Gingerbread Oreo and More

2020 started off seeming so promising for Oreo. The beginning of the year saw the introduction of the Caramel Coconut Oreo and the Chocolate Marshmallow Oreo, both good additions to the Oreo lineup. The Most Stuf Oreo came back. There was an Oreo Shamrock McFlurry. Trolls World Tour Oreos were released at the same time as the movie. 

But then the pandemic hit. There was a Tiramisu flavor that I never was able to get my hands on. The Summer Olympics were postponed, too late to stop the production of the triple Stuf USA Oreos. There has been a dearth of new Oreo content since.

But then, like a Christmas miracle, there was a new Gingerbread Oreo that made an appearance in time for the holiday season.

This was an exciting prospect. Gingerbread hasn't necessarily been a family tradition, but I've come to appreciate it in recent years. I've tried to make it to Trader Joe's each year to pick up their gingerbread cookies. 

Gingerbread Oreos are pretty good. The packaging describes them as "gingerbread flavored cookie, creme with crunchy sugar crystals." The cookie has a nice gingerbread flavor, sweet and not overly spicy. I can't say I notice the sugar crystals unless I'm eating the creme by itself, though that doesn't take away from the experience. 

Well done, Oreo. I wished there would have been a peppermint or candy cane flavor this year, but these were also good. Two people I know told me unprompted how much they liked these (and one hoped I had a special "in" that would make these a permanent part of the lineup). Hopefully we'll see these in future years. 

I also saw Oreo candy canes for the very first time this year! I've had friends ask me about these in previous years, but I've never come across them myself before this year. I have to say, the flavor to these is about as close to the chocolate cookie part of an Oreo as you could get, though it tends to get lost. I find these to be a bit unremarkable. But what if you added mint to these? That might make for a more intriguing flavor, a chocolate peppermint candy cane.

I mentioned the Red, White & Blue Oreos that were released for the Olympics. I never wrote about them here, so I'll include them now.

I like the idea of these. In fact, in the Oreo flavor contest from a few years ago, I suggested doing something like this with the different Bomb Pop flavors to the creme. But this is just a Most Stuf Oreo that has a lot of creme compared to the cookie. From the top, the cookies disturbingly remind me of Aquafresh. 

I'm not sure if they'll be making these again for the postponed Olympic games. But I would suggest taking a page from the recent Pride month Oreos and having one color per cookie. That would make each cookie a more reasonable size, and less of an abomination.

Speaking of abominations... I didn't know where else to put this review. But there were actually Sour Path Kids Chips Ahoy cookies in 2020. 

These were about what you'd expect. The cookies didn't have full-sized Sour Patch Kids in them. But they were pieces of gummy sour candy that was a softer texture than Sour Patch Kids tend to be. In a way, it wasn't bad. The gummy candy reminded me somewhat of Jello shots. But I also only had one or two before I was done. 

That brings us to the end of 2020. 2020 was a difficult year in a lot of ways. I'm sure that many of us would love to leave it all behind and forget that any of it happened. But there was still good that came out of 2020. While 2020 had its lows, like Sour Patch Kids Chips Ahoy cookies, there were also bright spots like Gingerbread Oreos. Getting rid of the year entirely would be throwing away the good things, too. 

And there are some bright spots on the 2021 horizon. Oreo has Brookie-O Oreos coming out soon, along with Lady Gaga-inspired Oreos. And who knows what else is to come? While I won't pretend that all of our problems are gone now that the calendar changed over to a new year, there will no doubt be some bright spots that will come our way sooner or later. 

Candy/Snacks 2020 Recap

This blog started out as an Oreo blog, but I quickly realized that if I just stuck to Oreo flavors, I wouldn't have much to write about. There are limited edition flavors of other types of candy and snack foods that catch my eye, and I sometimes feel compelled to buy them. Here's a quick rundown of different things I saw in 2020. 

Skittles Dips were an intriguing concept. They are regular Skittles with a creamy yogurt-flavored coating. I wasn't sure if I'd like them, but I knew I had to try them.

Skittles Dips have a cool look to them. The coating is translucent, so you can tell the flavor of the Skittle underneath the coating. The taste experience is similar to eating a yogurt-covered raisin. The coating has that mellow, sweet flavor, and the Skittle inside has the stronger flavor behind it. In all, it's not a bad flavor combination. 

At the beginning of fall, I took a trip to Wal-Mart and came across Chocolate Popcorn M&M's. This was another flavor combination I found intriguing.

CHOCOLATE POPCORN M&M's ARE AMAZING. M&M's people, you're probably not reading this, but if you are, please consider making these a regular offering in your flavor lineup. I haven't liked all of the M&M's special flavors I've tried. I wasn't a fan of Fudge Brownie, and I've found some of the other flavors too sweet. BUT THESE ARE INCREDIBLE. These are a good mix of sweet and savory, with a crispy M&M center. 

Another M&M offering in the fall was Creepy Cocoa Crisp. I found these on the very same trip to Wal-Mart when I found Chocolate Popcorn.

I wanted to like Cocoa Crisp M&M's. I really did. I actually thought I'd like this and dislike the Chocolate Popcorn M&M's. But I didn't. These were not the cocoa flavor I was expecting. It was almost too much chocolate and not enough. Looking at the packaging right now, I wonder if they were going for a certain cereal they didn't want to license. But this felt like a letdown. 

Another offering for Halloween were Hershey's Vampire Kisses. These were chocolate kisses with a liquid strawberry center.

Vampire Kisses were an interesting idea. However, I didn't love them. It was a similar experience as eating a cherry cordial, or other fine chocolates with more of a liquid than creme coating. But they weren't quite what I was looking for.

M&M's had two special flavors for the Christmas candy season: White Chocolate Peppermint and White Chocolate Sugar Cookie. I believe I've seen Peppermint in the past, though 2020 was a big year for Sugar Cookie-flavored items.

White Chocolate Peppermint M&M's were actually pretty good. I've long been a fan of Chocolate Mint and Holiday Mint M&M's (though I still don't know if those are technically different). This was also pretty good, though a tad too sweet.

On the other hand, White Chocolate Sugar Cookie M&M's were not what I was expecting. While there was the unmistakable sugar cookie flavor to them, I found them to be too sweet and not enjoyable. They would have been better with a more buttery flavor to them. I would recommend not using white chocolate as a base for the flavor, but really go all in on the sugar cookie taste. 

The 2020 Christmas candy season also saw Sugar Cookie-flavored Hershey Kisses. (There were other sugar cookie-flavored things this year but these were all I cared to feature.)

I thought these Sugar Cookie Hershey's Kisses were pretty good. They were white chocolate kisses with pieces of sugar cookie embedded in each. I thought this was pretty successful.

Finally, I was in CVS one day and came across these Taco Bell chips, with flavors matching their mild and fire sauces. I've considered reviewing chips on this blog in the past, such as the Lay's "Do Us A Flavor" varieties, but those were lost to time.

The Mild Taco Bell chips were okay. I tend to use the Hot sauce (RIP Verde), but Mild has a distinct Taco Bell taste to it. The seasoning was a tad too much. But it tasted like I just ate a Taco Bell taco.

The Fire Taco Bell chips were also okay. They don't taste spicy upon first bite, but the heat sneaks up on you. I can't say I'd buy either of these on a regular basis, but for a novelty item they weren't bad.

By the way, I have to give an honorable mention to Ritz Cheese Crispers 4 Cheese and Herb crackers. I don't have them at home right now so I can't take and post pictures, but these were surprisingly good. I recommend. 

2020 brought some snack foods that ranged from great to not so great. However, I'm glad I tried what I did. While flavors come and go with the seasons, 'tis better to have tasted and lost than never to have tasted at all. 

Kit Kat 2020 Recap

We made it to the end of 2020! Woo hoo! 

Like so many things in 2020, I had more ambitious plans for this blog that I just didn't have the time to realize. I'm going to do a few catch-up posts with quick reviews of foods I meant to review but didn't have time for.

2020 was a good year for Kit Kat. They seem to be coming for Oreo's title as the limited edition flavor champion of American snack foods. Kit Kats from Japan have long seemed amazing, but they're hard to get in the U.S. This year, Kit Kat U.S. really made an effort. I already wrote about the Kit Kat Raspberry + Crème Miniatures, and even took a detour to look at Kit Kats from other countries. But there were other 2020 U.S. flavors worth mentioning.

Just in time for Easter, Lemon Crisp Kit Kats came onto store shelves. This flavor was a good choice after Raspberry Kit Kats. There's something about lemon that lines up well with spring.

Well, Lemon Crisp Kit Kats were really good. The coating had a nice, light lemon flavor. I once had a lemon-flavored white chocolate bar from Sicily, and this Kit Kat reminded me of that. Lemon Crisp was another win for Kit Kat.

Kit Kat also introduced Duos, in this case a combination of Mint + Dark Chocolate. I'm not confident that the street date for these was in 2020, but that was the first time I saw them.

These were also pretty good. I was skeptical at first, since there are a million combinations of mint and chocolate out there (not that I'm complaining). But these tasted smoother, a tad more sophisticated than other cookies and candy out there. Would buy again. 

Summer saw the introduction of Apple Pie Kit Kats. These were whole candy bars, instead of the miniature Kit Kats released earlier in the year.

I wanted to like Apple Pie Kit Kats more than I did. Not that they were bad. They just weren't as close to the actual flavor as I wanted. 

Birthday Cake Kit Kats were also released during the summer. I was skeptical about these at first, since birthday cake seems like a go-to flavor when brands are trying out limited edition flavors. 

Birthday Cake Kit Kats were surprisingly better than I was expecting. I like how they look, with white coating accentuated by colorful sprinkles. But the flavor was pretty much spot on, too. It took me a long time to find these (I finally saw them at Wal-Mart), but I would buy more, especially for my or someone else's birthday.

Finally, for Halloween season, Witch's Brew Kit Kats were released. The were a light green color and had a marshmallow flavor to them.

These were actually pretty good. A lot of times in the world of limited edition flavors, a "marshmallow" flavor will simply be a vague sweet/sugary flavor. However, these actually taste like marshmallows. It's hard to describe the difference, but imagine plain sugar versus a marshmallow. I was impressed.

Overall, Kit Kat had a pretty good year. There were some other flavors I saw that I'm not featuring (Pumpkin Pie tasted a little too pumpkin spice, and I bought but haven't yet tried Dark Chocolate). But I have to give Kit Kat a lot of credit. The original is already a favorite candy of mine, and the limited edition flavors brought it this year in a way that (I'm sorry to say) Oreo quite frankly didn't. I hope everyone bought these and Kit Kat continues to release new flavors for years to come until we start getting varieties like sweet potato, blueberry cheesecake, roasted corn, and more.