Waking up to a satisfying bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats is a great way to start the day. Even though the flavor is always delicious, that classic cereal brand’s flavor does not have to be limited to just the bowl. With some help from Dominique Ansel, the new honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate is the secret ingredient in the most unexpected recipes.
To celebrate Post’s first new permanent addition to the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal portfolio in five years, the iconic cereal brand partnered with Dominique Ansel to showcase how that chocolatey cereal can boost the flavor in two sweet and savory recipes. Given Ansel’s flare for the creative, his two specialty recipes inspire bakers to dive deeper into their pantry to take a dish to the next level.
Through this partnership, Ansel created Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Baklava and Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Crispy "Fries" and Chocolate Milkshake. While these ideas might not necessarily be as out of the box as his infamous Cronut, they do showcase what Ansel does best. It gets people to focus on flavors. The ingredients might not be the old school items found in traditional baking recipes, but the result is one that ensures people will keep the concept in their repertoire.
Through this special collaboration, Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate facilitated an interview with Dominique Ansel. As his candid answers show, discovering the joy of baking is a process. Like anything worth its salt, practicing the craft reaps sweet rewards.
Cristine Struble: Balancing classic techniques with pastry innovation is at the heart of many of your successful, iconic dishes. What keeps you inspired to keep pushing creativity through flavor, ingredients, and innovation?
Dominique Ansel: Well, what keeps me pushing and excited about pastry is just seeing people’s interaction with the food in general. It’s getting to know them through the food, creating something new, and elevating it. Giving people new experiences with food is very exciting because sometimes you can take something as simple as a classic, like Honey Bunches of Oats, and twist it into something completely new for people to understand it and live a different experience.
CS: For your collaboration with Honey Bunches of Oats, you’re offering both a sweet and a savory application. Is it important to see the savory side of cereal? Could cereal coated fries become the next big food trend?
DA: I think cereal-coated fries could be something cool, yeah. I actually love it. It's probably one of my favorite things I created for the new Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate cereal. It's crispy, it’s salty, it’s a fry. It’s amazing with a milkshake. It’s really delicious. When it comes to creating new things, I think it’s important to include the salty part. I always try to go with salt. I tend to go towards more salty things than sweet things in general, and combining them together is quite exciting.
CS: Home bakers often look towards their pantry to be inspired to create. Why does cereal work well in baking?
DA: I think cereal is very easy; it resonates with everyone, kids and grownups alike. It’s something that’s easy to be creative with. You can create a lot of new things. I’ve just created two recipes (Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Crispy “Fries” with a Chocolate Milkshake and Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Baklava) for Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate cereal, but there’s so much more you can do with cereals if you just think through it a little bit.
CS: Cereal has different texture, or evolving texture (crunchy when poured yet more malleable after being in milk), does that different texture help in creating recipes? How important is it to create layers of texture in a dessert?
DA: Texture for me is very, very important. It’s one of the contrasts I look for in pastry. I always get something maybe soft, something crispy, something salty, something sweet, something warm, something cold. Those contrasts make it exciting for your palate, for enjoying the moment when you eat the food. Contrasts are crucial for me. You know, when I pour milk in my cereal, I time myself because I want them crispy but not too crispy, just starting to get soft. I wait a minute or two, and then I start eating them because when it’s too soon, it’s not good, and when it’s too late, it’s not good either. So, I time myself to get my cereal crispy, just starting to melt down a little bit, so I get a little bit of both. That’s a good question, by the way, very good question!
CS: While everyone associates you with the Cronut, you once mentioned that your DAK is one of your favorite creations. Do you think that pastry chefs need to infuse tradition and technique into their recipes? Could classic, old-school dishes be making a comeback?
DA: I think it’s very important to have some fundamentals and a classic base before trying to be creative. The roots of pastries are based on science, so you have to know your science, you have to know all your classics, you have to know how things work with chocolate, dough, and anything we do in pastry to be able to manipulate and explore it. Classics are crucial. They are fundamentals in our lives. They’re like core memories when we grow up. It’s important to keep them and respect them. You can tweak them and make your own take on the classics, but I think it’s important to know the classics before you can do something new with them.
CS: For the home baker who is looking to better their skills, is there a recipe and/or technique that they should make a priority?
DA: I think for home bakers trying to better their skills, simple recipes are always the way to go. Start with cookies, maybe some waffles. I love a madeleine recipe; things that are simple to do, things that are fresh. Things you can bake yourself at home and eat right out of the oven. Things that you know won’t take two or three days to do. Start with those simple recipes; it’s what I tell people always. It’s very forgiving. You’re not going to make a big mistake out of it. It’s always going to be good fresh out of the oven. Once you’re comfortable doing those simple things, you can add some layers of challenges and difficulties to baking.
Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate is available at retailers nationwide.