December 2020: The Toast Crunch Dynasty’s Last Stand. As the snow piles around the old cathedral and the rabid Teddy Grahams—prematurely upset from their winter slumber—keep pouring through the crunched-open stained glass windows. What few Crazy Squares remain regret cannibalizing their Churro & French Toast comrades. They sharpen their sugar cookie shurikens and prepare to defend their cereal’s legacy. Cinnamon Toast Crunch? An irrelevant cereal? Over their soggy bodies.

I over-exaggerate, of course: Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of the most popular cereals ever, and such acclaim is unlikely to dissipate any time soon. But between Honey Maid Cinnamon Graham Crunch and Malt-O-Meal ChurrO’s, Post has proven how much better Cinnamon Toast Crunch could be if it really applied itself. Despite this, Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch as of yet has no equal, let alone a superior. For the time being, the annual return of Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch is worth celebrating.

The stuff isn’t all that flavorfully complicated—it’s doughy and buttery, yet still lightly cinnamon’d and heavily sugared. According to General Mills, SCTC is already shipping to stores, so once you get over the cross-temporal discomfort of seeing holiday cereals next to Halloween ones, I encourage you to pick up enough boxes to catapult from a second-story window at trick-or-treaters.

While Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch is sure to be a snack worthy of annual Elf screenings, it’s yet to be seen whether General Mills’ new cereal based on the 2003 movie will earn the same fate. I’m naturally skeptical of licensed corn puff cereals, just because their infused flavor is rarely able to overcome the hollow maize base.

Regardless, I’m a lifelong sucker for maple cereals, and after the death of both Waffle Crisp and French Toasters, I’m always willing to try more—wait, isn’t Elf Cereal basically French Toast Crunch with marshmallows? Oh well, at least they didn’t go with a Beef & Cheese Cereal.