Lucky Charms is one of the greatest cereals of all time, but no one would ever describe a dish primarily made with processed sugar and dried marshmallow as a gourmet dining option. One ambitious chef set out to change that, though, by elevating the beloved morning staple to an even higher level of quality by using fresh ingredients and top-notch cooking techniques. Unfortunately it turns out that might not be possible, because merely recreating Lucky Charms is an overwhelming task, let alone creating a fancier, higher quality version…but not for the reason you might think.

Claire Saffitz at Bon Appétit, who has previously succeeded at making gourmet versions of popular snack foods like Skittles and high-end Kit Kats, set out to make a bowl of Lucky Charms using better ingredients and her impressive cooking skills. Then she did it again–and again–and again, because while her own take on the best part of the cereal, the marshmallows, was a huge success, even though you would guess they’d be the much harder aspect to make, the regular oat pieces became a near Sisyphean task of frustration.

Those marshmallows look amazing and we would very much like to order 500 pounds of them. The toasted oat portion….not so much.

While impressive, this technically isn’t a gourmet version of Lucky Charms in the end, because Lucky Charms is a type of cereal, and if you can’t put milk on your cereal, what you actually have is trail mix. Though we are not opposed to eating some top notch trail mix, especially with marshmallows in it. So what did we learn here, besides some new cooking skills? Lucky Charms will likely never be a fancy food item, but that doesn’t mean it’s not already perfect.

What other comfort food would you like to see her attempt to spruce up next? Take a bite out of our comments section below with your tastiest idea.

Featured Image: Bon Appétit

Food, glorious food!

• • Rick and Morty apple pie, ah jeez.
  • Layered bologna cake is deceptive to the eye, but not the stomach.
  • Does your pizza glitter?