Cinnamon Toast Crunch Is The Secret Weapon You're Overlooking For Mouthwatering Apple Desserts

While they're typically reminiscent of a fall dessert, apples are available year round; you can enjoy an apple pie or apple crisp any time you want. Traditionally, these treats are topped with some kind of crumb or have a crust as a base, usually made with anything from oats to graham crackers. But for a big burst of flavor without much additional effort, try incorporating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

It's somewhat of a nostalgic cereal with a sweet, cinnamon sugar flavor that pairs perfectly with something like an apple crisp. It's also great in other sweet treats, including leveling up cinnamon rolls. The squares are small, so you can sprinkle whole pieces on top of the traditional crumb for a burst of crunchy sweetness or you can crumble them right into the topping itself and bake them into the dessert. If the topping calls for oats, you should keep them for texture purposes, but you can replace some with Cinnamon Toast Crunch. For an easy-to-make dump cake, add the cereal to the bottom of the pan to serve as the base. With a few extra ingredients, you can even turn it into a pie crust.

Homemade pie crust is almost always better than the store-bought version. Guests should be surprised when you serve one up with a sweet cinnamon flavor to it. The process is simple; just take a basic graham cracker crust recipe and swap the graham crackers for crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The texture is similar, but you might have to slightly adjust the recipe to adapt to using a different ingredient. From there, let it set, then bake the pie as usual. For a less-expensive version, go with Trader Joe's Crunchy Cinnamon Squares.

Baked pie crusts usually last up to two days in the refrigerator and can be frozen for as long as three months; a Cinnamon Toast Crunch crust should be no different. For yet another twist, dice up some apples, fold them into ice cream, and use the pie crust to create a tasty ice cream pie for an easy summer treat that still has that cozy apple flavor.