So You Don't Have To

It's time for another post in the long-running series where I eat what looks appealing and report on it, advising you if it's something you'll want to add to your grocery cart or, "Holy, what were they thinking, Batman?", avoid and never look back. 

Today's selection is...

I've seen these around for awhile. I could have sworn I'd tried them and blogged about it, but it appears I have not. 

I'm going to dive right in. These are Oreos, after all, almost a staple of family life. It's peanut butter. Unless you hate pb or can't eat it, what could be wrong with a combination of chocolate cookie and peanut butter. The verdict? Don't waste your money. I was disappointed. 

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's a reconfiguring of the formula to make the cookie, but I found the chocolate cookie portion of this bag to be bland. Maybe it's selective memory and I'm remembering a time when chocolate flavor was important. It just seemed as if I was eating chocolate-infused cardboard, which an emphasis on the cardboard. The cookies were hard and overly crunchy. Maybe this bag had been sitting longer than it should have and so the cookie part had grown stale. I'm not sure. I had a tough time getting the "Lift flap" to actually lift. 

And the peanut butter part? Well, I can be blamed for thinking it would be peanut butter in between the chocolate cookie. It is the familiar texture of the white Oreo with a hint of peanut butter flavor. Again, it's just a hint. It was bland and the innards were slightly mealy, almost sandy, in texture. The center crumbled much easier than I think it's supposed to. 

I tried dunking them in milk, which is how you can justify eating a whole row. You're getting your calcium with each cookie. There was no appreciable change to the cookie. The chocolate wafer stayed hard, whereas I remember in the past you had to watch the length of time the cookie was in milk, lest it dissolve. I took them apart and dunked just the cookie. Three minutes on and I still had a crunchy cookie with no sign of softening. When dunked in milk, the peanut butter flavor all but disappeared. It was a wholly unsatisfactory experience. 

There's a berry center Oreo that I have not tried. I liked their lemon center from last summer. I won't eat the mint center as I don't like mint, unless it's wintergreen, so there won't be an appraisal of that version. I'm kind of on the fence about trying the berry flavor. I should but I have concerns there's been a change with the cookie. I think that's kind of why one buys Oreos; the cookie texture and flavor can make or break them. I'm remembering the chocolate wafer cookies Nabisco used to make. I'd buy them and crumble them to use for cheesecake crusts. If I really wanted a chocolate peanut butter cookie, I could find a package of those and get a jar of peanut butter. I'd have way more of each flavor than is contained in this mash-up. Keep your money. They aren't worth it. 

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast Tea

Deb