These Franken Berry Breakfast Buns are made with cereal milk, freeze dried strawberries, topped with Franken Berry glaze and cereal.
It’s a double monster cereal week for me apparently.
I usually only do one.
Either Count Chocula or Franken Berry.
But this year I made a recipe with each.
So for today’s submission for Halloween Treats Week I made Franken Berry Breakfast Buns.
If you are wondering what a breakfast bun is, think cinnamon rolls…but no cinnamon.
Instead there is a Franken Berry infused cereal milk used in the dough as well as the glaze.
The filling is a mix of granulated sugar, freeze dried strawberries powder, and pulverized Franken Berry cereal.
Covered in a Franken Berry strawberry malted milk glaze.
Topped with Franken Berry cereal.
Ingredient Highlights:
As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found at the bottom of this post.
- Franken Berry Cereal – the not so spooky strawberry malt cereal with the frankenstein on the box.
- Yeast – I am a Red Star Yeast (especially the Platinum) loyalist. It has never let me down. It’s what I recommend to everyone.
- Whole Milk – in general I always use whole milk in my bakes. I would not go below 2% if you don’t want to use whole.
- Full Fat Buttermilk – this can sometimes be hard to find (I’m lucky that a local dairy makes the best full fat buttermilk). But if all you can find is low fat, then do 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup sour cream.
- Freeze Dried Strawberry Powder – If you can’t find the powder you can almost always find freeze dried strawberries at most grocery stores these days. Don’t confuse it with dried strawberries, as it is not the same. If you get just freeze dried strawberries, you will need to either blitz them in a blender or put them in a bag and use a rolling pin to crush into fine pieces.
- Malted Milk Powder–I use Nestle Carnation Malted Milk.
- Eggs – Use large eggs at room temperature.
Things to Remember when Baking with Yeast:
Don’t be afraid of it.
A lot of people are intimidated by yeast and end up not making yummy recipes because of it.
If your yeast baked goods are not rising it is most likely two culprits.
You didn’t check the expiration date.
The expiration date is important and not a guideline.
Yeast is a living thing and it does expire.
So always check the date.
The other big killer of yeast is water way too hot.
If it’s too hot for you to touch, then it’s too hot for the yeast.
Dough not rising and you checked the date and you didn’t use too hot of water/milk?
Most likely it’s just cooler in your house then you realize.
My yeast bakes always take longer to rise if I don’t use my proofer.
Yes, I own a proofer and I love it. But if I do room temperature it’s never the 75F when I bake…unless of course it’s summer.
But I most bake with yeast in the fall and winter and so I need it.
Last but not least…It’s a great time to buy my cookbook.
Want more Monster Cereal Recipes?
Franken Berry Breakfast Buns
Ingredients
- For the Franken Berry Cereal Milk:
- 1 cup chocolate milk, full fat preferable
- 1 cup Franken Berry Cereal
- For the rolls:
- 1/2 cup Franken Berry Cereal Milk, heated to 110 - 115F
- 1 TBSP active dry yeast (I used Red Star Yeast Platinum)
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup full fat buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup freeze dried strawberry powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups bread flour
- For the filling:
- 6 TBSP unsalted butter, super soft but not quite melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup finely crushed Franken Berry cereal
- 1/4 cup powdered freeze dried strawberries (meaning 1/4 of a cup AFTER the strawberries have been turned into powder)
- For the Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 6-8 TBSP Franken Berry cereal milk
- 3 TBSP freeze dried strawberries powder
- 1 TBSP malted milk powder
- * Franken Berry Cereal for garnish
Instructions
- To make the Franken Berry Cereal Milk:
- Pour milk into a large saucepan.
- Add cereal to milk.
- Heat milk until it just starts to boil.
- Remove from heat.
- Steep the cereal for 25 to 35 minutes.
- Strain the milk into a bowl.
- Press on the cereal in the strainer with a large wooden spoon to squeeze out the milk from the cereal.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment add the yeast, warm Franken Berry cereal milk, and 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar.
- Let rest for 5-10 minutes to proof…the batter will puff up. If it does not then your yeast is bad and rolls won’t rise so best to throw out and start again with different yeast.
- Add in the 1/2 cup buttermilk, eggs, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, and melted butter and mix until fully combined.
- Add in 2 1/2 cups of the flour and mix until fully combined.
- Switch to a hook attachment then add another 1 cup flour. Knead mixture until combined.
- Continue to knead on low speed about 5 - 6 minutes while adding a little more flour as needed to reach a soft and moist dough (Dough shouldn't stick to the sides of the bowl but does stick to the bottom).
- Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap (I find press and seal works best) and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch dough down.
- Dust a working surface lightly with flour and turn dough out onto surface.
- Sprinkle top of dough with a little flour then roll dough out into an 20 by 18-inch rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter evenly over entire surface (hands work best).
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together 1 cup granulated sugar, powdered freeze dried strawberries, and crushed Franken Berry cereal. Sprinkle and spread sugar/cereal mixture evenly over butter layer (try to leave about 1/2-inch border uncovered along all edges).
- Beginning on an 18-inch side tightly roll dough into a cylinder. Pinch the seam to seal (brushing a little egg white underneath helps if needed or I just use a toothpick).
- Cut into 12 equal portions using a large sharp knife (they should be 1 1/2-inch each).
- Transfer the log to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes.
- This will make cutting the buns clean and even.
- Remove from freezer, cut buns into 1 ½-inch pieces, you should get around 12.
- Place them into a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners. I use THESE because they help the bun rise up not out.
- Wrap with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 ½ to 2 hours. The cooler your house is the longer it will take.
- Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool slightly on wire rack.
- Remove buns from muffin tins (and liners). The buns will be very soft. Let them cool on a baking sheet and they will get a little more firm.
- For the Icing:
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, 3 TBSP Franken Berry cereal milk, freeze dried strawberry powder, and malted milk and mix until fully combined.
- Drizzle the icing over the buns. Sprinkle with Franken Berry cereal for garnish.
Welcome to 2024’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event!
If you’re new here, Welcome! If you’re a returning haunt, welcome back!
#HalloweenTreatsWeek is a yearly Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife . This spooky event is an online, week-long event that is filled with some frightfully fun Halloween treats and recipes from some fantastic Halloween loving bloggers!
For this year’s 7th annual #HalloweenTreatsWeek event we have 12 hauntingly talented bloggers who are sharing their favorite Halloween recipes throughout the week! You can follow the hashtag #HalloweenTreatsWeek on social media to collect all of these frightful recipes to use at your own Halloween parties and events!
- White Chocolate Skull Red Velvet Brownies from BigBearsWife
- Monster Rice Krispie Treats from Semi-Homemade Recipes
- Ghost Halloween Cinnamon Rolls from The Spiffy Cookie
- Franken Berry Breakfast Buns from Sweet ReciPEAs
- Jack O Lantern Ham and Cheese Hand Pies from Jen Around the World
Leave a Reply