Tag Archives: spooned & spotted

Spooned & Spotted: Apple Pie Toast Crunch Cereal

Welp, so much for a slow news week.

Having bemoaned just yesterday how no show-stopping new cereals in some time, the breakfast gods must’ve heard my cries. Appearing entirely without warning, fanfare, nor heralding angels, Apple Pie Toast Crunch is apparently hitting shelves.

This stuff was found at Albertson’s by Chris’s Cereal Crusade, and its wintery branding seems to suggest Apple Pie Toast Crunch is either a companion or replacement for long-time seasonal specialty Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch—here’s hoping it’s the former, so I can mix the two.

Toast Crunch devotees will no-doubt notice how similar Apple Pie Toast Crunch sounds to now-discontinued Apple Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the key difference being the older of the two used French Toast Crunch’s bread-shaped pieces instead of these crazy squares. To be honest, I dearly miss the dense ‘n’ crunchy era of adorably sliced Toast Crunches—especially the sugar-dusted ones—but it’s hard to get mad about something that sounds as good as, well, Apple Pie Toast Crunch.

I’ll certainly be on the lookout for this stuff as it hopefully pops up in more stores soon. If you’ve tried it, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: apple, spooned & spotted, toast crunch. 4 Comments

Sep. ’20

Spooned & Spotted: Golden Grahams Retro Recipe!

You ever see a new product release like this and wonder how you’re supposed to take it? As a celebration? An apology? A self own?

I consider myself both knowledgeable about cereal, and I’ve always been a big graham cracker stan, but I’ll admit I never noticed that Golden Grahams apparently hasn’t had honey in its ingredients list for some time now. I suppose I just never expected my old buddy Golden Grahams, my dear, sweet, innocent and unchanging Golden Grahams, to betray my trust. Between its yellow branding and its most famous commercials, Golden Grahams should’ve at least told people when it told mascot Honey The Honey Drop’s namesake stuff to buzz out of their cereal.

This is a dupe right up there with all Froot Loop colors tasting the same and Chocolate Lucky Charms being a corn-based cereal!

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly when Golden Grahams pivoted from a honey graham to a brown sugar graham cereal, but comparing school cafeteria nutrition labels for single-serve Golden Grahams packaging, we can estimate it was some time between 2011 and 2013.

Now, so many depraved years later, Golden Grahams is proudly doubling back on its duplicity, at least temporarily, with Retro Recipe Golden Grahams—made with real honey! Spotted at Walmart by Tim S. (long-time vocal advocate for oat flour’s return to General Mills’ Monster Cereals, a noble and just cause), Retro Recipe Golden Grahams are certainly at the top of my “must try” list. And by “try,” I mean in the “push ’em to the edge” sense of the word. These Grahams have a lot of explaining to do.

We shared everything with each other, Golden Grahams! Promise me you’ve changed for good! Prove it to me by making Retro Recipe Count Chocula happen!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: general mills, golden grahams, honey, spooned & spotted. 6 Comments

Sep. ’20

Spooned & Spotted: Barnes & Noble Café Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookie

In a year that refuses to be read like a book, we’re getting at least one more sweet little twist of cereal-adjacent obscurity.

Starbucks—err, well only Barnes & Noble Café locations that serve Starbucks coffee—is unleashing a new cookie studded with Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares. But don’t expect a pure and chaste cereal milk & cookies experience: as one Redditor has mentioned, this cookie is a triple threat of oatmeal, cinnamon, and chocolate chip. Which, honestly, sounds a lot better. Just as Honey Maid Cinnamon Graham Cereal is basically Toast Crunch with a beefed-up base grain, so too does this cookie sound like Chocolate Toast Crunch if it were made with oat flour.

If you’ve tried this cookie, let me know what you think of it in the comments below. Personally, I’m swearing off Barnes & Noble until the disrespected ghost of Borders Books & Music tells me it’s okay.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cinnamon, non cereal, spooned & spotted, toast crunch. 1 Comment

Aug. ’20

Spooned & Spotted (Mexico): Kellogg’s Panaderia Cereals

Oh no, y’all: cereal is dead!

…that’s right, dead serious about celebrating Día de Muertos!

Kellogg’s of Mexico is making headlines for a new trio of Panaderia (Bakery) cereals releasing in Mexico early this autumn—and not all the buzz is the good, sugary kind, either. With Twitter users and media outlets alike questioning whether this should be considered cultural appropriation on Kellogg’s part, these Churros, Rollos de Canela and Pan de Muerto cereals have already been spotted by some shoppers and reviewed by others.

Though they may sound extremely similar, Kellogg’s Panaderia Churros Cereal appears to be flavored with cinnamon and brown sugar, while Rollos de Canela uses cinnamon and vanilla. However, more unique than either is Pan de Muerto Cereal. Based on the popular sweet bread made for Day of the Dead celebrations, this cereal version boasts not only vanilla, but butter and orange blossoms as ingredients, too. Since the last orange-vanilla cereal we saw in America was named my favorite release of that year, Pan de Muerto Cereal might just be worth the cost of importing it.

Have you tried any of these three yet? Let us know in the comments below!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cinnamon, international, orange, spooned & spotted, vanilla. 2 Comments

Jul. ’20

Spooned & Spotted: Dunkin’ Cereal (Mocha Latte & Caramel Macchiato!)

(UPDATE: Just today, Post confirmed these Dunkin’ Cereals will be released in late August, with 1/10th the amount of caffeine in a coffee cup per serving!)

Well this was certainly more of a jolt to my brain than any shot of espresso.

Long-time Cerealously readers may remember a rumored Dunkin’ Donuts Caramel Macchiato Cereal that was rumored a year and a half ago, evidenced only by an image with fewer pixels than the cereal has grams of sugar per serving. But then…nothing ever came of it, which wasn’t too much of a shocker, since the cereal was alleged to be caffeinated, which seems like a recipe for wall-bouncing disaster to any unsuspecting parent. And Caramel Macchiato wasn’t the only bit of blurry breakfast gossip that never materialized—though perhaps hope for Cinnamon Honey-Maid and Teddy Grahams Cereal need not be extinguished by doubtful dairy just yet.

Folks, call your boss and take off work, ’cause Dunkin’s pouring us a doppio.

Snack_Alert on Instagram is the first to share proof that both Caramel Macchiato Cereal and a Mocha Latte Cereal are coming soon from Post and Dunkin’. Though it’s doubtful that these crunchy coffees will be caffeinated for real, they’re both made with real Dunkin’ coffee, instantly elevating this above any hypothetical Starbucks Cereal (yeah, I went there). Of course, Dunkin’ has big shoes to fill: the non-slip work boots of Fred the Baker, to be specific.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ original 1988 cereal came in both Glazed and Chocolate varieties. The cereal didn’t last long, but its colorful pastel box alone has made it one of cereal’s most unforgettable discontinuations.

Will the puffs and marshmallows of 2020’s Dunkin’ cereals be able to live up to this reputation? Well, without the ability to erase time and bring us closer to their uncertain release date, we’ll all just have to hunker down with some Timbits Cereal.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: caramel, coffee, post, spooned & spotted. Leave a comment

May. ’20

Spooned & Spotted: Lucky Charms with Red & Yellow Balloons

If you’ve ever wanted enough sugary balloons for an amateur performance of Up starring Nena and Pennywise, then boy do General Mills and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals have something that’ll float your sewer-in-the-sky-bound houseboat.

Exclusive to Costco (in, of course, twin-packed 1-pound boxes), Lucky Charms with only red and yellow balloon marshmallows are the latest collaboration between General Mills and the non-profit fundraising group for children’s hospitals, which does a lot of miraculous co-branding work in the month of May. This isn’t the first time Lucky Charms has debuted a variant with single marbit-focused color variants, but I don’t think the balloon marshmallow in particular has ever been given such a spotlight. Either way, the yellow balloons could easily double as lightbulbs for diorama re-creations of the Homestar Runner eating an incandescent sandwich.

Our thanks to Gabe Fonseca of Cereal Time for the tip. If you happen to spot a new cereal or breakfast product—of the many-hued marbit variety or otherwise—you can send them over at our Submissions page, or tweet them @cerealouslynet.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: lucky charms, spooned & spotted. Leave a comment

Mar. ’20

Spooned & Spotted: Cereal & Pancakes! (IHOP & Cap’n Crunch)

(UPDATED MARCH 2: IHOP is adding frequent Lucky Charms co-collaborator Cinnamon Toast Crunch to their cereal pancake ensemble, and Cap’n Crunch too!)

Finally. Validation.

For too long, I’ve been playfully chided by friends, frenemies and sea anemones alike for my admittedly uncommon habit of drizzling maple syrup on just about every cereal out there—just to see if it’s good! And it almost always is! But now? IHOP is giving me implicit permission to go full hog on a stack of cereal pancakes, amber lagoon and all.

What’s that? There’s no mention of syrup in this ad for IHOP’s new Cereal Pancakes? Well, there’s (strangely) no explicit brand mention of Lucky Charms either, so forgive me for wanting what is already no-doubt a brain-buzzer of sugary madness to slide down my gullet a bit easier.

Sure the Lucky Charms (Fruity Lucky Charms, specifically) pieces are exciting, but what’s got me geeked here is the “CREAMY CEREAL MILK MOUSSE” drizzled about with ersatz artistry. No clue exactly what it’ll taste like, but if I’m already taking creative liberties with these panned cakes, I might as well scrape off all the mousse, replace it with syrup, and take it home to eat with a bowl of Eggo Cereal.

Because no disrespect to IHOP, but only one ounce of awesomeness? I can do better. Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cap'n crunch, lucky charms, maple, non cereal, spooned & spotted. 4 Comments

Oct. ’19

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Tim Hortons Timbits Cereal!

Ooh, this one hits me hard. Hard as a quarter-empty 50-pack of Timbits left behind at an executive meeting that was later scavenged and greedily gobbled by me like a feral Pac-Man.

As a lifelong Michigander, I’m no stranger to Tim Hortons. In fact, I have a nostalgic, pliable and doughy soft spot for the place, as it conjures fond memories: of my dad buying me chocolate chip muffins. Memories of my high school self bicycling out of school at lunchtime like a bat out of hell to make it to Timmy’s before they stopped making maple oatmeal. And of course, memories of my more recent self scavenging and gobbling Timbits like a feral Pac-Man.

Waka waka waka, and yada yada yada: the point is that Canada is getting exclusive Timbits Cereals to celebrate what may arguably be the northwest hemisphere’s most beloved doughnut holes.

A few things are still unclear about these Post-produced products. When will they come out? Will there be more flavors beyond Chocolate Glazed and Birthday Cake (I’m lookin’ at you, Apple Fritter)? And who will trebuchet 90kg of this stuff 300m over the MI–CA border for me?

No matter the answers, I can conclusively say that as a fan of both doughnuts and doughnut cereals, I’m excited to see if these boxed dozens can bring zen to my breakfast table.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: birthday cake, canada, chocolate, spooned & spotted. 3 Comments