Bracha on smacks

Background

The Gemara 37a writes that one who chews (and swallows) wheat kernels makes HaAdama. Magan Avraham 208:2 understands the Rambam (Brachot 3:2) as holding that even if the kernels are still intact but the shell was removed and then it was cooked, one should make a Mezonot. However, Magan Avraham understands that the Talmidei Rabbenu Yonah (Brachot 25b) hold that the kernels must be ground and cooked enough that the kernels could stick together in order to make a Mezonot. [Tosfot (D”H HaKoses) and Rosh (Brachot 6:9) agree that once it’s ground up well by the cooking the Bracha is Mezonot.]

If the shell wasn’t removed

1. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel wasn’t crushed in cooking, everyone agrees that the Bracha is HaAdama. (S”A 208:4, Mishna Brurah 208:3)
2. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel was totally crushed in cooking, the Bracha is mezonot (Mishna Brurah 208:3). An easy example of this is barley in chulent. (Piskei Teshuvot 208:3)
3. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel was slightly crushed in cooking, the Bracha is a safek. (Shaar Tzion 208:18)

If the shell was removed

1. If the shell was removed and the kernel was totally crushing in cooking, the Bracha is mezonot (VeZot Bracha Birur 27 based on Mishna Brurah 208:3).
2. If the shell was removed and the kernel wasn’t crushed in the cooking, the Bracha is a dispute between the Rambam and Talmidei Rabbenu Yonah. (Mishna Brurah 208:15)

Grains that were ground

1. If the grains were cut or ground and then cooked, the Bracha is mezonot (whether it is crushed or not). (Mishna Brurah 208:3)
2. If the grains had the shell and a piece of the kernel removed, the Bracha is mezonot. (Mishna Brurah 208:15; Aruch HaShulchan 208:17, Igrot Moshe 1:68)

If a piece of the kernel was removed

1. VeZot HaBracha (Birur 27) writes that the removal of a small piece of the kernel along with the shell doesn’t change it’s status of a whole kernel that was cooked without the shell which is a doubt in the Mishna Brurah 208:15.
2. Rabbi Moshe HaLevi in Birkat Hashem (vol 2 pg 129) holds that the Bracha is HaAdama just like raw wheat even if it doesn’t have it’s shell, a piece was taken off, and was roasted (since the kernels weren’t cooked). So holds Halacha Brurah 208:16.

Puffed wheat

Those who say puffed wheat is considered raw

1. VeZot HaBracha (pg 103) writes in name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rabbi Elyashiv, and Rabbi Sheinberg that the heating process isn’t considered cooking and so the Bracha is HaAdama just like raw wheat (S”A 208:4).
2. VeZot HaBracha adds that Igrot Moshe would agree based on Sh”t 4:46 that heat alone isn’t considered cooking.
3. Veten Bracha (Halachos of Brochos by Rabbi Bodner pg 527, Addendum five part A), Pitchei Halacha (Rabbi Binyamin Forst, pg 148 note 125), and Piskei Teshuvot 208:8 all agree to the above conclusion.

Those who say puffed wheat is considered cooked

1. Chacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul in Or Letzion (vol 2, 14:21) holds that the Bracha is mezonot as it’s dependant in the dispute in Magan Avraham 208:2 (quoted by Mishna Brurah 208:15) and still one should make the Bracha for the lesser important stage of the kernels i.e. HaAdama.
2. Rabbi Ovadyah Yosef in Chazon Ovadyah (Brachot pg 183) writes that it has the status of something that was cooked with the shell removed which is a dispute in the Magan Avraham 208:2 (quoted by Mishna Brurah 208:15) and rules that one may make a HaAdama in such a case (like the opinions of the Olelot Efraim and Chaye Adam that Shaar Tzion 208:20 quotes).

Those who hold it’s mezonot

1. Sh”t Igrot Moshe 4:44-46 writes that sugar crisps which are cooked and whole kernels have the Bracha of either Mezonot or HaAdama. [Rabbi Dovid Heber of the Star-K writes that for Honey Smacks one may make a mezonot or HaAdama like the Igrot Moshe. (http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-brochosforbreakfast-fall06.htm) The Kof-K holds similarly. (http://www.kof-k.org/articles/040108110437W-25%20Breakfast%20Cereals.pdf)]
2. Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (VeZot HaBracha pg 384) writes that the Bracha is HaAdama unless one crumbles it, puts it in milk or water (especially if the water is hot) in which case the Bracha is Mezonot.
3. Vayamod Pinchas pg 160 quotes Rabbi Elyashiv as retracting from the earlier ruling (as quoted by Vezot HaBracha) that one makes a HaAdama on puffed wheat and after seeing the cooking process he held the Bracha was Mezonot.