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Boy, oh boy, do I have a lot to say about today’s cereal.

Sprinkles Cookie Crisp is a corn-based General Mills product. It is similar to original Cookie Crisp in the shape of each disc of cereal, but it has colorful sprinkles on top instead of having chocolate chips embedded into the cookie.

According to the box, Sprinkles Cookie Crunch is supposed to taste like vanilla cookies and milk. First bite tasted like Cap’n Crunch without ripping up the roof of my mouth, but the sog factor bite tasted like a glob of corn puff in my mouth. It was not pleasant at all. The milk did not absorb any good flavor from the cereal. Vanilla cookies was the farthest thing from my mind for either bite. I wonder if they know that vanilla cookies are flour-based, and that corn-based products can never taste the same. (That might have been sarcasm.)

Sprinkles Cookie Crisp is definitely for kids or adults who live like kids. It’s very colorful. The box itself is also a very colorful dither of pink tones on the front and includes Sprinkletown Fun, a maze for kids to follow from their home to the big bowl of Sprinkles Cookie Crisp at the finish. Also there are a few bonus games based on the maze design.

Hint for the kiddos who can’t figure out the answer to the secret word: It’s on the bottom of the box.

General Mills refers to Grow Up Strong With Big G Kid Cereals on the side of the box, and has the Whole Grain Guaranteed checkmark listed. There is a lot of corn in this product so it will help you grow, but there are a lot of other whole grains that are better for growing bodies and none of those other whole grains are included in this product.

Nutrition facts at a glance:

Check out that ingredients list. It’s sugar and corn! That’s crazy. This product is naturally gluten free because it is corn based and does not contain wheat or other wheat-based products.

I am offended that Sprinkles Cookie Crisp states “Whole Grain & Calcium Guaranteed” on the front of its box because we all understand this implies there is a decent amount of both in a serving, when in fact there is only 10% of Calcium per 3/4 cup serving of the cereal. Most processed cereals can claim that much calcium, so let’s quit with the tricks to get moms and dads to pick this cereal from the shelf when kids see the pretty box with pretty sprinkle cookies and a wolf with a cute purple nose and pick it up to appease the kid.

I think it’s pretty clear that I am very disappointed with General Mills and with Sprinkles Cookie Crisp. Can’t win ‘em all, sixth largest food company in the world!

Taste: Like Cap’n Crunch before the sog, like a big glob of corn after
Box opening: Easy
Bag rippage: None
Bag slippage: If I’d poured any longer I would have had to eat through the bag
Sog factor: Stays crunchy
Allergy alert: No allergens listed

Cereal Wednesday Bowls:

For more information about Sprinkles Cookie Crisp contact General Mills .

For more information about Big G Kid Cereals visit Grow Up Strong.

For more information about Whole Grain Guaranteed visit Whole Grain Nation.

Cookie Crisp was originally created by Ralston-Purina in the early 1970′s and used a wizard known as Cookie Jarvis as their mascot. Cookie Jarvis had a magic wand that with one wave, and a rhyming incantation, would turn cereal bowls into cookie jars for breakfast. In 1980 they introduced the Cookie Crook shortly followed by Officer Crumb (also known as the Cookie Cop) in 1983 to phase Cookie Jarvis out of the advertising. With the move though, they went from complete animation to a mix of animation and live action marketing.

After mergers and acquisitions at Ralston-Purina, they sold their branded cereals including the Chex line and Cookie Crisp to General Mills in 1994. General Mills introduced a new character to the marketing, an overweight dog dressed similarily to the Cookie Crook known as Chip. Chip was the enigmatic sidekick of the Cookie Crook in his continued attempts to get Cookie Crisp cereal.

Chip took over as the mascot for Cookie Crisp in 1997. Instead of continuing on the path of cookie crime, he lost his mask and went around offering the cereal to children. In 2003 Chip received a complete and radical makeover. He changed from Chip the dog to Chip the wolf, and returned to his once criminal ways and makes attempts to get Cookie Crisp from children. Sadly, it also appears that with Chip the wolf there are no more live action commercials.

Cereal Wednesday Bowls:

For more information you can visit the General Mills: Big G Cereals webpage.