Tag Archives: General Mills

Silly rabbit, Trix LOADED is for someone else

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This Trix cereal isn’t your grandfather’s Trix. Because we live in a world where good enough can’t be left alone, and the pursuit of bigger and better is constant, we’ve gone from mini cereal to now LOADED cereal, with this offering from General Mills, Trix LOADED.

Trix is one of three cereal varieties that has received the LOADED treatment, in addition to classics, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Puffs. Each is basically the same size and shape but flavored as usual. The kicker is that LOADED cereal means you get vanilla creme filling in each bite. So does having a little shot of creme in the mouth with your breakfast cereal make a difference enhance the experience?

Aesthetics

As evident from the cereal box, you can already tell that Trix LOADED looks nothing like the traditional Trix cereal we’ve grown up with. They’ve taken it to the extreme.

Instead of fruity shapes, we get large rectangles that look like leftover accent/throw pillows from the Hannah Montana craze. The large blue, red and what I can only describe as blurple-colored squares look like rocks that belong in an aquarium instead of covered in milk in a cereal bowl.

Each piece has a sheen and texture that looks rough, like Cap’n Crunch. Needless to say, each spoonful of Trix LOADED is a mouthful and then some.

Snackability

Trix LOADED is actually pretty decent to eat dry, if you enjoy berry-flavored cereal. I liken it to eating Crunchberries from Cap’n Crunch, minus the hardness. The only trouble you may have with eating this cereal dry is the size of the large pieces, that mimic the size of frosted shredded wheat. For that reason, may smaller children shouldn’t eat this cereal as a  dry snack.

Structural Integrity

I think it’s been 4 years since I’ve awarded only 1 spoon in a category, but unfortunately, this is where I find Trix LOADED to be at its weakest. The large, light crisp flavored, almost airy pieces taste good, but after 5 minutes in milk, they soon become more mushy and overtaken by milk absorption.

Cereal Concept

General Mills has a history of creme-filled cereals (see Fillows), and there’s a reason why none really had staying power.

Trix LOADED sounds like something from an extreme era of the early 2000s. After doing Trix minis they overcompensate with this. Frankly, it’s more just using the Trix brand rather than doing something extremely different. Call me old fashioned, but I like it when the classics stay true to themselves, but I understand the business side of things of trying to evolve.

Flavor

Opening the bag, I didn’t note a strong scent of berry-flavored cereal. It wasn’t until biting into a piece that it reminded me of that Crunchberry flavor, sans the sandpaper texture of a Crunchberry. After eating the cereal both dry and in milk, it’s certainly sweet, as you might expect. I ate two bowls of it and my mouth still has that aftertaste.

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room that makes Trix LOADED loaded. The vanilla creme filling in each piece works well with the cereal, making it even sweeter than usual. It seemed to work better when activated with milk, in my opinion. Either way, the creme flavor wasn’t dramatic or overpowering like you’d imagine based on the depiction on the box. Each piece has very little of it, actually.   Final Thoughts Trix LOADED isn’t inventing the wheel when it comes to offering cereal with a vanilla creme filling. And for me, it was barely Trix as I knew it. It could have been any other berry-flavored cereal due to its unrecognizable shape and color. So while it doesn’t hit the nail on the head in breaking new ground, it does accomplish giving consumers a berry sweet treat with each spoonful. Does this make me want to try other LOADED varieties? Probably not, unless someone can for certain tell me that Cinnamon Toast Crunch LOADED tastes like a frosted cinnamon roll. If so, then we can talk. For now, leave well enough alone when it comes to the classic cereals. If we want to go wild and bold, then give me the whacky flavors, or create cereals that we’d never think should have ever been made into cereals.  

Is this cereal spooky good, or does it put the boo in Boo Berry

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It’s spooky season, so what better time than now to do a review on a classic cereal with a twist. Many of us are familiar with seasonal classics such as Boo Berry, Franken Berry and of course Count Chocula. So what does Genera Mills do? In recent years, the brand decided to make a mash-up and now we have Monster Mash Remix that now features the newest monster character, Carmella Creeper. Before we dive into the review, you may be asking, “Who the heck is Carmella Creper?” Well, Carmella Creeper is a DJ who apparently is the long-lost cousin of Franken Berry.

Now that is out of the way, what does a bowl of this cereal taste like? Is it more than meets the eye, or is it more a trick than a treat?

Aesthetics

The seasonal cereal features all your favorite Halloween cereal mascots you’ve grown up with, along with Carmella Creeper. The box touts there are four different marshmallow shapes and then purple and green ghost-shaped cereal (what would have been great is if the marshmallows were monster-sized, meaning bigger than typical marshmallow pieces you find in cereal like Lucky Charms. A boy can dream, right?

Overall, the box tells you that there’s a monster mash going on and it appears they’re having a graveyard smash dancing. I guess I should also add that Fruit Brute, the werewolf, and Yummy Mummy are also on the box, but not really a part of the cereal, much like the Count.

Snackability

This may be one of the stronger categories for this cereal. I’d say it’s on par with something like Lucky Charms if you eat that dry, but instead of solid oat pieces, you get a lighter crisp of cereal pieces with the berry ghosts. It almost reminds me of little snacks toddlers eat (not that I’m suggesting you feed this to toddlers). I will say it has a rough, slightly frosted texture, but I didn’t find it as routh as cereal like Cap’n Crunch.

Structural Integrity

The weakest of the categories for this cereal. The light, airy, berry-flavored pieces invite milk to saturate them and any flavor that was there initially dissipates.

Cereal Concept

Mixing cereal is always a fun idea, and something many of us have probably done at home. At first glance at this cereal box, you might think you’re getting all the monster cereals in one, but you’re not. Overall, it’s a fun idea, especially for Halloween, but it’s not quite what I think most of us wanted.

Flavor

The box promotes artificially berry-flavored frosted cereal with monster marshmallows. There’s a hint of the berry flavor but it’s really not all that strong.

I get that Count Chocula cereal might not jive with berry-flavored cereal, but let my taste buds decide that. I guess I’ll have to buy each separately and make my own mash-up.

Overall, the flavor of this cereal reminds me of a couple of past General Mills-made cereals I reviewed such as the JoJo cereal and the most recent Star Wars cereal. Or, if you want to go old school, it’s reminiscent of Ghost Busters cereal.

 

Final Thoughts

A good idea but a slight miss in the execution. We’ve had so many other berry-flavored cereals with marshmallows so nothing is groundbreaking. As I mentioned earlier, when you promote all the classic monster characters on the packaging, my initial thought, if you passingly glance at it in the grocery aisle is that they are all included in the cereal. Fortunately, they still sell the classic monster cereals separately too, so I think that is what I would recommend buying instead of this, especially if you enjoy Count Chocula.

Now, trick or treat, give me something good to eat!

KitKat as a cereal? Gimme a break…

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General Mills brings us another cereal that I don’t know if anyone asked for, but perhaps dreamed about as a child?

I’m assuming most of us have enjoyed a KitKat before. Those sweet crispy wafters melded together by milk chocolate create one of my favorite candy bars, and apparently one of Kourtney Kardashian’s as well, although I don’t dissect mine and eat it in the most complicated way possible.

Now, General Mills has attempted to replicate one of our favorite candy bars in the form of cereal, minus the ease of breaking off just one bar at a time. But does it succeed, or is it just like all the other novelty chocolate cereals? Gimme a break. Gimme a break. Break me off a piece of that cereal review below.

Aesthetics

The thick, chocolatey squares look like rice chex on a human growth hormone. Or, perhaps a less pleasing description would be like large, dry dog food. As for the packaging, the bold KitKat font on top of that bright red branding only makes me hungry for an actual KitKat bar at 9:30 a.m., as I write this review. Hey, I’m an adult and make my own choices, and I can choose to eat candy for breakfast, no matter how unhealthy that may be. But I digress.

Snackability

Fine for a couple of pieces, but not something I could see myself snacking on while on a road trip. Also, the pieces are somewhat bulky, so smaller children may have trouble eating the square pieces dry, and even adults may struggle if they find themselves eating too many pieces of this cereal at once.

Structural Integrity

This is the category where this cereal really shines. In fact, I can’t recall the last cereal I gave a 4 spoon rating to for structural integrity. Due to the size and puffed-out shape of the cereal, I would have thought it would be soggy faster, but after 5+ minutes of soaking in milk, it still maintains a crunch. Even when I took the last bite in the bowl, the cereal still had some substance to it.

Flavor

If you have had other chocolate/cocoa cereals, you will know what to expect with KitKat cereal. For instance, you will get that same cocoa flavor and aftertaste you get from Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Pebbles, Hershey Kisses cereal and those alike. It’s not something I can eat bowls upon bowls of, but if you have a hankering for chocolate cereal this will do. I will say the flavor definitely lessens as soon as you add milk to the bowl. 

Cereal Concept

Like looking at comic books from decades ago and then transforming them into movies, all anyone needs to do to generate an idea for a novelty cereal is a jaunt down the candy aisle of a store. “Hmm, Twing Bing cereal. Maybe that could be a thing?” or “Whatchamacallit? More like WhyNotCerealIt”

Final Thoughts

If you expect this to taste like a bowl of miniature KitKat bars, then you’ll be disappointed.

If you expected a chocolate-flavored cereal with a crisp crunch, like the satisfying break of a KitKat bar then that is more in alignment with what was executed.

Anyway you put it, whether it’s the traditional KitKat candy bar, or if it’s KitKat cereal, ice cream, or whatever else is in the pipeline, I think it’s safe to assume that what will forever resonate with us is the KitKat jingle.

 

Does JoJo’s cereal live the dream like a candy queen?

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I know, I know, it’s been awhile since my last cereal review. But I’m back and I brought JoJo Siwa with me…sort of. Full disclosure, I had not idea who Omaha’s own Dance Moms, YouTube and Nickelodeon star was until a couple of years ago. And now she’s apparently immortalized by having her own nationwide distributed cereal. 

So here I go…a grown man about to eat JoJo Siwa cereal, all for your entertainment. 

Aesthetics

The box is everything that would capture a young fan’s eye while walking down the cereal aisle. Bright pastel colors, stars and of course an image of the cereal’s namesake. In total, JoJo’s image appears five times on the box, in case you forgot whose cereal you were eating. The back of the box provides random JoJo facts and of course the signature JoJo Bow. 

As for the cereal itself, it uses the same style of corn puffs that General Mills uses for Cocoa Puffs, Reese’s Puffs, etc. The marshamallows may remind you of Lucky Charms’ marshmallows with their hearts, stars and bow shapes. I’ll touch on that more under the Cereal Concept portion of the review. Basically, a lot of cereal manufacturers don’t reinvent the wheel.

Snackability

JoJo’s cereal isn’t my cup of tea for a variety of reasons, with snackability being one of them. Sure, if you can handle sweet, berry-flavored corn puffs and some marshmallows mixed in, have at it. But for me, it’s a bit much and the after taste is one that can only be eliminated by brushing your teeth, chewing gum or gargling mouth wash…at the same time. Call me old fashion, but I’d settle for dry Honey nut Cheerios.

Structural Integrity

If you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know that II never think corn puff cereal is very rigid in milk for very long. After a couple minutes you begin losing some crunch and it is more the texture of popcorn beginning to go stale.

And the marshmallows are small, so when they start to get overcome by the milk, they begin losing their color and shape and soon become mushy textured droplets of artificial coloring.

Cereal Concept

A cereal based on current pop-culture celebrity is nothing new. (Mr. T’s cereal that debuted in 1983 is still my favorite). The contents, sweetened strawberry puffs combined with marshmallow shapes of bows, stars and hearts is like if the Leprechaun from Lucky Charms took too much molly and tried to make his own version of Lucky Charms. 

In short, it’s like another General Mills product, Franken Berry, except it’s not seasonal.

Flavor

The box boasts that I’m eating sweetened corn puffs with marshmallows, or what they call “Strawberry Bop.” Apparently, it’s naturally flavored with other natural flavors. Does that even make sense? 

Strawberry, every time I take a bite, it fills the nostril with the aroma of supposed natural flavors. With each bite, I’m reminded of the taste of Caticorn cereal. If you’ve tried that you will understand what I’m saying. As milk dilutes the cereal as the minutes go by, the potency of the flavor begins to dissipate, leaving you just eating a bowl of pink puffs and once-well defined shaped marshmallows.

Final Thoughts

Missing add to include sprinkle or sparkle to it, similar to what Caticorn cereal promoted. 

In the end, it’s the not worst cereal I’ve had and it’s not the best. But, if you have small children who are fans, or Siwanators, of JoJo Siwa, they won’t care and it’ll be the best food they’ve ever eaten. For me, all I can say is that at least it was only $2 when I bought it at HyVee, which is far less than this ridiculous bow I purchased for this cereal review. Apparently you can put a price on dignity and my price is $6.

Try this cereal you must?

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Call it fate, or call it a happy coincidence, either way let’s call this a cereal review of Star Wars: The Mandalorian cereal by General Mills. I’d like to say that I timed this perfectly to coincide with the release of season 2 of the Disney Plus show, but actually it was dumb luck. So is this the go-to cereal to eat while binging season 2? Maybe.First off, you know this was a Sam’s Club purchase because who else needs a jumbo box of cereal with 2 bags in it? I don’t need more help to gain weight in 2020, General Mills.

Aesthetics

Let’s start with the packaging. It’s what you’d expect for a cereal based on a TV series. However, the image of The Child staring at you from the box gives me a feeling like it’s judging me or will be disappointed if I don’t like the cereal. Before we talk about the cereal itself, I appreciate the directions on the box of how to close the top of it, after opening. (sarcasm)

Opening 1 of the 2 bags of cereal, you’re met with the fruity smell, but you wouldn’t expect it looking at yellow morsels with green marshmallows. And speaking of the marshmallows, I know they’re supposed to be The Child, but they kind of look like a horizontal, double-sided apostrophe. Or, maybe it’s the Facebook Messenger icon? The majority of the cereal is small round pieces. Think Cocoa Puffs in size and texture, but not taste.

*Pro tip: Before opening the bag of cereal, take it out of the box, and shake it up a little so the marshmallows can be more evenly dispersed in your bowl.

Snackability

I think I like this cereal better dry than in milk. The pieces are nice and small, crunchy and round, so it’s easily portable and if you or the kids spill it, it’s far easier to clean up than flakes or other cereal that tends to break into even smaller pieces. Overall, the cereal provides a satisfying crunch, and is easily enjoyed while sitting on the couch and watching all things Star Wars. 

Structural Integrity

This cereal is pretty solid when soaking up milk.Thanks to the small, condensed puffs, this cereal doesn’t take on water as fast as some. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a nice crunch with this cereal, but not tear up your mouth crunchy and rough.

Cereal Concept

The concept isn’t original (there’s been plenty of Star Wars-themed cereals). In fact, I feel like a cereal is just part of the marketing plan for a movie/TV show. If you didn’t have the box art, you’d just have a bowl of round yellow puffs that look like the inside of a Nerf ball, and odd-shaped marshmallows. Now, that I think of it, maybe giving it 3 spoons in this category was too high. What do you think?

Flavor

As I ate the cereal dry and with milk, I kept trying to think of a good comparison to make. The pieces look like blonde Cocoa Puffs, with Lucky Charms marshmallow rejects, but overall the cereal tastes like Trix.

Milk does not impact taste of this cereal. With milk, it tastes like a healthy dog’s nose feels: cold and wet. 

The marshmallows are more of a garnish to the cereal and a way to make it kind of look like The Child’s head. 

Final Thoughts

I would eat Stars Wars: The Mandalorian cereal in box, I would eat it with a fox. I would eat it with a lynx, but I would not eat it with Jar Jar Binks.

Overall, this cereal is worth a second bowl for me and I’d eat it again. Would I buy another box? Probably not, but it’s worth a try once, especially if you’re a Star Wars: The Mandalorian fan.

 

Hershey’s Kisses Misses with Cereal Attempt

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There’s a few old sayings, “leave well enough alone,” “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” or insert whatever other cliche you’d like. These phrases hold true when it comes to General Mills’ Hershey’s Kisses Cereal. Let me explain a little more in the following review of this new cereal.

Aesthetics

I’m giving Hershey’s Kisses Cereal a general three-spoon rating. I appreciate the simple design of the box that ties into the brand colors. If they really wanted to splurge they could have added some shiny, foil-like color to mimic the candy wrappers. The cereal pieces itself kind of look like the shape of Hershey’s Kisses, I think? Or perhaps, some sort of piece from the game Operation?The cereal also reminds me of Chocolate Lucky Charms, which is also made by General Mills. As I mentioned in that review, this cereal also has a slight resemblance to dry cat food. 
Snackability

Hershey’s Kisses Cereal isn’t one I envision any sane person snacking on dry for long periods of time – if ever. Yes, you get a hint of chocolate/cocoa flavor with the pieces but it’s not like eating an actual bag of the candies, which I may or may not be doing currently. (Don’t judge me. I know most of you have done the same)

Kids may think they want and like to eat this cereal dry because of it’s chocolate branding, but I think they’d be really disappointed. Overall, it’s just very average as far as eating cereal dry goes.

Structural Integrity

Perhaps one of the areas where Hershey’s Kisses Cereal shines is its structural integrity. Thanks to it’s tiny morsels that are somewhat condensed, they do not get water logged as quickly. The cereal provides a decent, satisfying-enough crunch upon the early bites and doesn’t really start to get a little soggy until the 10-minute mark. (Full disclosure, I usually eat my cereal much faster, but I wanted to actually use a timer for the review – you know, because science)

Cereal Concept

The concept in name was interesting, which is why I think so many people were intrigued when they heard about the cereal. However, strip away the candy name and it’s basically your run-of-the-mill chocolate-flavored cereal. And Hershey’s Kisses Cereal isn’t alone in that issue. Most of these novelty cereals being pushed by General Mills and Post Cereals are the same way.

Flavor

Upon opening the box, the whiff of cocoa smacks your face like Donny’s ashes do to The Dude in The Big Lebowski.

And like other chocolate cereals: Count Chocula, Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Pebbles, Cocoa Crispies and others, this cereal doesn’t do it for me. Maybe it’s because I’m not an artificial chocolate flavor fan, but if you’re expecting this to taste anything like the Hershey’s Kisses candy then you’ll be extremely disappointed. This cereal falls into the one and done category for me, meaning one bowl and no seconds.

Final Thoughts

I’m a sucker for novelty and packaging, which Hershey’s Kisses Cereal accomplishes. However, I was not naive enough to think this cereal would be to my liking. As mentioned above, I’m not a chocolate cereal fan, so I kind of new what to expect, but was hoping it would surprise me. Regardless to say, it did not. If you’ve had one chocolate-flavored cereal then you’ve basically had them all. Hershey’s Kisses Cereal wasn’t a sweet breakfast treat. Instead, it just left me eager to buy the discounted candies after Valentine’s Day.

In the end, give me milk chocolate and not chocolate in milk.

 

 

Fillows fill you

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The cereal aisle never disappoints with its whacky offerings. General Mills recently released Fillows cereal in two different flavors: Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme and Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll. While each cereal has its own unique flavor shell, they share the same crème filling. Today, I’m taking a look at the cinnamon rolls variety, since I typically have bad luck with cookies and creme-flavored cereals. I’ve never had an outstanding cookies and creme cereal. I guess you could just they’re…

Aesthetics

Working outside-in, the box has a pleasant, eye-catching design with use of orange and turquoise colors. Upon opening the box, I was expected to find the typical clear bag that houses the cereal, but was instead greeted with a foil bag. It reminded me of the packaged food they take in space, or Jiffy Pop that you make on the stovetop. The cereal itself looks rather unassuming with its standard, textured pieces. I was actually expecting the cereal to be more in line with the size of Kellog’s Krave or Pop Tarts cereals, since those also have a creme or flavor filling, but Fillows was smaller than I expected. But we all know size doesn’t matter, right? Right?    

Snackability

Fillows is a tasty cereal eaten dry. The texture and crunch make it feel like it belongs in a sugary Chex Mix of some sort. However, it gets pretty sweet tasting after a few pieces, so that is why I gave it a rating of 3 spoons, instead of 4. Regardless, you won’t be disappointed if you grab a handful of this cereal for a midday snack. 

Structural Integrity

Combined with its texture, size and filling, Fillows is a somewhat dense cereal. It can withstand milk for a reasonable amount of time. (reasonable being that you eat your cereal within 5 or so minutes and don’t let it sit there and turn to mush like some sort of savage) However, if you mistakenly leave it soaking in milk too long, the outer shell loses its texture and becomes more slick and smooth tasting, which is just an odd sensation. You’d have to experience to fully understand.

Cereal Concept

There’s nothing offensive about the idea of cinnamon roll cereal, especially when you compare it to all the other weird flavor combination of cereals. It’s almost as if the people who make all the flavors of Lay’s potato chips have a side hustle of coming up with flavors of cereal. So while the concept of Fillows isn’t bad, it’s nothing overly special. I mean, cookies and creme or cinnamon roll flavored cereals? I’m pretty sure we’ve had plenty of similar ones already.

Flavor

What Fillows lacks in creative cereal concept (hooray for alliteration!), it make sup in flavor. With the first bite, you taste the cinnamon flavor, but it’s not as pungent as the cinnamon flavor of Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Churros. When eaten dry, the flavor reminds me somewhat of a cinnamon graham cracker. When you add milk to the cereal, it seems to heighten the buttercream flavor that you’d expect from a cinnamon roll. Kudos to you Pillsbury and General Mills.

Final Thoughts

My expectations weren’t exceedingly high for Fillows. After all, it’s a cereal named after “filling” and “pillows.” However, I was pleasantly surprised how well General Mills and Pillsbury did to translate that cinnamon roll flavor into a cereal that didn’t suck. Is it sweet, sugary and unhealthy when not eaten is moderation? Of course! But you won’t finish a bowl of Fillows left hungry. I only had one bow of the cereal, and I can tell you that I could go into a food coma/nap right about now but I’d do it all again.

 

Ice Cream for Breakfast? Not quite

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In this edition of, “As the Novelty Cereal Turns,” General Mills brings us it’s latest offering, Drumstick mint chocolate cereal. If you’re thinking, “wait, I thought General Mills already had an ‘ice cream’ cereal?” Well you, my friend are correct. They also make dippin dots cereal, which is similar to Drumsticks. Let’s dig into this review and I’ll tell you a little more.Aesthetics

Nothing really stands out, as far as looks go, with this cereal. If a box of this cereal was on a dating app, it’d be one of those where your friend takes your phone and swipes right, because it looks sweet, safe and nice. The box is pretty simple and reminiscent of the dippin dots cereal box design. The cereal pieces are advertised as cone cereal pieces, ice cream flavored scoops and cocoa nuggets. To me, that’s a fancy way of saying squares, green discs and chocolate balls. The green discs, or ice cream flavored scoops in this case, look like homemade mints done up for a wedding in 1989. Snackability

The short and sweet of it is that this cereal is pretty good when eaten without milk. The trio of cereal pieces provide nice texture diversity and are just sweet enough when you need a little pick me up. Structural Integrity

I had low expectations that this cereal would hold up well in milk. However, I was pleasantly surprised that by the time I finished my bowl, pieces still have some crunch and were not milklogged. (milklogged is a thing right?) I think the cereal pieces being relatively small and compact helped them retain their structural integrity better than most. I dare say, this cereal stayed better in milk than Grape-Nuts. (that could be my hot take of this review) I actually think the milk helps the cereal, but I’ll talk more about that in the flavor section of this review.

Cereal Concept

I’m ranking the concept of this cereal three spoons because it’s nothing really new. As I mentioned earlier, the same company produces dippin dots cereal, which is essentially marketed as ice cream cereal like this. You could give me “Juice Barrel Cereal” and I’d be more impressed with the concept. And I’d want that cereal to come in a six pack of those little juice barrels with each being a different flavor, except for grape. Artificial grape is the taste of bad decisions and codeine. But I digress. 

Flavor

The box promotes “the taste of the original sundae cone now in your cereal bowl.” I can honestly say, it certainly tastes nothing like that. When you open the bag, you’re hit in the face with a strong scent of nothing, except perhaps a faint smell of cocoa from the Cocoa Puffs, err, I mean “cocoa nuggets.” So, if you ever wondered what chocolate balls taste like, it’s Cocoa Puffs. The green cereal pieces have very little mint flavoring to them, which is disappointing, since I expected the cereal as a whole to somewhat taste like my favorite ice cream. Adding milk to the cereal helps, if only because it tells my mind that this is more like ice cream that way. 

Final Thoughts

Drumstick mint chocolate cereal tastes okay and just okay at that. I was overall underwhelmed by it, but maybe I was expecting too much. In essence, it’s almost having a bowl of Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs more than mint chocolate sundae. In my years of eating cereal, I’ve learned that cereals advertising as cookies and ice cream for breakfast usually fail to deliver and taste nothing like either.

if you want ice cream for breakfast, then skip this cereal and just have a bowl of ice cream for breakfast. If you’re an adult, you can eat whatever you want because YOU’RE AN ADULT.

 

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros is a Workout

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I was doing my best to pace myself with trying cereals, since I’m only one person. However, after numerous people tagged me on Facebook and Twitter, asking me if I have tried Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros, I knew I had to give the people what they wanted… a somewhat serious review with some colorful comparisons and analogies. Well, I just finished a bowl and I’m here to tell you my thoughts. Let’s dig in.

Aesthetics

I’ll admit that the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros is certainly eye catching with its vibrant purple box, combined with the familiar Cinnamon Toast Crunch brand colors of purple, blue, red and green. Now, getting to the cereal itself, each piece certainly resembles a mini churro with a light dusting of cinnamon and sugar. On packaging and cereal itself, I think General Mills did a solid job.

Snackability 

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros is good for snacking, but be mindful that the cereal is pretty dense and crunchy, so small children might struggle with eating this cereal dry or in milk. People complain about Cap’n Crunch being rough, I’d say Churros cereal is up there. It’s not as roof-of-your-mouth scraping like trying to remove an old popcorn ceiling, but it’s rough nonetheless. Would it be my first choice of cereal to throw in a baggie and eat on my way to work, because I’m an adult who sucks at taking time to make an adequate breakfast? No. However, it would work in a pinch.

Structural Integrity

Remember above where I said the cereal is dense and crunchy? This Churros cereal is nothing like a typical churro that is fluffy, almost flaky even. This Churros cereal is far more compact, which is good if it’s sitting in milk, because it will take longer to become soggy. However, at times I felt like I was eating little, round logs or retaining wall blocks for a gingerbread house, instead of a nice, hollow, crispy churro.

Cereal Concept

When I first heard about Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros I thought, “how much different tasting can it be?” While I give credit for appealing to our love of churros, the cereal was basically the same as Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It’s CT Crunch if you could roll the classic square piece of cereal like an Amigo’s crisp meat burrito and called it a churro. Side note, who’s all hungry for Amigo’s now?

Flavor

The flavor of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros should be a familiar one if you like regular CT Crunch. Cinnamon and sugar are always good flavors in my opinion, but in moderation. So is this Churros cereal just a money grab to gain eyeballs and mouths on this cereal? Yes. If anything, the shape of the Churros cereal seemed to allow runoff of the cinnamon and sugar dusting. As I took each bite, especially after it had been in the milk for a little bit, I thought about adding more cinnamon and sugar myself.

Final Thoughts

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros is a fun cereal in name, but otherwise it’s basically the original CT Crunch. The key difference to me is the shape of the Churros cereal and how crunchy it is, instead of a fluffy air crisp churro. It was difficult at times to get good bites of cereal off the spoon because of the volume of the pieces. With this cereal, I think your jaw is going to get a workout to the point that it may get tiresome. However, if you have a big mouth then this might not be an issue. Overall, it’s a fun novelty cereal, but I think I’ll stick with regular Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the sake of my jaw (or Sugar Cookie Crunch during holiday season).   

Have you tried Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros? If so, what was it about it that you enjoyed most? Thanks for stopping by the Cereal Aisle!

Chocolate Lucky Charms | Magically Delicious?

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Welcome to another edition of Joe (yours truly) takes on another bowl that threatens diabetes. In this review, Chocolate Lucky Charms is under the taste test. I’m sure most of you have had the original Lucky Charms, so the premise of this version is similar, except with chocolatey flavor. In fact, the box even says “Chocolately Whole Grain Cereal With Marshmallows.” However, I will say my box of cereal was a little light on the marshmallows. Before we dive into the review, if nothing else, this cereal wins for most words on a box, “Chocolate Lucky Charms. Now with Magical Unicorn Marshmallows.” Think of it as an eye exam to test if diabetes is affecting your vision yet.

Aesthetics

I’m torn when it comes to this category for Chocolate Lucky Charms. The packaging is eye catching with use of the brown box that provides a sharp contract to the vibrant, dare I say, magical colors. Plus, there’s a majestic unicorn on the box. (I’ll let you decide which is more mythical: the unicorn or the leprechaun.) However, I can’t get past the fact that the morsels of whole grain look like pieces of dry cat food to me. For that reason, I couldn’t give it a higher rating than 3 spoons in aesthetics.

Snackability 

Chocolate Lucky Charms, or Lucky Charms in general, isn’t one of the best snackable cereals in my opinion. Without milk, it just tastes really dry or overly sweet, depending on how many marshmallows are in your handful. Perhaps kids will enjoy this cereal dry, but for me the taste of cocoa was a bit overpowering when eating this dry. Plus, I can’t stress again how much the chocolate pieces of this cereal remind me of cat food. It’s bad enough they make dog treats that look like real cookies (it may have fooled me once), but leave my cereals alone!

Structural Integrity

Surprisingly, structural integrity of Chocolate Lucky Charms is pretty good. I credit that to the minimal surface area of each piece of cereal, as well as the fact that the marshmallows are small and dense enough (like those heart-shaped Valentine’s candies). Unlike cereals such as Life, Frosted Flakes, or even Fruit Loops, these little pieces of cocoa-flavored sweetness avoid getting soggy too quick. However, that could also depend on how fast you eat your cereal. If you are too slow then of course it’s going to be a mushy pile of bean bag filling in a bowl.

Cereal Concept

Lucky Charms on its own is arguably on the Mt. Rushmore of classic cereals. It’s a basic formula of adding whole grain cereal (to make it seem healthy) with a scoop of sugar shapes, instead of having to pour sugar onto the plain cereal like I used to on Cheerios. However, simply adding “chocolate” to change up the cereal is a far-to-basic move. Next time you’re in the cereal aisle at your local store, check out how many boxes have the word “chocolate” in them. It’s as basic as pumpkin spice is coffee. The old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to Lucky Charms. Updating the marshmallow shapes was a simple way to freshen up the cereal, but adding chocolate, or fruity Lucky Charms, or Frosted Flakes x Lucky Charms hasn’t seemed overly impressive.

Flavor

If you like the taste of chocolate cereal then Chocolate Lucky Charms is for you. For me, I can’t eat more than one bowl of it at a time. The chocolate/cocoa taste is still lingering on my tongue 45 minutes after I ate the cereal. In fact, the chocolate even seems to overtake the sweetness usually tasted from the marshmallows. If you enjoy drinking cereal milk that’s left in the bowl after you’ve eaten all the pieces, you may enjoy the chocolate flavor that’s transferred into the milk.

Final Thoughts

Chocolate Lucky Charms is good, but not groundbreaking or a cereal I would buy boxes of regularly. As mentioned earlier, General Mills has a good thing going with the regular formula of Lucky Charms. I will admit though that I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate cereals, as the after taste lingers too long and is typically all I taste when eating the cereal. It’s the same way I treat eating chocolate candy. I can do small moderations and that will hold me over for quite some time. With Chocolate Lucky Charms, I’m sure kids will enjoy it, because I remember at their age always being a sucker for anything chocolate. But, as an adult eating Chocolate Lucky Charms with magical unicorn marshmallows, (yes, I see the irony in that statement), it might take you a while to finish a box of this cereal by yourself. 

Let me know in the comment section below if you’ve tried Chocolate Lucky Charms yet, what flavor of Lucky Charms would you like to see made? Thanks for stopping by the Cereal Aisle!