HOT & SPICY CINNAMON OREOS

Here's the second of the two new Limited Edition Oreos (which I am glad to be done with...so that I can get back to those Hershey Gold candy bars).

I'm not sure that the phrase "It's not as bad as I feared it would be" makes for good advertising.  Certainly Nabisco won't be contacting me for permission to use this as a catchphrase on the packaging.  But, overall, that's the way I felt about these cookies.

I am a fan of chocolate combined with a lot of things--peanut butter, strawberries, caramel, macadamia nuts, almonds and even pretzels.  I can assure you that it never even crossed my mind to combine chocolate with cinnamon, however.  I'm not sure what the Oreo lab tech was thinking in this case, but obviously she's the sort of person who isn't afraid to try odd combinations...perhaps even Milk Duds in her popcorn (like my wife).

I do love cinnamon, however, so I wasn't afraid to give this cookie a try.  Unfortunately, although the packaging clearly has red hot candies in the design, there is no crunch involved.  Neither is the cinnamon flavor creme "hot & spicy," although it is definitely stronger than the flavor of the Cinnamon Bun Oreo.  I think the problem is that the cinnamon flavor is cancelled out by the chocolate cookie (which, you should know by now, I am not a big fan of).  The good news, I suppose, is that the flavor pairing isn't as bad as I feared.  But it's still not very good.  It basically tastes like someone slapped a stick of Big Red on an Oreo (a quote from my co-worker Jake, which I wish I could take credit for).

I am grateful, however, that these two latest cookies--Chocolate Hazelnut and Hot & Spicy Cinnamon--finally answered an age-old question about Oreos.  Which is preferable: a creme flavor you like in a cookie you don't, or a cookie you like filled with a creme flavor you don't?  In my case, it was definitely the latter.  Even though I'm a fan of cinnamon, I think it works much better in a graham-flavored cookie rather than the traditional chocolate Oreo cookie.  And even though I'm not a fan of hazelnut, I would eat that one if I was forced to choose between the two.  On the other hand, if I did have a choice, I wouldn't bother with any of them.  Save your irresponsible calories for something better!

RATING:  2 / 5