Tony the Tiger must have stumbled into an ice cream parlor and liked it so much he decided to stay a while. A few years ago, Frosted Flakes came out with Strawberry Milkshake and Chocolate Milkshake varieties, and it appears they were successful enough for Kellogg’s to decide to pick up the ice cream scoop again and return to the blender because now we have Cookies & Crème Milkshake Frosted Flakes.

Cookies and crème sounds like a delicious milkshake flavor, but I can’t help but look at this box and worry that perhaps Frosted Flakes is not the correct vehicle to carry this concept. The art is pretty bland, featuring a bowl of cereal that looks like a semi-truck ran over a bunch of extra pale Cookie Crisp, and Tony was around to scrape up the aftermath.

Opening the bag, I was hit with a scent that was artificial and mildly off-putting. It smells sweet, but not in a way that makes me excited to dive in. I poured a bowl and was not surprised when it looked exactly as pictured.

This is not a visually appealing cereal; the smattering of tiny chocolate specks is unflattering at best and, at worst, could make a person worry there are bugs in their breakfast. I tried a few flakes dry before pouring on the milk, and at every step in this process, I found myself thinking, “I wish these were regular Frosted Flakes.” There just isn’t enough here to set this apart from a generic flake cereal. If you’re going for a “cookies and crème” profile, why be so stingy with the cookie portion? These dots that represent the cookie element are smaller than crumbs and don’t have a noticeable chocolate flavor. There’s also nothing here that suggests the creamy portion of a cookie or the ice cream in a milkshake.

It seems like Kellogg’s thinks that adding milk is enough to push this into milkshake flavor territory, but I’m here to confirm that it isn’t. Maybe that worked better with the stronger chocolate and strawberry iterations, but it doesn’t cut it here. Once you have poured milk on these (Congratulations! You made a milkshake!), they almost seem to get soggy faster than regular Frosted Flakes, and once you’ve eaten the cereal portion, the milk it leaves behind is equally disappointing. Some of the supposedly chocolate bits retain their shape and sit at the bottom, but again, they impart very little in terms of flavor and are mostly just sediment in the pool that is your sad milkshake.

At the price of around seven dollars a box, I can’t recommend this cereal. I’m sure it will have its fans, but for me, it’s lacking all around. Maybe the addition of more chocolate or a creamier coating on the flakes could have made it more true to its namesake, but as it stands, I think it’s time Tony turns to another dessert for inspiration cause the shake concept might have run its course.

Purchased Price: $6.99
Size: 12.1 oz box
Purchased at: Jewel
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup) 140 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 170 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of total carbs, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 13 grams of total sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

What is it?

It’s Frosted Flakes with powdered milk in a single-serve bowl. All you need to do is add a bit of cold water, and magically you have milk in your cereal! Now that we have sodas and jelly beans with all the flavors of a Thanksgiving meal, this doesn’t seem so futuristic, but it’s a good option when fresh milk is not available.

It’s also available with Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, and Raisin Bran Crunch.

How is it?

Well, it’s a little unnerving to pour water on cereal, and the stirring process needs to be done with some caution as to not crush too many flakes. But in the end, it basically tastes like Frosted Flakes with milk, which I guess is the idea.

There are a few caveats though. First, there’s an odd odor to this after peeling off the top, but I couldn’t quite place it. The best I can do is to say it smelled like a cleaning product, which is not what I’m looking for in a breakfast cereal. Perhaps it was just from the packaging, or maybe powdered milk has a unique aroma. (I have no idea what powered milk smells like on its own, and I didn’t have any on hand to test it).

The milk tasted a bit sweeter than I expected, but that might have been because I let the water sit in the sugar-coated flakes a little too long while I was taking the spectacular photos you see with this review.

I was also surprised that the flakes got soggy within a few minutes, which again could be partly blamed on the photoshoot. But don’t dawdle when you eat this unless you like mushy flakes.

Anything else you need to know?

Do not try eating cereal with only water. Trust me. One of my not-so-proud parenting moments happened when my daughter, a cereal-eating fanatic, was about four years old. One morning, we were completely of milk, likely due to poor planning on my part. Now this was a child whose morning routine was not to be trifled with, so my bold idea that she eat the cereal dry was voted down. Instead, she suggested using water instead of milk. Not wanting to stifle her out-of-the-box thinking, I gave her plan a thumbs up and even assured her it would taste fine, despite knowing it was not likely to end well. And it didn’t. She gagged on the watery cereal in a dramatic way that only a little kid can do, and that day I think she started to think her dad was not quite as smart as she previously thought.

Conclusion:

If you have milk (that’s not expired) sitting in your refrigerator or if you can borrow steal some from the community fridge at work, then obviously that’s a better option. But if your morning is not complete without milk in your cereal and you only have access to water, then this will get the job done for you.

Purchased Price: $1.98
Size: One bowl (1.6 oz)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 190 calories, 4 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 16 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Update: We also tried the Cinnamon French Toast version! Click here to read our review.

Unlike breakfast staple brethren Cheerios — which seems to infuse itself with five or six new flavors each year (fingers crossed that “Bubble Gum” is somewhere on its to-do list!) — Frosted Flakes tends to keep to itself. Oh sure, it’s not immune to jazzing things up from time to time — who could forget Birthday Confetti Frosted Flakes in 1997? — but for the most part, they’re content just being sugared up Corn Flakes.

And this is a bit surprising, really, given that a plain, nondescript cereal such as the Frosted Flake is a choice vehicle for experimentation. I mean, why can’t I get a Tropical Mango, Apple Cinnamon, or Blastin’ Berry variety? Because those all sound terrible, you say? Okay, sure. But can I interest you in a Strawberry Milkshake Frosted Flakes? Because Kellogg’s is actually doing that one.

The Kellogg’s website says, “with ripe, juicy strawberry flavor coupled with rich, creamy notes, this cereal turns the milk in your bowl a fun, vibrant pink!” There is a lot wrong with these bold assertions, so I’d like to take this opportunity to address some of the errors.

First of all, these flakes do not possess a “ripe, juicy” strawberry flavor. Sure, they have a strawberry flavor, but it is a passive and light one, maybe the level of a diluted pink Starburst. Like, 30% of a pink Starburst, I’d say.

Second, there are no “rich, creamy notes.” Nothing about this cereal made me think “rich” or “creamy.” And really, I feel like that was the biggest missed opportunity with this offering. Because it is a strawberry MILKSHAKE flavor, and not just strawberry, I was hoping for something reminiscent of a milkshake taste. Some creaminess or even some maltiness might’ve evoked the right emotion. Instead, I was left with some standalone artificial strawberry flavoring on your everyday F. Flakes.

And finally, they say, “this cereal turns the milk in your bowl a fun, vibrant pink!” Okay, now “fun” is subjective, obviously, but this cereal did turn my milk pink. Would I call it a vibrant pink? No. It wasn’t as vibrant as calamine lotion or Pepto-Bismol. But sure, it was pink. The box proclaims “makes delicious STRAWBERRY flavored milk!” making this claim one of the key selling points. And on this account, I’d say yes, mission accomplished. Though it’s been a while since I’ve intentionally had strawberry milk, the light pink leftover milk is definitely similar to what I recall. Does it make me feel like I’m drinking a melted strawberry milkshake, maybe? Well, still no.

Getting a cereal to taste like a milkshake is a pretty tall order, and Kellogg’s didn’t do it with this offering. It did, however, make an okay strawberry-flavored cereal.

Purchased Price: $4.29
Size: 23 oz box (“Family Size”)
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup – cereal only) 140 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 190 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.