Cereal has been a classic American breakfast item for years. Since its humble beginnings, cereal has taken on a larger than life reputation in the food world, becoming not only a breakfast food you eat with milk, but also an addition to desserts all around the world. General Mills kindly blesses us with limited-edition cereals depending on the season or holiday. I decided to try their fall and winter special-edition cereals that were released just in time for the holidays. I have made a definitive ranking of these 5 cereals, from worst to absolute best, to help you determine which ones are a must-try, and which ones you should definitely pass on.
Fifth Place: Franken Berry
Just by the looks of it, I knew this wasn’t going to be great. The idea of completely pink cereal just doesn’t settle well with me. I gave this cereal to my roommates and communications research group to taste-test, and the consensus was that it tastes like medicine. Not only does the flavor resemble something along the lines of liquid Pepto Bismol, it’s also overly sweet and tastes 100 percent artificial.General Mills has some great cereals, but Franken Berry should retire ASAP.
Fourth Place: Boo Berry
Boo Berry is slightly better tasting than Franken Berry, but that doesn’t say much. At least this one doesn’t taste like medicine, but it does taste 98 percent artificial and is still too sweet. Artificial berry flavoring is just always a no-go, particularly in this day and age where natural coloring and flavoring are so big.
Third Place: Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch
I loved this concept for a cereal, but I was disappointed with the taste. I thought there would actually be a hint of sugar cookie flavor, but instead it was just a sugared up piece of Toast Crunch sans cinnamon. This experience made me realize how critical the cinnamon truly is to the Toast Crunch. Regardless of the overly sugary taste and the lack of cinnamon, it was still better than Franken Berry and Boo Berry since it tasted less artificial.
Second Place: Count Chocula
Arguably the most classic of the three Halloween limited-edition cereals, this cereal boasts a yummy chocolatey flavor that tastes like hot cocoa. I dig Count Chocula because it does not taste as artificial as Franken Berry and Boo Berry, and it’s also not too sweet like the others.
First Place: Chocolatey Winter Lucky Charms
This is by far the best cereal of these five limited-edition cereals by General Mills. Although it seems like it would taste the same as Count Chocula, since they’re both chocolate cereals with marshmallows, I swear, there’s a big difference. The difference lies in the marshmallows; the Chocolatey Winter Lucky Charms marshmallows are the classic kind and the Count Chocula marshmallows are fake-chocolate flavored. Obviously, the classic Lucky Charms marshmallows take the cake. This stellar cereal has just the right amount of sweet and chocolatey and I had trouble keeping myself from continuously grabbing more from the box. It’s also great for fun recipes as pictured above.
Whether for making a dessert or sprinkling it on top of your hot cocoa, Chocolatey Winter Lucky Charms will never cease to satisfy your taste buds. Order them now before they go out of season… or stock.