As the parent of two young children, Cheerios are a staple at our house. Which kind of sucks because Cheerios are pretty bland and boring. It is, however, a healthy cereal and a nice finger food for my one year old. We have eaten many of the other offerings from Cheerios: Apple Cinnamon (good), Multi Grain (boring), Fruity (better than Fruity Pebbles, but high in sugar) and Frosted (pointless). So I was quite hopeful when a couple months ago I found Chocolate Cheerios on the shelf at my local food chopper.
Choco-Cheerios
Thus begins a new feature on Epic Portions: Epic Product Reviews. Today I delve into the world of Choco-Cheerios, as my son calls them.
The first thing I did when I found the aforementioned Choco-Cheerios was check the nutritional information. What I found left me pleasantly surprised, Chocolate Cheerios come out pretty favorably. Much lower in sugar than Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Pebbles, almost as good as regular Cheerios. Which makes sense, and thank you to the good people at General Mills for doing what is obvious: Just add some cocoa powder to your regular Cheerios recipe and you can add flavor without creating something equivalent to Sugar Frosted Chocolate Bombs.
Good for Spaceman Spiff, but not my kids
As for flavor, Choco-Cheerios are pretty solid. If you are looking for an overdose of chocolate flavor in the morning, you may want to stick with Cocoa Puffs. The chocolate in Choco-Cheerios is somewhat subtle, which is probably what allows it to remain relatively good for you. And while it does leave a nice chocolate milk mixture behind, it is not as rich as Cocoa Puffs. Kind of a shame, because one of the joys of eating Cocoa Puffs is the delicious soup of chocolate milk left at the bottom of the bowl.
Overall, I have to give Chocolate Cheerios a big thumbs up, we have a hard time keeping it around at my house as my wife also loves it. Good flavor, and a relatively healthy selection. Want to up the healthy quotient? Try this tip:
First, acquire a large Tupperware container not unlike the one Sarah Marshall purchased for Peter in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Then, purchase a box of Chocolate Cheerios and a box of regular Cheerios. Pour the entire contents of both boxes into the Tupperware container. Mix well, pour into your favorite cereal bowl and enjoy. Now that is eating healthy, Epic Portions style.