Fried Cereal Milk & Milo Ice Cream

When I think of my childhood, I think of milk, cereal and nostalgia for a time in which my hardest decision was Cheerios or Cocoa Pops. I loved cereal as a child, It would be one of the few things I would eat without complaint and a lot of times, to the frustration of my mum, it was the only thing I’d eat.

My new recipe is inspired by Christina Tosi and her famous Cereal milk, and since I was lucky enough to be offered the chance to test out some fantastic cereal based products from Custom Culinary Chef’s Own. I instantly jumped at the chance to make a new dessert that highlighted my love for all things sweet, malty & cereal-based.

Cornflakes are not particularly sugary in their raw form, but after they’ve been toasted, steeped in milk, mixed with a little sugar, the milk had an undeniably satisfying flavour of the sugary-sweet cereal milk you find at the bottom of the bowl.

Caramelized banana & malted chocolate Milo Ice cream were the perfect companion to my Fried Cereal Milk, and I strongly recommend you give this winning combination a try!

Fried Cereal Milk

Cereal milk
Ingredients:
50g Cornflakes 
700g Milk 

Fried milk base
Ingredients:
500g Cereal milk
75g Sugar
50g Cornflour

Tempura
Ingredients:
50g Tempura Flour or Self raising flour
70-75g Water 
Plus crushed Cornflakes for coating.Custom Culinary Chef’s Own

Cereal milk:
Heat the oven 150°C
Spread the cornflakes on a parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly toasted. Cool completely. 
Pour the milk into a bowl then add the cereal, stir and let steep for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting the milk in a bowl. Weigh out 500g of the reserved milk after straining, and set aside for the fried milk base.

Fried milk base:
Prepare a plastic container 10x10cm with 2 layers of cling film.
In a bowl mix sugar and cornflour. Heat the milk, then pour on the cornflour mix, stir and put back on the heat and cook until start boiling.
Take off of the heat and put the hot mixture into the lined plastic container, and cover with cling film to let set in the fridge until firm. (Be sure to have the cling film in contact with the surface of the mixture to prevent condensation). 
Once the milk base is set, cut in cube shapes, 4x4x4cm.

Tempura batter: 
Mix the Tempura flour with cold water. Dip milk cubes into the batter, then coat with the crushed cornflakes. Heat oil to 180°C; fry 2 or 3 cubes at a time in oil 1 to 2 minutes or until light brown; drain on paper towels.

Burn miso butterscotch
Ingredients:
100 g Shiro (white) miso
65 g Light brown sugar 
67 g Mirin 
15 g Sherry vinegar 
58 g Butter, melted

Heat oven to 200 °C
Spread miso in a thin, even layer on a Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes. The miso should be on the blackened side of browned and should have an incredibly appetising burnt smell to it.
Let the miso cool briefly, so it’s easier to handle, then scrape it into a blender jar. Add brown sugar, mirin, vinegar, and melted butter. Blend on medium speed until the mixture is homogenous and smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, and store in the refrigerator.

Caramelised banana
Ingredients:
1 Banana
10g Cold butter
Sugar 

In a pan medium heat, melt the butter.
Cut the banana in 2cm pieces, then coat in sugar then caramelise in sugar until golden colour.

Milo ice cream
Ingredients:
250g Whole milk
250g Double cream
125g Yolks
125g Sugar
30g Inverted sugar
30g Milo powder

Heat the milk and cream to scalding point. DO NOT BOIL. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar. 
Gradually pour half of the hot milk into the egg mixture constantly stirring. Remove the remaining milk off of the heat. 
Add the egg mixture back to the remaining milk and return to the heat to thicken. Do not heat above 75-80 degrees. Add Milo powder and mix, strain mixture into a clean and dry container. Chill before churning. Place mixture in an ice-cream machine, and mix until it stiffens. 

Cornflakes crunch
Ingredients:
100g Cornflakes 
20g Salted butter
20g Sugar

Melt the butter in a pan, then add the cornflakes & sugar and toast the cornflakes about 2 minutes stirring with a spoon until golden & caramelised.
Take off of the heat and let cool down.

Assembly:
Spread a thin layer of burnt miso across the plate, and place your two cubes of cereal fried milk on top then garnish with caramelised banana & cornflake crunch. Finally finish the plate with a nice big scoop of Milo ice cream before immediately devouring.