All I Want for Christmas Is This Absurdly Expensive Box of Cereal
Christmas is a time for simple pleasures: Warm fires, happy homes, wholesome pasttimes with friends and family—and for some of us this year, $15.50 boxes of the bougiest, most expensive cereal on Earth. You read that right. Christmas Morning Cereal—a product of Dominique Ansel Bakery, the place that brought the world Cronuts, and, indirectly, a slew of horrifyingly named knockoffs, including the Croinut, the Crodough, and the Dough’Ssant—is a tiny box of crunchy foodstuff that costs $15.50, at least three times more than your average box of already expensive flaky things. Get some for the special someone in your life who is already bored with their $85 Nordstrom rock with vegetable-tanned leather carrying case. All I want for Christmas is a gold brick so I can pay for it!
But act quick, because supplies are limited and the stuff is selling faster than you can say, “Really, a $15.50 box of cereal?!” The small-batch treat is already sold out for nationwide shipping, so the only way to get it is to stop by the bakery at 189 Spring Street in Manhattan, where first you’ll presumably have to wait hours in line with hordes of Cronut-desperate tourists.
So, what is this stuff anyway? According to the bakery, it consists of crispy puffed rice coated with caramelized milk chocolate, whole caramelized hazelnuts, and crunchy smoked cinnamon miniature meringues, a.k.a. Mini-Mes. It was first introduced in 2013, and is already “an all-time favorite.” “We like to think of it as a Christmas morning ritual… reinvented!” the bakery claims.
Apparently, it’s pretty good, too. Serious Eats’ Niko Triantafillou said the cereal is “all about grades of satisfying crunch” and sure to satisfy the fan of “sweet, crunchy breakfast cereal” who’s “intrigued by the idea of meringue kisses in your breakfast.” He goes on: “It's clear that a fair amount of cereal-research went into this product. For one thing, the chocolate rice clusters stay crunchy in milk for quite some time. And the Mini-Mes are like marshmallows in Lucky Charms—their edges get slippery but they keep their crunch. Their smoked cinnamon flavor is noticeable when in milk but is much more pronounced when eaten plain. The hazelnuts have a subtle spiciness and also stay crunchy in milk.”
Christmas Morning Cereal is, according to the bakery, “delicious with cold milk for breakfast, sprinkled over vanilla ice cream for dessert, or eaten by the handful.” It also pairs nicely, I imagine, with a $80 cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. For best flavor, eat the cereal with a silver spoon while wearing a silk robe aboard this yacht.
