Saturday, January 19, 2013

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Cream of Wheat






I'm usually a big believer in feeding my kids a breakfast high in protein and healthy fats.  But sometimes, a bowl full of comfort food just sounds  more appealing. On cold winter days when the hens aren't laying well, and eggs aren't plentiful, I whip up a batch of homemade Cream of Wheat. It's delicious and cheap!

Awhile back, I discovered that the boxed Cream of Wheat that my mom had purchased my whole life was really nothing more than ground up wheat berries.  The Hard Red Wheat Berries seem to work best, and I just run them through the wheat grinder. I wish someone would have told me this years ago. It costs just a fraction of the price of the boxed stuff.

Of course, I doctor mine up so that it appeals to my family, but everyone likes it different. As a kid, my mom used to tell us the story of how my grandma used to make it for her daughters, and they liked it lumpy.  For our family, smooth and creamy is the preferred choice.

Here's my Recipe:


Cinnamon Roll Cream of Wheat
(Serves 4)

3/4 cup of ground Hard Red Wheat (Or 3/4 cup of the 2 1/2 minute Cream of Wheat)
4 Cups Milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar

In a large sauce pan, bring the milk and salt just barely to a boil.  Whisk in the ground wheat and cook for 2 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly. (It make take just a bit longer if you use freshly ground wheat.) Remove from heat. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir.

6 comments:

  1. This sounds good but I'm curious just how fine you grind the wheat. When I grind flour I used a K-Tech machine and use the finest setting. Do you grind your homemade cream of wheat on the large course setting?

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    1. I have an old fashioned Country Living Grain Mill, and I just manually adjust it slightly coarser than flour, or until it has roughly the same granule size as the cream of wheat.

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  2. I never thought about it being ground up wheat!! So basically whole wheat flour would work, wouldn't it? My mom grinds her wheat, but I haven't ventured into that world yet. ;)

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    1. Yes, there are only three ingredients on the Cream of Wheat box: [wheat farina, partially defatted wheat germ, and disodium phosphate (for quick cooking)]. Can you believe it?!? If you decide to try the fresh stuff, just grind it a tiny bit coarser than flour, and cook it a little longer since you won't have the disodium phosphate to speed it up.

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  3. Our family loves cream of wheat too. When I was little I poured on more milk that wheat, my sister liked the lumps and my poor dad who spent a year in Alabama (military family) would put butter, salt and pepper on his (my mother wasn't into making grits). I love it and could eat it every morning! Never thought to put anything but milk and honey in it. Ha!

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