Cereal-ously Sweet Showdown
From Mystery Bag to Soundcheck Spotlight: Sweet Magic Happened!
The whisks were twirled, the ovens preheated, and the mystery ingredient finally revealed — Mesa Sunrise Cereal! At Soundcheck: Dessert Mystery Box Cook Off, that crunchy, wholesome classic from the Co-op became the spark for a night of bold flavors, unexpected pairings, and seriously swoon-worthy sweets. From creamy creations to crisp-topped masterpieces, nine bakers took the same surprise ingredient and transformed it into something entirely their own. Ready to see how Mesa Sunrise rose to the occasion? Here are the inventive, delicious recipes that answered the challenge.
NOTE: Some recipes are just a list of ingredients; some are a list of directions and others have listed out both ingredients and all the directions.
Strega Rachel’s Old Fashioned Budino (1st Place) 🥇
This recipe complements the Mesa Sunrise cereal (with its mild, brown rice syrup flavor), while referencing the Strega Nona-inspired pasta dinner and my Italian heritage. It has 5 distinct elements:
The serving ‘cup’ - a fried jumbo shell pasta that’s been turned inside out
A layer of sour cherry jam, to offset the richness of the pasta shell and the mild cereal flavor
A layer of Mesa Sunrise crumbs mixed with homemade butterscotch (reference point: the chocolate cookie crumbles mixed with fudge sauce that you’ll find in most ice cream cakes)
Cereal milk butterscotch Budino (a classic italian pudding)
sugar brittle topper that included orange zest, cardamom, and cereal flakes
The dessert’s creation was more jazz than Bach, and I didn’t quite use exact measures or recipes (except for the Budino). Please use the ‘recipe’ below as a launch pad for your own experimentation!
Element/Ingredients/Equipment
Fried Jumbo Shell Pasta
Frying oil
Jumbo pasta shells
Water (for boiling)
-Pasta pot/strainer
-Baking sheet
-Parchment or waxed paper
-Candy/Oil thermometer
Cook the pasta thoroughly in water, no salt. Strain well in cold water and carefully turn them inside out (without ripping them). Then rest upside down on a piece of parchment/baking tray to remove excess water.
Heat up enough frying oil for the shells to deep fry. I used peanut oil because that’s what my grandma used to fry things, because back in the day, peanut oil was the cheapest alternative. The oil needs to get to 350 degrees without burning, but any good frying oil would do. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then remove/set each shell on a paper bag to drain the oil. Set aside.
Quick Sour Cherry Jam
Tart cherry juice
Agar powder
-Saucepan
-Ladle
You could just buy jam, but I wanted this dessert to be as ‘scratch’ as possible. To make a cup of ‘jam’, boil 1.5 c juice. While it’s heating up, put 1 TBSP agar into a bowl. Transfer a ladle of the liquid into the agar and whisk the heck out of it, until it’s pasty, then whisk the paste back into the rest of the juice. Simmer until it’s thick, then remove from heat / set aside.
Mesa Sunrise Butterscotch Crumble
Mesa Sunrise cereal
Butter (4 tablespoons)
Light brown sugar (½ cup)
Heavy cream (½ cup)
1 tablespoon - whisky
Large flake salt (good pinch)
Orange zest
Cardamom seeds from 3-4 pods
-Blender/Vitamix
-Saucepan
With a food processor or a rolling pin + bag, convert the flakes to crumbs, add orange zest & cardamom seeds (crushed is best). Set aside while you make the butterscotch:
(Melt the butter, then add the sugar & cream, whisk until it gets thick, then remove from heat & add the whisky/salt. Use vanilla, rum, or any other flavoring in place of whisky if you want!). Pour the butterscotch over the crumble mixture and mix well, so all crumbs are coated. Set aside.
Cereal Milk Butterscotch Budino
(Adapted from Nancy Silverton)
1 cup Mesa Sunrise cereal
1.5 cup Milk
1 cup plus 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
½ cup water
1.5 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups heavy cream
1 egg
3 egg yolks
5 tablespoon cornstarch
5 tablespoon butter
1.5 tablespoon whisky (sub in rum, vanilla or whatever other extract you want. Orange might be nice)
-Blender
-Heavy, large pot
-Medium-large bowl
-Ladle
-Whisk
First, soak the cereal in the milk for 15-20 minutes to soften it, then blitz the heck out of it in a blender (I used a vitamix at full blast and it was still grainy).
On the stove, combine brown sugar, water and salt over medium-high heat. Cook into a caramel (about 10 minutes). Then whisk in the cereal milk and the heavy cream. The sugar will seize up all around your whisk but keep going, it will melt again. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer.
Separately in a medium-large sized bowl, whisk together egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch into a paste. As with the butterscotch in the earlier element, temper the caramel cream by adding a ladle of the cream at a time into the egg mixture. Aggressive whisking is encouraged here (I was inspired by those curlers scrubbing the ice at the Olympics), as you keep adding the caramel cream to the egg mixture, until you’ve ‘tempered’ about half. Then pour everything back into the pot on the stove, bring it back up to a boil, still whisking constantly, for about 2 minutes, until the custard is very thick. Remove the pan from heat, and whisk in the butter and whisky. Then, strain the custard through a fine-mesh trainer, transfer to a container, put in the fridge (you’ll be using a pastry bag to pipe it into the pasta shells).
Cereal brittle
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
Flaked salt (pinch?)
Orange zest
Cardamom seeds from 2-3 pods
Butter
-Baking tray
-Sauce pan
-Candy/Oil thermometer
Butter the baking tray really well (you could also use parchment paper). Sprinkle zest, cardamom seeds, and salt evenly on the buttered tray. Melt the sugar and water into a syrup. Don’t stir it! Cook it until it reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer, then pour - carefully!! - onto the baking tray,
Set aside to harden, then, put another baking tray on top of it and gleefully slam it down on your counter top, to create shards.
Assembly:
With a small spoon, schmear the jam into the inside of each pasta shell. Then, spoon in the butterscotch cereal crumble to ‘fill’ the shell. Then pipe the Budino (pastry bag or ziplock bag; you’ll need a bigger tip as the pudding is very thick), and top with a shard of the brittle.
Mesa Sunrise Tres Leches – by Vanessa Wade (2nd Place) 🥈
For Sponge Cake:
Wet Ingredients:
5 large eggs
¾ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
113 grams or ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
1 tablespoon honey
Dry Ingredients:
1 ½ cup Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour
¼ cup Mesa Sunrise flour (blitzed in a high-powered food processor)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
For Tres Leches Soak:
13.5 ounce can evaporated milk
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ cups Mesa Sunrise cereal milk
For Mesa Sunrise Whipped Cream:
2.5 pints of heavy whipping cream, infused by the Mesa Sunrise cereal
2 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of sea salt
For Caramelized Mesa Sunrise Cereal:
65 grams of Mesa Sunrise cereal, briefly blitzed in food processor
56 grams unsalted butter, melted
26 grams granulated sugar
Overnight Prep:
Soak toasted Mesa Sunrise (100 grams) with organic whole milk (850 grams) in a large glass vessel in the fridge overnight.
Soak Mesa Sunrise with 2.5 pints of organic heavy whipping cream in a large glass vessel in the fridge overnight.
Day of prep:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter a 9x13 baking pan
Toss ingredients for the Caramelized Mesa Sunrise cereal together in a bowl, spread onto a sheet pan and toast on a middle rack for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Set aside to cool.
In a stand-mixer, mix eggs, sugar, vanilla until light and fluffy, gently folding in dry ingredients, scraping bowl throughout mixing process; when 80% fully mixed, add melted butter and honey. Pour batter into 9x13” baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.
While cake is baking, strain Mesa Sunrise that were soaking in milk and heavy cream, separating them in different containers. So you have a container of the soaked milk mixture and a container of the soak heavy cream mixture.
Mix the Tres Leches together, evaporated milk, Mesa Sunrise milk and condensed milk.
When the cake is out of the oven, use a long-tined fork to poke holes into the cake.
Slowly pour the Tres Leches over the top of the cake. Cool down the milk-soaked cake in the fridge.
Prepare the whipped cream, whisk whipped cream ingredients until medium peaks and when the cake is cooled, spread the whipped cream on top and garnish with the caramelized Mesa Sunrise.
Keep for up to 3 days refrigerated, though it may be eaten up before then.
Mandala Chocolate Torte – by Eileen Steimle (3rd Place) 🥉
Crust:
3 cups Mesa Sunrise cereal
¾ cup pecans
¾ cup Macadamia nuts
¾ cup coconut
¾ cup almond flour
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Big pinch of Maldon salt
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
¼ cup melted coconut oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Measure all dry ingredients into food processor.
Whirl them up until it looks like fine-medium crumbs.
Add coconut oil and pulse until mixture starts to come together.
Spread mixture evenly and press it firmly into the bottom and up the sides about an inch of a lightly greased 9” springform pan or an 11” tart pan.
Bake for 14-18 minutes until it smells done.
Set aside and let it cool.
Filling:
12 oz (about 2 cups) Callebaut Semi-Sweet Chocolate Callets
2 ¼ cup canned coconut milk
1 teaspoon Agar Agar powder
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant espresso
Prepare agar agar by mixing it with a little water and bringing it to a rolling boil, then simmer on low for a few minutes.
Heat coconut milk in a saucepan on low-medium until hot but not boiling (about 170 degrees).
Take off heat and add chocolate.
Whisk together until all chocolate has melted.
Add agar agar and the rest of the ingredients to chocolate mix.
Whisk until smooth.
Pour into cooled crust.
Set in a cool place or refrigerator until it is firm to touch.
Serve with whipped cream and fruit if desired.
Grandma Bertha’s Candy Clusters – by Helen Tadeo
12 oz chocolate chips (semi-sweet Ghiradelli)
½ cup peanut butter (CB’s Nuts)
1 cup walnuts (Co-op bulk bins)
3 cups cereal flakes (Mesa Sunrise)
Gently melt chocolate and peanut butter in a large bowl. Stir in nuts and cereal until completely coated in chocolate mixture. Drop by tablespoon onto lined baking sheet and chill until firm, 1-2 hours. Makes about 26 clusters.
Mesa Sunrise Caramel Cookies with Milk Chocolate Whipped Ganache and Olive Oil Rosemary Mesa Crumble – by Genevieve Barlow
Local Heavy Cream
Fairtrade Milk Chocolate
Flaked Salt
Local Rosemary
Watkins Vanilla
Salted Butter
Sugar
Mesa Sunrise Cereal
Single Varietal Olive Oil
Dèlicieux Truc de Crème – by Marybeth Armstrong-Sigmond
Crust:
Finely chopped surprise ingredient (Mesa Sunrise Cereal) combined with butter and a pinch of salt
Spread out into a thin layer about 1/8 inch thick
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Allow to cool
Cut into small bit size pieces
Ganache:
Melt Milk Chocolate
Warm up milk chocolate and cream 3:1 ratio
Allow to cool and spread on bite sized crust pieces
Marsh Meringue:
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
Cream of Tartar
Add Vanilla
Whip until you have crested peaks
Spread on top of ganache
Lightly brown
Olympic Medal Cheesecake – by Lisa Politz
Crust:
3 cups crushed Mesa Sunrise flakes
¼ cup sugar
½ cup melted butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Mix together, place parchment in bottom of 9” springform pan, press crust into pan and flatten with a flat bottom cup.
Filling:
16 oz cream cheese
½ cup sugar
4 eggs
Beat cream cheese for 5 minutes.
Add sugar and beat another 5 minutes scraping bowl to mix well.
Add 4 eggs and beat minimally to mix
Pour into crust
Bake 20-30 minutes
Cool for 10 minutes
Topping:
16oz sour cream
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat all ingredients for 5 minutes and then pour over the top of cheesecake
Bake for 10 minutes
3Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate
Decorate with fresh berries of choice (blueberry, strawberry, raspberry)
Mesa Sunrise Chocolate Raspberry Tartlets – by Karelle Anthony
Carefully melt over low heat:
2 ½ cups chocolate chips
2 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon salt
In a large bowl add chocolate mixture to:
8 cups Mesa Sunrise flakes, crushed
1 ½ cups of chopped toasted pecans
Mix until well combined, then form into 2 inch rounds/disc (heaping 1 tablespoon) and place on a greased cookie sheet, flattening them slightly.
Place in refrigerator until firm.
Whip till firm, then refrigerate:
1 cup whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
Beat together until smooth the following:
4oz cream cheese
8oz Mascarpone cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup raspberry jam
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
Fold whipped cream into cheese mixture
Top (or decoratively pipe) each chocolate round/disc with 1 heaping tablespoon of the cream mixture
Add 1 raspberry on top
Chill until serving
“A Taste of Spring” Lemon Bars – by Shelly Leavens
Adapted from Lisa Donavan on NYT Cooking
9x13 baking pan
Crust:
1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter room temp
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Mesa Sunrise cereal, finely ground (make sure you grind up enough cereal to have 1 cup for the recipe)
1 cup flour
1/3 cup toasted pecans, finely ground
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Lemon Filling:
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (approximately 3 lemons)
½ cup flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 5 lemons)
6 large eggs at room temperature
For Serving:
White chocolate melt wafers
Mesa Sunrise Cereal
Green and Yellow Food Coloring
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Spray pan with cooking spray and insert baking paper with a 2 inch over hang on the long edge, set aside
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, Mesa Sunrise cereal, pecans and salt, mix until well combined.
Press crust mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and chill for 15 mins in fridge.
Bake crust until golden brown, 25 minutes. Remove and set aside on wire rack.
Reduce oven to 325 degrees
While crust is baking, make filling.
Combine sugar, lemon zest and rub together until fragrant and well incorporated. Then add flour and cornstarch, combine well, then add lemon juice and whisk well.
In a large bowl, whish eggs until frothy, pour in lemon sugar mixture and whisk well.
Place pan with crust on a sheet pan, pour lemon filling over the top of the crust (it’s ok if the crust is still hot). Return pan to the oven and bake until set (solid to touch but soft and slightly sticky) about 25 minutes.
Transfer to wire rack and let cool 2 hours. Then lift the slab out using the baking paper sling.
Melt white chocolate wafers in double boiler, stirring constantly.
Toss 2 handfuls of Mesa Sunrise in the white chocolate and then spread on baking sheet to cool.
Using leftover white chocolate, dye with yellow or orange food coloring and let cool.
Slightly forming small balls about the size of a pea. Using the green food coloring and a little water, dip large pieces of the Mesa Sunrise in the green color and set aside to dry.
Decorate the lemon bars once cooled. From a daisy flower shape with the white chocolate petals, yellow centers and green leaves.
Cut bars with one daisy in the center of each, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired and serve.