Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine's
How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Classic Valentine Dishes
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Mark Bitterman on Chocolate
I Paid: $3.69 for an 11.25-ounce box (prices may vary by region)
In an earlier era—say, the mid-1990s—adding chocolate to Cheerios would have completely upset the apple cart. For decades in America, chocolate meant dessert, decadence, and special sessions with the dental drill.
Nothing, of course, stays the same for long. In the 2000s, we learned about the healing powers of cocoa, the food that could “outshine penicillin and anesthesia in its importance to public health,” according to a particularly enthusiastic article in ScienceDaily. Suddenly cocoa-dusting your Cheerios isn’t about sweets; it’s about the healing power of the pod.
This isn’t necessarily apparent to the casual consumer, who may expect a Cocoa Puffs–type experience. This is unfortunate. Chocolate Cheerios are far from frivolous; if anything, they’re actually austere and serious, and arguably too virtuous with a mere 9 grams of sugar per serving (compare to Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch, the gold standard of rotting your teeth at breakfast thanks to its 20 grams of sugar per bowl). There is a “dusted with cocoa” taste to these Cheerios, but they’re definitely not Cocoa Krispies: The milk may darken, yes, but it doesn’t quite turn to chocolate.
Ultimately, however, Chocolate Cheerios are winningly earnest. They don’t wear on the palate like a traditional sweet cereal, and they allow a feeling of virtue with the appearance of vice.
Having told my little clone that I would buy chocolate cereal when they made chocolate Cheerios (which at the time, I thought would also be when hell froze over), I was forced to, after years of argument over Count Chococrap, Cocoa Pudds and the like. Alas, they're not icky sweet and powdery tasting, nor do they turn the (2% organic) milk weird colors or have unidentifiable bits of god knows what...+READ
Having told my little clone that I would buy chocolate cereal when they made chocolate Cheerios (which at the time, I thought would also be when hell froze over), I was forced to, after years of argument over Count Chococrap, Cocoa Pudds and the like. Alas, they're not icky sweet and powdery tasting, nor do they turn the (2% organic) milk weird colors or have unidentifiable bits of god knows what in them. Reading the label the fat/sugar content is about the same as regular Cheerios and less than Honeynut. A pleasant surprising compromise for all.-COLLAPSE
I'm game, since I like Cheerios. Having never tried any chocolate-flavored cereals in my life until this year, when I tasted Cocoa Krispies, and fell in love, I'll give it a go.
The "feeling of virtue with the appearance of vice" sentiment speaks to me.
@Molly08 definitely remember those. The cereal I miss (which no one seems to remember) is Pop Tarts Cereal! They were little rectangles and came in 2 flavors - strawberry and brown sugar cinnamon. If you took a bite of one you could see they even colored the center of the puff pink or brown to mimic a pop tart. Granted I was 9 years old but I remember them being the best cereal in the world after...+READ
@Molly08 definitely remember those. The cereal I miss (which no one seems to remember) is Pop Tarts Cereal! They were little rectangles and came in 2 flavors - strawberry and brown sugar cinnamon. If you took a bite of one you could see they even colored the center of the puff pink or brown to mimic a pop tart. Granted I was 9 years old but I remember them being the best cereal in the world after Peanut Butter Crunch.-COLLAPSE
Does anyone remember Chocolate Oreos cereal? Now those were wonderfully good. Chocolate all the way through. No powdery dusting; they were tops for snacks. How I wish they'd bring them back!
Shouldn't that be 'cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs'?
Now you got me all hungry for Cocoa Puffs.
"completely reliable yet fun to be around—the Jerry Orbach of the cereal world." I have never seen a more beautifully eloquent way to frame Cheerios. Being said, these look nice, but, I'm just not a chocolate cereal fan.
Thanks for the link. I'm not likely to purchase chocolate flavored breakfast cereal unless I'm making no bake treats in which case 9g sugar from the cereal is the least of my worries. :)
You're right-- that isn't too bad. I was looking at the back of the chocolate ones, which looks like this:
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/general-mills/chocolate-cheerios/
It looks like they decreased the serving size on the chocolate variety to make it look like they aren't high sugar-- and even if you account for that, it looks like there's proportionally less...+READ
You're right-- that isn't too bad. I was looking at the back of the chocolate ones, which looks like this:
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/general-mills/chocolate-cheerios/
It looks like they decreased the serving size on the chocolate variety to make it look like they aren't high sugar-- and even if you account for that, it looks like there's proportionally less fiber and protein.-COLLAPSE
@jvanderh I can see Chocolate Cheerios not being healthy but regular doesn't have protein or fibre? Not according to the label: 1g sugar, 4g protein & 3g fibre per serving... a lot better than the average cereal imho. http://www.cheerios.ca/en/nutrition.aspx
That's a pretty good review for a not-so-hot title. So what if they're not groundbreaking, they're awesome! I've bought them every week since they came out. You can't beat them for a low sugar, tasty breakfast. Granted, the Multi-Grain Cheerios are a bit healthier with more fiber and protein, but Chocolate Cheerios are far better than all the other chocolate cereals loaded with double-digit grams...+READ
That's a pretty good review for a not-so-hot title. So what if they're not groundbreaking, they're awesome! I've bought them every week since they came out. You can't beat them for a low sugar, tasty breakfast. Granted, the Multi-Grain Cheerios are a bit healthier with more fiber and protein, but Chocolate Cheerios are far better than all the other chocolate cereals loaded with double-digit grams of sugar per serving (and everyone knows no one eats just one tiny 1/2 cup serving of cereal for breakfast).
p.s. Chocolate Cheerios DO turn the milk chocolatey. Half of them are corn-colored with chocolate powder, and half of them are a darker wheat/brown color with chocolate powder, so when your milk turns chocolatey, you have two-toned cereal. I'm sure that's loads of fun for kids, and kids at heart.-COLLAPSE
I think chocolate cheerios are delicious, however, I don't really understand why Cheerios get touted as being healthy. They have almost no fiber or protein.
These were much better than I expected. Although they don't often make it to a bowl of milk, since I've been snacking on them.
Five paragraphs of review, yet only a sentence and a half about the flavor. In fact the first three paragraphs are not a review at all, but brief rundown on the history of Cheerios and chocolate. Who cares? It's a food review - tell me how the darn things taste.
That's too bad they don't turn the milk into chocolate milk, I always thought of that as a two-fer with Cocoa Pebbles. Getting a bowl of cereal and a glass of chocolate milk was always a big selling point.