s parents wont allow it. Great recipe.
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! I’ve missed cereal so much, and I’m delighted to have found this recipe (and the cinnamon toast crunch one too). It’s very satisfying, both taste-wise and hunger-wise. I did note that compared to the CTC cereal dough, this dough was very dry and crumbly. It was difficult to get it to roll out into a sheet without ending up with cracks and moist crumbs. The best I can guess is maybe it needs more butter compared to the CTC? (since it otherwise has very similar ingredient ratios, but has all the cocoa drying it out). I’m not much of a baker like you are… How do you think increasing the butter by 2 tbsp would go?
Hi Morgan! That’s awesome to hear thank you! Regarding your question, the recipe for this guy has already been adjusted to take into account for the cocoa. By any chance are you measuring your ingredients by volume or weight?Cocoa is an easy ingredient to over-measure. Alternatively are you creaming the butter for long enough until light and fluffy? That could also account for the uneven moisture you’re encountering?
I made this the other day and even though I didn’t get it quite right it’s still SO good! I used 9 Tbsp powdered erythritol as my sweetener and made the ‘dark chocolate’ version. I didn’t roll it out quite thin enough so it didn’t get crispy, but the little squares hold their shape fine in milk anyway. They soak up the milk and get delightfully mushy, like shredded wheat that’s sat in milk for a while, if anyone knows what I’m referring to 🙂
I can’t wait to try this again for a crispier result, but the first go around was still awesome and did NOT disappoint! Thank you, Paola!
Hi Sam! So happy you enjoyed it still! Let me see if I can help! From your description, you could’ve had a couple issues:
– the butter wasn’t creamed well enough (I’m working on how-to videos, but check youtube!)
– the almond flour wasn’t extra fine (if that’s the case you would see little white dots of almond bits).
I hope this helps, and just happy to hear your enjoying the recipes!
Is the xanthum gum crucial? i do not have any on hand but I want to try this recipe right now!
Hi Mandy! It’ll be more crumbly without it! xo!
Hello,
First of all, all your recipes sound amazing.
Just tried the chocolate puffs, but somehow my dough has been really crumbly and after it has been sitting in the fridge for 2h it was hard as a brick and could not be rolled out.
I followed the instructions completely, any idea what I need to change up next time to get your great result?
Thank you so much for the help.
Hi Sophie! Unfortunately it’s a bit hard to diagnose what went wrong without being in the kitchen with you. But a few things could’ve been:
– almond flour isn’t fine enough
– butter wasn’t creamed properly with the sugar until light and fluffy
– xanthan gum being used isn’t very good (they vary a lot form brand to brand, and I always recommend Bob’s).
Hope this helps! xo
Thank you very much for the help.
I wasn’t aware that there are such huge brand differences in the ingredients.
I’ll try some other brands and see where that gets me 🙂
It’s my pleasure! In terms of the almond flour you really do want one that you can run through a sieve and not see any ‘bits’ in your cookies/cereal. This extra fine one is used in French macarons for instance, and brands include Bob’s, Anthony’s & Wellbees (there are others too, but these are the ones I’ve tried). xo!
Hello!
Have you tried this without the egg, or with a powdered whole egg substitute?
Hi Annie, unfortunately I haven’t tried it no. I’m afraid it would be very crumbly without it. Though do note that a reader did report back that she used aquafaba as an egg sub in the cinnamon toast crunch (same principle) and it worked great. Maybe worth reading up on it? xo
Couple of things: why not cut wit a pizza cutter instead of ruler? If you want balls, do you just roll the squares after cutting? Ever make them bigger for a more cookie-like treat? Thanks for the US measures; for serving size, do you know what US measure is for 40 grams of finished product? I just stumbled across you and am liking what I see!
Hi Gayle! Sorry I missed your comment earlier. Cutting it with a ruler is honestly much easier (not to mention more precise). Once you try with a pastry cutter, knife or ruler you’ll know what I mean 😉 xo
Is it possible to make this with some kind of regular sugar? or even coconut sugar?
Hi Noa! Definitely! Either regular or coconut sugar will work fine, same amount as Swerve xo!
I just pulled my puffs out of the oven and I’m so excited! They are still pretty soft though. Is that normal? And then they get crispy when they cool? 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Laura! Yes, you do have to bake them well of course, but sugar alcohols take a while to crunch up! Can sometimes take even a couple hours! Hope you enjoy xo!
I get nervous to make cereal! Any pointers so I don’t mess up? Has anyone tried th other cereal on this site?!!🤗
Hi Kari! Don’t be nervous!! Cereal is nothing more than miniature cookies 😉. And yup, the cinnamon toast crunch is probably one of the most popular recipes on the site, you can read the comments on that one! This one is a bit crunchier though (adding a CTC 2.0 to that one next week!). xo!
And here I thought I would be the first one to report back! I made the milk chocolate version (which I suppose looks more the color of ‘real cocoa puffs’) and it was GOOD! Agreed, properly crunchy and tasted fantastic.
In case No one has told you lately… We really appreciate you experimenting and bringing great recipes to life for keto. Thank you tons!
PS I’m still eating my Girl Scout thin mint’s and gave some to friends and they love them!
THIS IS LEGIT Y’ALL!! Sitting right now enjoying a bowl of properly crunchy cereal lol 🙂 THNXS