Whether it’s Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, mornings as a kid always started with a hearty bowl of your favorite sugary cereal. But now, as a college student, you’ve have learned that cereal is not the best breakfast to have when you have stacked classes the whole day. However, cereal is making a comeback. Not just for breakfast anymore, cereal is becoming the new direction for desserts across the country.
West Coast:
1. Afters Ice Cream
Photo courtesy of @gilliehouston on Instagram
With locations in Fountain Valley, Chino Hills, Rowland Heights, Long Beach, Tustin, and Pasadena, Afters Ice Cream is clearly a SoCal favorite. They have made the Coachella food lineup for the second year in a row. Their trademark item is the milky bun: a donut sandwiched with ice cream, which is A1 Instagram-worthy. Must-get milky bun toppings include Afters flakes, Fruity Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cookie Crisp.
#SpoonTip: Always ask for the glazed bun. Go big or go home.
2. The Pie Hole
Photo courtesy of @cereal on Instagram
A family-run business with the mission “Happiness, one slice at a time,” The Pie Hole offers a wide variety of freshly baked savory and sweet pies with flavors ranging from Mom’s Apple Crumble to Mac ‘n’ Cheese. Their newest flavor is the Cereal Killer Cheesecake. It’s egg-free with Fruity Pebbles inside, topped with Frosted Flakes and tastes just like the milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl. Quickly expanding their pie empire, The Pie Hole has locations in the Los Angeles Arts District, Pasadena, and Old Town Orange.
#SpoonTip: Go with a group of friends so you can all try the different flavors of pie.
3. Milk
Photo courtesy of @infatuation_la on Instagram
Ice cream is a staple in sunny California where we eat frozen desserts to beat the heat. Milk has taken that to the next level with their cereal ice cream flavors and macaron ice cream sandwiches. Yes, you read that right: MACARON ICE CREAM SANDWICHES. The Fruity Pebbles and Froot Loops sandwiches are not just topped with the cereals, but even the flavors of the ice cream are Fruity Pebbles and Froot Loop. We die.
4. Ridges Churro Bar
Photo courtesy of @audrey_elisa on Instagram
Ridges Churro Bar is a cool food truck that goes to several regular locations around the SoCal area and also does private events. Churros, ice cream, and Fruity Pebbles? What more could you ask for? Their flavors include salted caramel, cinnamon sugar, Nutella nut, and strawberry cheesecake. Check out where they’ll be next on their website.
East Coast:
5. Momofuku Milk Bar
Photo courtesy of @ffeeks on Instagram
Momofuku Milk Bar is the ultimate place for dessert lovers. Their cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow cookie is an unlikely, but delicious mixture of everyone’s favorite things. However, their signature item is the cereal milk soft-serve. Topped with cornflakes, the cereal milk soft-serve is an immediate throwback to when you were a kid, slurping down the rest of your Frosted Flakes. Although their locations aren’t in California (Las Vegas, New York and D.C.), they offer cereal milk bottles and cereal milk mix that can be shipped to anywhere in the U.S!
#SpoonTip: Come here hungry. There are so many items on the menu and you will want to try absolutely everything. When I went to D.C., I came here three times during the course of a week.
6. KITH Treats
Photo courtesy of kithtreats.com
Located in Prospect Heights, a neighborhood that is an ideal example of “old meets new,” KITH Treats is New York’s first cereal bar where customers can order up to 3 different servings from 23 options of cereal to mix with any of the 25 toppings and 5 types of milk! For an order of 2 or 3 servings, the cereal and toppings are placed in their Cereal Box Set, which is perfect for eating on the go. KITH also offers ice cream treats, like their Treats Shake, which consists of vanilla ice cream and the customer’s cereal of choice.
7. Emack and Bolio’s
Photo courtesy of @feedyourgirlfriend on Instagram
On a hot, humid day, wouldn’t you want this beauty to help cool down? Emack and Bolio’s is a chain of ice cream/froyo parlors with several locations on the East Coast (MA, NY, and FL) and around the world. Their selection of amazing flavors like Space Cake, cake batter ice cream with shortbread cookie pieces and red velvet cake chunks, make it so difficult to choose. To cradle the creamy dessert, Emack and Bolio’s have several different waffle cones, including Caramel Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Fruity Pebbles, and Rice Krispies. Soon, the only way you’ll want to eat cereal is on a cone!
#SpoonTip: Be ready to order when you get to the register. People want this ice cream as soon as possible! Who could blame them?
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