BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Dec. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The must-make dessert for the holiday season has officially been named as Kellogg's Frosted Flakes® Pear Berry Tart. The recipe was crafted using everyone's morning favorite – cereal – in Kellogg's® first-ever Holiday Baking Challenge.

Padma Lakshmi was both host and judge of the event, which challenged four bakers from across the country to create a new holiday menu favorite this season – with a cereal twist. The winning dessert was created by Sara Mellas from Oakland, California. Mellas seamlessly incorporated Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal into the flour for the crust and also infused the cereal flavor into the heavy cream and cheese-mascarpone center. Additionally, Mellas featured Kellogg's Frosted Flakes in the dry ingredients of her favorite sugar cookies used to decorate the winning dish.

"Cereal is fun to play with in a bowl as well as in cooking and baking. I chose the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Pear Berry Tart because of its ingenuity and seamless use of cereal," said Padma Lakshmi, Emmy nominated host and award-winning cookbook author. "It was so creative to steep the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes in heavy cream, with no additional sugar. The use of cereal was so smooth and fun for the holidays, yet simple enough to be easily replicated at home."

The contest was hosted just in time for the one-year anniversary of the Kellogg's NYC Café in Union Square, which has served as a utopia for fans of the breakfast staple and foodies alike to reimagine cereal in fun, new ways. Each baker fused Kellogg's cereals with recognizable desserts like cheesecake, cake, cream puffs and a meringue roll to create an entirely new dessert with a cereal twist.

"I loved the creative and artistic components of the challenge," said Sara Mellas, winner of the 2018 Kellogg's Holiday Baking Challenge. "I like to describe my baking as whimsical – making dishes look beautiful in a fun and inventive way, but most importantly, they have to be tasty. Frosted Flakes were the ideal cereal choice to incorporate into the tart as they add the perfect texture to crusts and a subtle flavor to the filling that complemented the pear and berry flavors."

To celebrate the new "must-make" dessert of the holiday season, Kellogg's gifted Mellas a one-of-a-kind Tony the Tiger trophy, an exclusive dining experience in New York City and her recipe featured at Kellogg's NYC Café for a limited time.

In addition to the winning recipe, runners up included:

• Festive & Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Meringue Roll by Lisa Keys
• Kellogg's Holiday Cream Puff Trio featuring Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and Raisin Bran by Juliana Evans
• Kellogg's Holiday Cake Tower by Vincenzo Vaccaro

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Pear Berry Tart will be available to try at the Kellogg's NYC Café located at 31 E 17th St. in Union Square. To recreate your own cereal-inspired tart and try the other delicious cereal recipes, visit Kellogg's Pinterest page and Kellogg's NYC Café website.  For more information on how to reimagine your favorite bowl of Kellogg's® cereal at home, visit the Kellogg's® NYC Café website, or on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

About Kellogg Company 
At Kellogg Company (NYSE: K), we strive to enrich and delight the world through foods and brands that matter. Our beloved brands include Pringles®, Cheez-It®, Keebler®, Special K®, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes®, Pop-Tarts®, Kellogg's Corn Flakes®, Rice Krispies®, Eggo®, Mini-Wheats®, Kashi®, RXBAR® and more. Net sales in 2017 were approximately $13 billion, comprised principally of snacks and convenience foods like cereal and frozen foods. Kellogg brands are beloved in markets around the world. We are also a company with Heart & Soul, committed to creating three billion Better Days by the end of 2025 through our Breakfasts for Better Days global purpose platform. Visit www.KelloggCompany.com or www.OpenforBreakfast.com. 

ABOUT PADMA LAKSHMI
Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi is internationally known as a food expert, model, actress and best-selling author, as well as the recipient of the 2016 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Variety's 2018 Karma award. Lakshmi serves as host and an executive producer of Bravo's Emmy award-winning Top Chef, which is currently in its 16th season.

Lakshmi established herself as a food expert early in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the "Best First Book" award at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.  Lakshmi followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet. In 2016, she released her food memoir, The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate, which also won "Best Lifestyle, Body & Soul" at the 2017 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, followed by The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs.

In Spring of 2018, Padma collaborated with MAC Cosmetics for a worldwide capsule collection called #MACPadma.

Last year, Lakshmi became an ambassador for the ACLU, focusing on women's reproductive health and immigration issues. She is also co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, and was recently named a Visiting Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

SOURCE Kellogg Company