Twinkies get a cereal makeover

Post Hostess Twinkies Cereal is coming soon to a cereal bowl near you. | Post Consumer Brands

For 90 years, Twinkies fans have enjoyed their favorite snack as an individually wrapped cream-filed sponge cake, often accompanied by a tall glass of milk.

Now you can have your “cake” and milk in a bowl with the impending arrival of Twinkies Cereal.

Post Consumer Brands and Hostess Brands have joined forces for the cereal, which replicates the familiar oblong shape, golden color and sweet taste of the snack cake all in a miniature, crunchy, bite-sized portion. The cereal will be on grocery store shelves starting in late December. A one-cup serving will set you back 180 calories.

”In developing a cereal version of the iconic Twinkies, our top priority was focused on delivering the great Twinkies flavor in each bite,” said Josh Jans, Post’s brand manager of cereal, via statement. “We think fans will find that it not only tastes great with milk but also outside the bowl.”

This is the latest chapter in the history of Twinkies, which made their debut during the Great Depression after their invention in Schiller Park by a baker at the now-defunct Continental Baking Company (later a Hostess Brands company). In 2012 loyal consumers were horrified (and spent frenzied hours stocking up on boxes of Twinkies) when Hostess announced production of the snack cake would end after the company declared bankruptcy. Following the company’s restructuring and acquisitions by other manufacturers (not to mention much outrage from consumers), Twinkies returned to store shelves a year later.

Post and Hostess previously collaborated on other snacks-turned-cereals with the release of Post Hostess Honey Bun and Post Hostess Donettes cereals in January.