How Giada De Laurentiis Turns Store-Bought Cookie Dough Into Cereal

It is no secret that Giada De Laurentiis has a major sweet tooth, especially when it comes to chocolate. So leave it to De Laurentiis to come up with a totally craveable way to eat chocolate for breakfast. She starts with store-bought cookie dough. She opts for a package of classic chocolate chip from the Toll House brand — the kind that comes in a flat, scored rectangle instead of a tube. The shape makes it easy to cut into even smaller segments. Each square gets sliced into six or so smaller pieces, but De Laurentiis isn't too precious about making every segment perfectly equal. After all, you are making cookies into cereal. This should be no-fuss and fun!

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♬ original sound – Giada De Laurentiis

Roll each tiny piece into a ball, place them on a lined cookie sheet, and bake until golden brown. Though slightly underbaked and gooey cookies are a delight in their own right, it is better to err on the side of more-baked for this purpose, so they are crisp enough to stand up to a bowl of milk. Because they are so small, they should take less than ten minutes to bake, depending on the size and your oven. Fill up a bowl with the bite-sized treats, top it off with milk, and grab a spoon. This sweet dish is perfect for a fun breakfast, afternoon pick-me-up, or movie night snacking.

Use any type of store-bought cookie dough and whatever your preferred milk is to recreate Giada De Laurentiis' cookie cereal. If you have the patience, make them even smaller. Crank out a big batch for a group, and mix and match different flavors to make fun combinations. Try pairing double chocolate cookies with white chocolate macadamia nut or snickerdoodles with cinnamon raisin. You could also use these tiny treats as a topping on pudding, ice cream, and gelato.

You can also totally make homemade dough. To create a cereal-like final product, just look for a recipe for crisp cookies rather than chewy or cakey. These preparations may favor white sugar over brown, call for a lower baking temperature, or skip eggs as an ingredient. You can even follow Joanna Gaines' butter tip for crispy chocolate chip cookies. Also, consider using a piping bag or small measuring spoon to portion homemade cookie dough dots, so you can get them uniform and quite small.

Full spoonfuls of cookies and milk is a simple decadence for sure, but it is not the only way to enjoy these bite-sized treats. Bake off some mini-cookies, and use them as a topping for yogurt, chia pudding, overnight oats, or regular oatmeal flavored with ingredients like cinnamon and vanilla. Include cookies as part of a breakfast charcuterie board with fresh fruits, nut butter dips, muffins, and doughnuts. Flattening out cookie dough into a sheet with a rolling pin opens up even more options. Use it as a layer in cinnamon rolls before rolling them up and baking, or bake it off as is to use as the crust of a sweet, fruity 'pizza.' Top with whipped cream and lots of multi-colored fresh fruit.

If you buy a cookie dough that is safe to eat raw, you can roll the dough into little balls, and dot them into pancakes. You could even combine the cookie dough with plain cream cheese to make a show-stopping sweet schmear for bagels. While cookie dough may not be the foundation of the most nutrient-dense breakfast of all time, there is no arguing that it can yield some seriously delicious breakfast and brunch treats.