CinnaGraham Toast Crunch

Product circa: 2026

Obviously a combination between Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Golden Graham cereals, this seems to have great promise.

Maybe I haven't had these sorts of cereals in a while, but this tastes way too... healthy.  "Earthy" and even "woody" are the descriptors I'm getting here.  The cereal uses whole wheat and corn as its primary grain, but the mouth feels it more like whole wheat and oat bran.  I'm getting an overall very fibrous experience, like the product is ultra-high fiber (it's not) and like it could use some processed/bleached wheat to give it a bit more soft body.  It could be a lot sweeter too.  Even the cinnamon feels over-toasted and woody.  Maybe all this earthiness is from the adding of the graham cracker-like cereal, but I'm just getting earth, cinnamon, and not much else.  It's more hardy than hearty.  It's not unlike cinnamon mulch.  It's not horrible, but I think all of this is the result of cereal brands continuing to maximize nutritional value and fiber over sugar.  I'd rather have either of its constituent cereals, I think.

Twix Snickerdoodle

 

This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom. 

Product circa: 2026

I'll keep it short.  This is a regular Twix bar with some cinnamon flavoring added to it.  It's the same type of cinnamon added to "apple cinnamon" flavored food products.  And... it doesn't pair well, here.  This is a miss. 

Snickers Cinnamon Bun

Product circa: 2021

Fun fact: when it comes to cinnamon buns, the distinct taste we know and love is arguably more about vanilla than actual cinnamon.

Well, Snickers took that tack here.  The only change to this product is that the nougat is more heavily flavored with vanilla, with only the slightest bit of cinnamon flavor.  If you ate this without a wrapper, you might have a hard time knowing it’s not an original Snickers.

Kit Kat Churro

 

Product circa: 2023

Honestly, this tastes exactly as expected.  A white chocolate Kit Kat with a heavy dose of cinnamon added to it, and also vanilla.  Vanilla and cinnamon seem to be a cheat code to make things taste delicious.  These are utterly fantastic.

Kit-Kat Ghost Toast

 

Product circa: Halloween 2024

Nice use of an arbitrary rhyme to make this arbitrary snack themed for Halloween.

The white chocolate coating has been colored an alarmingly bright shade of orange.  This tastes like if the Cinnamon Crunch Toast cereal were made into a candy bar - and it's absolutely delicious.  A great combination, perfectly balanced with sweetness and texture.  A home run!

Coca-Cola Spiced

 Product circa: Spring 2024

An odd variation at a seemingly arbitrary time, this purports to be raspberry spiced Coke.  After drinking a fair bit of this stuff, my take is that it tastes mainly of raspberry, with perhaps the smallest bit of cinnamon, and the rest is almost like a pleasant black pepper.  Almost like Coke and Dr. Pepper had a child.  There's a lot of polarizing talk about this product on the internet, but I enjoyed it.

Pepsi Fire

 

Product circa: 2017

A lightly cinnamony Pepsi with some spice that will catch you in the throat.  Very good!  But it doesn't compare to Cinnamon Coca-Cola or (THROWBACK) Pepsi Holiday Spice.

Hot & Spicy Cinnamon Oreo

Product circa: Valentine's Day 2018

Nabisco, you monster!

Oreo has done it again, creating a variety of cookies that, when read about online, make you check the URL to make sure you're not on TheOnion.com.  If the junk food market segment were motorsports, Oreo would be the king of drifting, constantly skirting the line between traction and complete disaster.

This time they've seemed to use the common theme of the color red to create a Valentine's Day treat using a chocolate cookie and creme flavored like Red Hots.  You can't make this stuff up.

How is it?  Freaking delicious.  A step-cousin of the Cinnamon Bun Oreo, this guy sports a chocolate cookie over vanilla, and a candy cinnamon flavor instead of the stuff you might find in a pie.  With a combination that sounds awful on paper, it works.  It's hard to explain or describe.  The creme is warming (only barely spicy) and strongly flavored, but the chocolate cookie takes your mind off of it so that it's not overwhelming.


Hot & Spicy Cinnamon Oreo:- Great

Original Oreo(for comparison):- Great

Pop-Tarts Frosted Cinnamon Roll

Product circa: Early 2016

Another cinnamon bun varietal, this time from Pop-Tarts.

Despite that these are Frosted® Pop-Tarts, the frosted is a slight drizzle, and not covering the whole pastry, which as you'll see, is always good in my book.

The initial bite gives you an experience similar to Pop-Tarts Brown Sugar Cinnamon (one of my go-to's).  Coming through more than the cinnamon is brown sugar and vanilla, which shouldn't be unexpected for a cinnamon bun-flavored item.  It's not too distinguishable from the Brown Sugar Cinnamon variety when eaten cold.

When heated, however, every flavor is elevated.  Best of all, the heat makes the exposed pastry take on a doughy, almost yeasty flavor that really hits the spot.


Pop-Tarts Frosted Cinnamon Roll:- Outstanding
Original Pop-Tarts Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon(for comparison):- Great

Cinnamon Bun Oreo

Product circa: early 2016

This is one of the few Oreo products where the cookie is flavored along with the creme.  The otherwise-vanilla cookie has flecks of cinnamon in it that are so big that they add a chewiness to the bite.  The vanilla creme, when tasted alone, has the slightest bit of cinnamon flavoring as well.  This double hit of vanilla-cinnamon makes for a complex taste, not to mention delicious.


Cinnamon Bun Oreo:- Outstanding

Original Golden Oreo(for comparison):- Great

Thomas' Cinnamon Vanilla English Muffins

In our house we blow through Thomas' low-calorie English muffins, so it isn't often that their seasonal varieties evade my eye in the store.  In fact, Thomas' has had quite a few ephemeral muffins recently that I've failed to review here, due to laziness.  Hopefully they'll be back next winter so I can nab'em.

Here's a food industry secret: you know that smell that surrounds every Cinnabon or Auntie Annie's that you've ever passed?  It's almost always a combination of cinnamon and vanilla.  You'll realize that as you reach for this package in the store or walk by the stuff in your own  house.  The smell is powerful, and it has a large radius of influence.

How does it taste?  Not as good as it smells.  However you prepare them, these muffins will mostly convey cinnamon, but not vanilla.  The cinnamon is strong and earthy, but the vanilla is faint and subdued.  As you take a bite, your nose will pick it up more vanilla than while chewing, because of its aromatic volatility.

In the end, it's really good, but I'm not sure it's better than any other permanent cinnamon muffin from Thomas'.


Thomas' Cinnamon Vanilla English muffins:- Good
Original Thomas' English muffins(for comparison):- Good

Skinny Cow Snickerdoodle Sandwich

I don't often delve into "health foods" or anything with reduced calories specifically for pleasure.  However, the lady of the house is a big fan of Skinny Cow products, which are a slightly healthier option for those who enjoy frozen desserts.  As someone whose vices lie more toward chips and corn snacks, I am not a dessert lover.  However, I find myself constantly impressed with Skinny Cow.

Skinny Cow offers tons of different desserts in tons of flavors, but occasionally they'll issue some ephemeral ones as well.  This time they have a Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich which I'm unable to ignore.

The experience begins in a fashion that's unlike actual snickerdoodles: the teeth sink into the two soft oatmeal cookies which have a deep flavor base of molasses.  Later detectable are brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon.  The ice cream is a simple and very enjoyable vanilla.

But in this case, the snack's "healthy" status is what elevates it.  Because Skinny Cow seeks to use less fat in their ice cream, they employ a more clever use of food gums to increase the cream's viscosity and improve the texture.  The result is a cream that's almost chewy, and it's really a joy to pull away each bite.

Between the ice cream's texture and the cookie's flavor, this snack belongs in the order of its full-fat brethren.  If Skinny Cow actually advertised these as ice cream oatmeal creme pies, which is what they really are, they'd be in 4-NOM territory.


Skinny Cow Snickerdoodle Sandwich:- Great

Ice Age Continental Drift Cinnamon Cereal

The first of several summer-related posts in a row!

A one-off limited time cereal?  Alrighty then.

This stuff was created to commemorate the film Ice Age: Continental Drift released this summer.

When the box opens, a cinnamon aroma quickly wafts to your nose and you soon realize you'll be comparing this product to Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

When dry, the cereal's ultra-crunchy corn-puff construction could be compared to Cap'n Crunch cereal, except that it's even more crunchy, and indeed it has that notorious ability to shred the roof of one's mouth.  However, once it's sat in milk for a bit, the outer crunchiness gives way to a lovely chewiness which I don't think I've quite experienced in any other cereal.

The flavor is as interesting as the texture.  While one may expect a run-of-the-mill cinnamon cereal, what one gets instead is a formula which is conservative on sugar and heavy on cinnamon.  The lack of overbearing sweetness makes one pay attention to the actual flavor of the cereal, which is so heavy on cinnamon that it's downright earthy.  The palate is left with a dry, woody aftertaste.

This cinnamon cereal is elevated into something more sophisticated than its peers.  It's like comparing a Single Malt Scotch to Jack Daniels.  It's almost into 4-NOM territory.


Ice Age Continental Drift Cinnamon Cereal: - Great