Jamelle Bouie Reviews Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Fillows

When I agreed to do cereal reviews, I told myself I would focus on the most outlandish products I could find. The unusual cereals. The irresponsible cereals.

That may have been a mistake.

I say that because if future cereals are anything like this first one, General Mills' "Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Fillows," I'm not sure I can make it through a few months of reviewing, much less a year or more.

But before I get to the cereal, let me say a little bit about myself.

My day job is at the New York Times, where I'm an Opinion columnist. I cover politics and culture, both informed by a heavy-dose of American history.

More importantly for this column, I'm a longtime eater-of-cereal. As a kid, I ate bowl after bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I (unsuccessfully) begged my parents for cereals like Rice Krispy Treats and Cookie Crisps. As an adult, I still have the occasional bowl of cereal as a treat, or as a dessert. I'm partial to most flavors and I prefer lightly sweetened cereals to the sugary stuff.

Each review in this series will be as comprehensive as I can manage. I'll smell the cereal; I'll try it dry; I'll try it with milk (specifically, oat milk); I'll try it after the cereal has soaked for a short while, to give you a sense of its structure and taste after some time in the bowl. And then I'll give you a final verdict, which will be on a scale of one to five spoons.

Which brings us back to the Fillows.

In theory, a cinnamon-flavored, cream-filled cereal is a great idea. In my head, it tastes like "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" with vanilla frosting. A sugar bomb, yes, but a delicious sugar bomb. A pleasurable sugar bomb.

In reality, Fillows are anything but.

Dry, they're fine. A chalky aftertaste—presumably because of the cream—means they aren't great for extended snacking. I would have a few if they were around. But the true test of a cereal is how it tastes when you add milk, and there, things go awry. With oat milk (and I assume with any other milk), Fillows turn into an unpleasant, sugary paste. Allow the cereal to soak for a few minutes, and it's even worse. I can't imagine finishing a few spoonfuls, much less an entire bowl, and certainly not an entire, "Family Size" box.

I am not opposed to junk cereal. But there's good junk and bad junk. This is bad junk. If you want a cinnamon-flavored indulgence you can enjoy with milk, please, look elsewhere.

Verdict: 1.5 spoons.

The opinions expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Serious Eats staff.