I’m sure I’m not the only one who goes back home to my parents’ house and eats all their food. There’s just something about going home that screams, “EAT EVERYTHING!” to me. I especially love my mom & dad’s place because they usually have junk foods that I ate as a kid. It has become habit to walk in, swing open the pantry door and immediately begin my scan. Nilla Wafers? Oreos? Cheetos?
One thing I can always count on is that they will have sugary “kid” cereals. I’d like to say this is because they stocked up for my nephew, but the fact of the matter is they are for my dad. I can usually count on Lucky Charms, and there is always, without fail, Cap’n Crunch.
My dad is a little bit obsessed with the cereal, which he affectionately refers to as simply “The Captain.” Recently, in his mid-life crisis attempt to learn to cook, he breaded chicken with crushed up Cap’n Crunch cereal. The bonding agent? Maple syrup. Facepalm.
So since my dad’s birthday is coming up and I’ve been poring over the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, I was inspired to give Cap’n Crunch ice cream a go. I veered heavily from the Momofuku recipe, retaining the steeping process and the freeze-dried corn powder. Pro-tip: I was able to find freeze dried corn at Target, by the brand Simply Balanced. It’s around where the trail mix and all that is, in a blue bag. Fascinating stuff. If you opt to buy it for this recipe, you should be able to use it up in next week’s recipe, where I plan to take on Momofuku’s Crack Pie.
I had my creamy, sweet, corny ice cream all churned and ready to be frozen, but I thought I’d double check with the Cap’n expert on one thing: should there be pieces of the cereal in the ice cream? The response? “Pieces! It has to crunch! Crunchatize it, Cap’n!” 50% of my DNA. Sigh.
CAP’N CRUNCH CEREAL ICE CREAM
- 3 cups heavy cream, cold
- 1½ cups whole milk, cold
- 4 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal, divided
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon freeze dried corn powder (optional, see note)
- 1 tablespoon ground Cap’n Crunch powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- In a large bowl, combine heavy cream and milk. Stir in 3 cups of Cap’n Crunch cereal and let steep for 30-45 minutes. Strain cream mixture into another large bowl through a fine mesh sieve, gently pressing the cereal with the back of a spoon to wring out any cream. Be careful not to push cereal sludge through the sieve. Discard the cereal mush.
- Whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn powder, Cap’n Crunch powder, vanilla, and salt into the cream mixture. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. When fully chilled, whisk it a bit to make sure everything is uniform, then pour into the frozen bowl of your ice cream maker. Churn according to your ice cream maker manufacturer’s instructions, until a soft-serve consistency is reached.
- Working quickly, scrape the ice cream into a large plastic storage container and stir in the remaining 1 cup of Cap’n Crunch Cereal until pieces are evenly distributed. Press parchment paper against the top of the ice cream and cover with a lid. Freeze until fully hardened, about 2-4 hours.
- *I used Simply Balanced brand freeze dried corn, purchased at Target, and ground it to a powder in my food processor. If you can’t find it, use all ground up Cap’n Crunch cereal, instead!
