Aye, Aye Cap'n! A Father's Day Two-fer

A couple weeks ago a reader named Katherine from Pennsylvania left me a comment with a request for a recipe containing Cap'n Crunch Cereal. This is what she said "I'm a regular reader and always looks forward to your unique recipes and posts. Therefore, I come to you with a recipe void I am in need of filling, and I hope you can help me out. My father loves Cap'n Crunch cereal, I mean LOVES it. So with father's day coming up, I would love to bake him something special...something with Cap'n Crunch cereal in it! Aside from just having the cereal as an ingredient, I want this item to truly TASTE like the cereal - that's key here :) So, I hope you can use your special baking skills and think up something yummy for the most important man in my life, my father. Thank you for your time!" How could I not come up with something for her?

I've never really gotten a request like this before. Sure I've had people email me and ask if I have certain types of recipes but no one has ever asked for such a unique recipe. So off to the Google Gods I went, then I asked Mr. H if he'd help eat the remaining cereal if I were to buy a box and luckily he agreed. Katherine was originally thinking of a cake or cookie recipe to make for her father but today I have two recipes for you and her but neither are cake or cookies. I wanted to make something that I would want to eat so that I didn't waste any ingredients and I came up with Cap'n Crunch French Toast and Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Cereal Bars. yum!

I want to be honest and say that I did not create either of these recipes. The French Toast recipe comes from Blue Moon Cafe in Maryland that was featured on Diners, Drive-In and Dives. I love french toast so I was excited about this one. And the second recipe is a kicked up marshmallow cereal bar. It has the addition of peanut butter and M&M's to make them extra sweet and fun. I wasn't sure how well I'd like these because I thought they'd be too sweet but these were very good. I ate most of them myself :-P The only thing I'd change next time is to use the mini M&M's. They had a nice crunch to them from the cereal but they were gooey and buttery and had a nice contrasting flavor from the creamy peanut butter and chocolate.

The toast was awesome! I used day old French bread that I cut about an inch thick and dipped it into the custard. The trick to getting fluffy french toast is to not soak the bread completely, otherwise you'll end up with wet and dense toast- that took me a few years to figure out :-) I omitted the extra sugar in the custard because the cereal is so sweet already. It was sweet and crispy on the outside but light and soft on the inside. It tasted like Cap'n Crunch but it wasn't overly sweet. The original recipe calls for sweetened whipped cream but we opted for syrup and fresh fruit. This was a winner!

Cap'n Crunch French Toast from Blue Moon Cafe via Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Cookbook

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French Toast:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I omitted this)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups cap’n crunch cereal
• 8 to 10 slices bread, such as Texas toast or French bread
• Butter for cooking

Topping: (optional)

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups assorted fresh seasonal berries

Mix the cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until combined.

Put the cereal in a storage bag and use a rolling pin to crush cereal until it resembles cracker meal. Transfer the cereal to a shallow dish.

Dip a couple slices of the bread into the cream mixture until soft but not completely soaked. Let excess liquid drip from the bread, then press into the cereal crumbs to coat evenly. Place on a sheet pan and repeat with the remaining slices.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat, add butter as needed, and cook the bread until caramelized on both sides, about 6 to 8 minutes total.

For the whipped cream topping: Beat the cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with a hand mixer to soft peaks. Dollop on top of the French toast and serve with the berries.

NOTE: I cut this recipe in half and made 4 slices of toast and omitted the whipped cream topping.

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Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Bars adapted from Spark Recipes

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• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 30 large marshmallows
• 6 cups Cap'n Crunch Cereal
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large pot on the stove melt butter, peanut butter and marshmallows on medium low heat, stirring occasionally (I did this in the microwave in a glass bowl).

Once mixture is melted and all combined, remove from heat. Add cereal and M&M's quickly and stir quickly to well coat. As the marshmallow mixture cools will become harder to mix.

Pour into prepared pan. Coat your hands with a little extra butter and press down the mixture into the pan to get it as even as possible. Allow to cool completely and cut into squares.

Makes 24 bars.

NOTE: I only made 1/3 of this recipe.

Katherine I hope these recipes will make your father happy this Father's Day!