Cookie Crisp Cereal. Are They Really Cookies?

Everyone remembers Cookie Crisp cereal. Coooookie Crisp!  Cookies for breakfast is the best thing that could ever happen to a kid.

Cookies crisp is a cereal that is shaped to look and taste like chocolate chip cookies. With milk, it becomes even more delicious as cookies and milk go together just as well as cereal and milk.

Breakfast is supposed to be full of grains, vitamins, and minerals. It’s supposed to be the most important meal of the day. “Kids” cereal already had a nasty reputation of not being the healthiest choice, so why not double down? 

But the question remains unanswered, was Cookie Crisp cereal made with real cookies?

Yes. Cookie Crisp cereal is made out of actual cookies. They are small bite-sized cookies that have been repurposed as cereal.

There may be some of you who would disagree, so I am going to break down a few things in hopes that I can convince you.

Let’s Define Cereal

This one is a little tricky. It technically has 3 definitions that all kind of work together. 

• Any plant from the grass family that yields grain.
• The grain that is yielded.
• The edible preparation of said grain. Generally eaten for breakfast.

So we will define it as, a grain that has been harvested from a grass plant and has been prepared for breakfast consumption.

We all know what cereal is, and for the most part, it is more than just grains. We are going to take that definition as the base, and consider the word “prepared” to cover things like adding other ingredients, flavors, and colors.

Let’s Define A Cookie

Depending on where you look definitions will vary. But when I piece them all together, this is the best one I can come up with. A small, flat, sweet food, usually made with flour and sugar.

I say usually flour because in today’s market, there are so many substitutes, but traditionally flour was almost always used.

So Where do Cookie Crisp Land In All This?

Well, the short answer is Cookie Crisp is both a cookie and a cereal. It does meet all the criteria of both. Cookie Crisp is cereal designed to look like cookies, or cookies designed to look like cereal, you really can look at it either way.

It does fit the definition of both, but the real aha moment comes when you flip over the box and look at the ingredients. I’m no chef, but I’m pretty sure if I took these raw ingredients, mixed them up, and put them in the oven, I’d have a cookie.

The only thing possible defense I see against my argument is the lack of wet ingredients. There are no eggs or milk-like we might see in a typical cookie recipe. However, when we look back at the definition of a cookie, we see this is not needed.

But given that loose definition of a cookie, a lot of cereal might be considered a “cookie”. Small flat and sweet, made with flour and sugar. It sounds like most kids’ cereal to me. And we are all guilty of grabbing a hand full of cereal right out of the bag and eating it pretty much the same way we would a cookie. 

Can You Still Buy Cookie Crisp Cereal?

Yes. Cookie Crisp cereal is still available in stores everywhere.

Can’t find any near you? Hop on over to Amazon to get some!

Conclusion

It is not the healthiest breakfast, but it’s no worse than any of the sugar-filled competitors. It has the grains, vitamins, and nutrients you find in other cereals. Cookie Crisp is cereal and it is cookies.

Different Cookie Crisp Flavors

During my research, I was surprised to find that there have only been 5 different varieties of the cereal produced.

• The Original. The classic chocolate chip flavor was created by Ralston Purina in 1977. The original recipe was changed by General Mills in 1997 when they bought the trademark.
• Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp, was the first variation released in 2007. It was chocolate chips in a chocolate cookie.
• Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp which has a peanut butter flavor. While not as popular as double chocolate it filled the void for those who love peanut butter cookies
• Cookie Crisp Sprinkles were just that. Vanilla cookies with sprinkles on them. There were even a few sub-variations of this flavor including “Christmas/Holiday Sprinkles” and “Birthday Cake”.
• Cookie Crisp Brownie was the last attempt at a new flavor. Release in 2013 in the UK this variation taste like brownies. Mmmm…