Wait… did you say cereal milk?
It might sound a little odd at first, but cereal milk has become a beloved flavour thanks to pastry chefs who reinvent nostalgic tastes. If you know Milk Bar or Christina Tosi’s creations, you know the idea: the sweet, slightly toasty milk left behind after a bowl of cereal can be surprisingly delicious when used as an ingredient. On a visit to New York City I tried Milk Bar’s cereal milk soft serve and loved how the familiar flavour felt both playful and comforting.
A few months later, while practising filled doughnuts, I wanted a custard filling with that exact nostalgic note. I combined a few of my favourite sources and techniques—brioche-style dough for the donuts, a pastry cream base for the custard, and cereal-steeped milk for the flavour—to create cereal milk custard-filled doughnuts. The result is creamy, lightly sweet, and unmistakably cereal-forward without being cloying.
