Delight your kids during Holiday Season with this homemade Christmas Cereal. It's perfect for children plus any elves who happen to be visiting! Containing white chocolate pretzels, fruit loops, marshmallows, dried cranberries and a sprinkling of candy, this is the ultimate Elf on the Shelf Breakfast idea.
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Making this easy festive cereal is a super fun activity for kids over the holidays. They will love to set it out and see if it attracts any overnight elf visitors 😉
They'll also insist on tucking into a bowl of their own in the morning.
The White Chocolate Pretzels take only minutes to prepare, and the rest is more of an assembly job.
This recipe for Homemade Christmas cereal will easily give you 8 kid or elf sized portions and also makes a great tasting reindeer snack mix for Christmas Eve.
Obviously this is a once a year treat, rather than something you would serve every day! It's not going to win any prizes in the healthy breakfast department - ......but this is the holidays 😉
I took inspiration for my Homemade Christmas Cereal from the wonderful BBC Good Food magazine.
Why You Should Make This Homemade Christmas Cereal
- The kids will have a ball making this festive breakfast cereal for themselves and their visiting elf on the shelf.
- This is a great make ahead Kids Christmas breakfast, which is really important over the festive holidays when we're all working on overdrive.
- This recipe can be easily doubled up so make some for your little elves and share some with your friends as a present.
- For other great tasting Elf of the Shelf treats try my Chocolate Pretzel Treats or my Christmas Rocky Road. These snacks can be enjoyed by Reindeers and humans too!
Elf on the Shelf Cereal Ingredients
Find the full list and quantities in the recipe below.
White Chocolate - This recipe calls for white chocolate chips but you can use any flavor of chocolate. Don't have chocolate chips? No problem, just break down a regular bar of chocolate into small pieces to make them easier to melt.
Pretzels - Use any variety of small, hard pretzel. Choose gluten free if you or your elf is gluten sensitive.
Sprinkles - You can decorate these chocolate pretzel treats with pretty much anything. I have used festive colored sprinkles. But you can use any holiday themed sprinkles that you have to hand. Or even grate over some dark chocolate.
Fruit Loops - I used a regular box of Fruit Loops and picked out the red and green ones as they are the elves' favorite colors.
Dried Cranberries - A handful of dried cranberries just adds a little dried fruit to the mix. The sour cranberry also cuts through the sweetness of the other ingredients. You can swap the dried cranberries for any other dried fruits: apricots and raisins would work well too.
Mini Marshmallows - I have used mini marshmallows, but if you only have larger marshmallows just cut them up. If making this cereal for a vegetarian elf, make sure the marshmallows you are using are a vegetarian variety.
How to Make Homemade Christmas Cereal
Find the full printable recipe below.
Gently melt white chocolate chips until smooth then use a teaspoon to place small drops of the melted chocolate on a parchment lined baking tray.
Press a pretzel into each blob of chocolate and sprinkle over holiday themed sprinkles. Refrigerate until set.
Once the chocolate is set, mix the pretzel treats with mini marshmallows, red and green candies, dried cranberries and fruit loops.
Serve with milk and more sprinkles!
Variations of Homemade Christmas Cereal
- When making the chocolate pretzel treats, swap the white chocolate for milk or dark chocolate. Or choose a flavored option like chocolate orange, chocolate mint or whatever flavor of chocolate you enjoy eating.
- Don't limit yourself to just one flavor of chocolate - dip half your pretzels in white chocolate and the other half in dark chocolate.
- Increase the fruit content and add some dried apricots and raisins too, if you like.
Is eating Candy for Breakfast just too unhealthy?
Eating candy for breakfast is not clearly not healthy every day of the year. But, once a year as a treat is absolutely fine for most elves.
If you do want to make this more nutritious add in some peanuts and more cheerios and reduce the candy.
Tips For Making Festive Holiday Cereal
- When making the white chocolate pretzel treats, get all the ingredients and the parchment lined tray ready to go! Once the chocolate has melted you need to be quick with the pretzels and holiday sprinkles before the chocolate starts to harden.
- This is a great make ahead breakfast cereal and can be made a few days in advance of when you need it.
How To Serve Homemade Christmas Cereal
I serve my Elf of the Shelf Breakfast with regular milk (or your favorite dairy free substitute). But for extra decadence you can serve with chocolate or strawberry flavored milks.
Alternatively this makes a great Christmas snack mix which can also be given as a gift in treat bags.
Don't forget that reindeers like Elf on the Shelf Cereal too! This Christmas Pretzel snack mix is perfect to set out for Rudolph on Christmas Eve.
How to Store Homemade Christmas Cereal.
Once made, my Homemade Christmas Cereal can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
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More Holiday Recipe Ideas
Printable Recipe
Homemade Christmas Cereal (Elf on the Shelf Breakfast)
Ingredients
- 1 cup White Chocolate - chopped or chips
- 2 cups Mini Pretzels
- 3 tbsp Holiday Themed Sprinkles
- 1 cup Mini Marshmallows
- ½ cup Holiday Candies - I used M&Ms
- 1 cup Fruit Loops
- ½ cup Dried Cranberries
To Serve (Optional)
- 2 cups Milk
- Holiday Themed Sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper for easier clean up.
- Melt the white chocolate either in the microwave on high stirring every 30 seconds until melted, or in a medium bowl over a barely simmering saucepan with an inch of water in it.
- Using a teaspoon, drop coin sized pieces of melted chocolate onto the parchment paper.
- Press a pretzel into each blob of chocolate and add your favorite sprinkles.
- Repeat until all the chocolate and all the pretzels are used.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour until set.Alternatively for faster chilling, place in freezer for 30 minutes until firm.
- Place the set pretzels treats into a large bowl or tray and add the marshmallows, fruit loops, candy and dried cranberries.
- Stir to combine and serve in individual kids bowls, adding milk and extra holiday sprinkles if desired.
Carrie Carvalho says
This has to be the cutest Christmas recipe I've ever seen! Can't wait to try it with my niece, she will love making the chocolate pretzels.
Jo Keohane says
Thanks so much Carrie - my kids absolutely loved it too!
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
So cute! Children will absolutely love this. What a great idea.
Jo Keohane says
Thanks so much Cat, not the healthiest but definitely a good Christmas treat.