Oreos, Oreos, and Oreos Galore

2020 was a low point for Oreo. The year started off strong, but with the pandemic, new flavors became few and far between. 

2021 is a different story: in January, Oreo lovers hit the mother lode. 

Not one, not two, but three new flavors were released in January, along with gluten free versions of regular and Double Stuf Oreos. 

What? 

I had heard these were going to be released in early January, and it took a few weeks until they arrived on my grocery store shelves. But they arrived, and it was a good day for the beginning of 2021. 

Brookie-O Oreos are cookies with three layers of creme: brownie, original, and cookie dough between chocolate Oreo cookies. In the past, I've wondered if there would ever be Triple Stuf cookies (my idea was a Bomb Pop flavor for summer). There were the Red, White & Blue Oreos from 2020 as well as the Most Stuf Oreos from previous years. This is the first Oreo I can remember with different flavors for each layer. 

Three flavors seems like it would work in theory, but... I really felt like this cookie was trying to do too much, pack too much into one cookie. Based on the package, I thought they were trying to aim for a brookie, which is a cookie bar that is half-brownie and half-chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate creme didn't taste enough like brownie, and the chocolate Oreo cookies and the regular Oreo creme seemed out of place. 

Now, perhaps a Brookie-O was meant to be a mash-up between a brookie and an Oreo? But four different flavors is too much. If I could go back to the drawing board on this cookie, I would stick with the brownie and chocolate chip cookie flavors, whether that is a brownie-flavored cookie with chocolate chip cookie creme, or a regular Oreo cookie with half-brownie/half-cookie creme. 

Java Chip was an interesting idea in my view. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I could see what they were going for, with coffee-flavored creme with chocolate chips and chocolate cookies. It reminded me of a dessert coffee drink like you would get at Starbucks or Dunkin'. 

Even though I'm not a coffee drinker, I had to take one for the team and try this out, and it was good for what it was. The coffee scent is very strong upon opening the package; if you have a plate with different Oreos on it, the Java Chip Oreo will overpower the scent of the other ones. I did hear from one coffee drinker that it wasn't their favorite, but I think it's worth a shot. 

Chocolate Hazelnut seemed like a repeat to me at first. Not that I minded; I don't love Nutella, but it's a nice flavor to have every now and then. But I recently checked my personal archives and saw that the previous Chocolate Hazelnut flavor was made with Golden cookies. This 2021 version had the same type of creme but with Chocolate cookies. 

I have to say, I like this cookie. This is probably my favorite of the new batch. How much you might like it would probably depend on how much you like Nutella. But if you do, I think this is worth trying. I think I liked this one a little bit better with Golden cookies, but this version was still pretty good.

I don't have a lot to say about gluten free Oreos. I thought they tasted pretty good. I wish I would have been able to try them in a blind taste test with original Oreos to see if I could tell the difference. But I thought they were pretty close. Perhaps a bit drier in the cookie than a regular Oreo, but that could be my own bias. I've been told by a good friend that they work well with baking. This seems like a good choice for those who can't consume any products with gluten.