In the near future, non-cereal cereal-flavored foodstuffs will outlive cereals themselves. Our children’s children’s children will ask us, “wait, Cinnamon Toast Crunch wasn’t always a popcorn brand? Fruity Pebbles wasn’t always aquarium gravel? And Count Chocula used to make more than just edible abacuses?” And we will sit them on our laps and tell them tales of a time when you could pour crunchy little things in a bowl and eat them with milk—back before the Froot Loops-scented ICBMs fell and changed everything.
Yes, cereal–snack tie-ins are a never-ending trend, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn—currently still a Sam’s Club exclusive—is only the latest incarnation of innovation and temptation. But is it worthy of the Toast Crunch title? Well let me tell ya…
…YES. In short, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn slaps. It smacks. Heck, it even uppercuts my resting breakfast pace into a contented smile.
My main worry with this stuff is that General Mills would just chuck some Cinnadust on plain popcorn and call it a day. But nope, CTC P-Corn is, in essence, cinnamon caramel corn. Each auburn puff has a thick, caramelized glaze that gives it a satisfying heft—not to mention a golden-browned-buttery flavor that’s only further enriched by a delicate cinnamon-sugar kiss (on a scale of ‘cheek peck from Grandma’ to ‘tongue-kissing so sloppy the French wouldn’t claim it,’ this is a simple, affectionate cinna-smooch).
With its superior integration of tangible cinnamon and caramel, this popcorn is honestly a better Dulce de Leche Toast Crunch than, well, Dulce de Leche Toast Crunch. Though I’d admittedly recommend against trying Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn with milk, as drinking the endmilk is a surefire way to swallow a thorny flume of popcorn hulls. Talk about a real trachea opener!
Overall, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn is an unpretentious delight that I could (and will) snack on for hours. Given that it’s from Sam’s Club, you’re gonna end up with a big bag of it, but I doubt this will last long in my household. Now I just want to see a Chicago Toast Crunch popcorn mix that throws some cheese corn in there.
The Bowl: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Popcorn
The Breakdown: A genuinely great pairing of caramel, cinnamon, and buttery popped corn, everything about CTC Popcorn works harmoniously. It maybe could’ve used a touch of salt to give it deeper dimensionality, but it’s hard for me to complain when my cheeks are stuffed like a stoned squirrel at a campground.
The Bottom Line: 9 quarts of drinkable Golden Grahams motor oil out of 10
Special thanks to reader sheeplube for sending me this popcorn!