What are Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms Soft Baked Bars?
They feature the flavors of General Mills’ most popular cereals, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms (sorry, Raisin Nut Bran), but in soft baked bar form. The CTC one features a cinnamon swirl, while the Lucky Charms one is a marshmallow chip blondie.
How are they?
How I feel about the Cinnamon Toast Crunch bars can be explained by looking at the anthropomorphic cereal piece on the box. No, not the one sticking out its tongue, which would make it seem like I think they’re gross. I’m talking about the one with a smile on its face. Although, my face is less euphoric.
The cinnamon swirl is more like cinnamon sections planted generously throughout the bar. They have a mild, sweet flavor and a streusel-like crunch. Oh, and if you were wondering, the icing doesn’t taste like milk. But even though there’s a pleasant flavor and a bit of a crunch, the bars don’t remind me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Don’t get me wrong, they have a nice flavor, but they also taste like other pastries that use the warm spice.
As for the Lucky Charms version, its flavor tastes like the cereal’s marshmallows because there are actual Lucky Charms marbits baked into them.
Unfortunately, because they’re baked, the shaped marbits’ have melted into color blobs, and their usual crunchy texture has turned into something much softer. I mean, they’re not soggy as if they were sitting in milk for half an hour, but they’re soft enough that they end up being the same texture as the cake that surrounds them. Thankfully, there’s no oat cereal flavor.
According to the ingredients, the bars also contain confectionary chips, but they’re soft and unrecognizable like the marshmallows.
Anything else you need to know?
I can’t get the image of Fiber One bars out of my head when I look at these because they have the same shape and icing pattern as Fiber One Brownies and Soft-Baked Bars. Of course, the similarities make sense since they’re also made by General Mills.
If you’re wondering, these don’t contain much fiber. But maybe there’s a Big G Cereals and Fiber One mashup in our fiber futures.
Conclusion:
Both Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms Soft Baked Bars are pleasant treats that I’d eat again. But I wish the CTC variety reminded me of the cereal as much as the Lucky Charms one did. And I wish the Lucky Charms bars had a bit of crunch like the CTC bars did.
DISCLOSURE: I received free samples of the products. Thanks, General Mills! Doing so did not influence my thoughts about them.
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 4.92 oz box/6 bars
Purchased at: Received from General Mills
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), 7 out of 10 (Lucky Charms)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) Cinnamon Toast Crunch – 90 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein. Lucky Charms – 100 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein.
I always wonder WTF companies are thinking when they release such f’ing stupid products like this. If I want to eat cereal on the go, I’ll buy normal cereal bars, or just put some cereal in a ziploc bag.
The Lucky Charm ones are nasty.