The Ecstasies & Horrors Of Trying Eight Flavors Of Oreos: North Iowa Bloggers Taste Test

I don’t want to eat another Oreo for 10 years.

Seriously. I saw some at a picnic yesterday and passed.

It’s been two months since the North Iowa Bloggers got together to taste weird things, which is way too long. We reconvened this week to test taste weird Oreos and celebrate fall birthdays.

Beth set up this impressive Oreo tasting station complete with a smiley face voting system. She really is the hostess with the mostest. You’ll notice the table is not only decorated with flowers, but photos of Donna & Laura. We make “flat” versions of bloggers who can’t attend our taste testing events because we’re like that.

flat people

Here’s a glimpse of our potluck buffet. I brought bacon-wrapped figs stuffed with basil-lemon goat cheese pictured below on the left.

meal Collage

Potlucks are the best because they feed my dip obsession. We enjoyed Pulled Pork, baked potato dip, bagel dip, caramel apple dip, strawberry-basil balsamic foccacia, savory cheese dip & that Midwestern Snickers salad, something I’ve only seen in Iowa. It was imperative that we create a substantial base in our stomachs in preparation for the Oreos.

We sacrificed one of each cookie to create this artwork. So yes, exactly eight Oreos were harmed in the process.

oreo raibow Frame

Top Row: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Berry, Root Beer Float, Peanut Butter
Bottom Row: Pumpkin Spice, Caramel Apple, Chocolate Birthday Cake, Vanilla Birthday Cake

My three favorite flavors are Pumpkin Spice, Peanut Butter, and Cookie Dough.

Good Oreo Collage

Pumpkin Spice: I was surprised this cookie tasted more like cookie butter than a pumpkin spice latte. “Hey guys, it tastes like Speculoos!” I shouted.

Everyone’s mouth dropped and then there was silence.

My mouth was full of cookie. And since I had no idea how to pronounce “Speculoos,” having only read the word but never hearing it pronounced, everyone thought I said the cookie tasted like a speculum. I promise you it didn’t, unless speculums taste like Speculoos or you really hate pumpkin spice. Not that I would know or anything.

Peanut Butter: Unless you hate peanut butter, this chocolate-peanut butter combo will not offend.

Cookie Dough: This was the last Oreo I tasted. Frankly, there’s nothing that exciting about stuffing a cookie with cookie-dough flavored frosting, but it tasted innocuous enough and didn’t make me cringe, so, up it went up into my top three.

The Oreos that made my face go like this were banished to the bottom five.

Bad Cookie Collage with poopy

My least favorite flavors were Root Beer, Berry, Birthday Cake and Berry.

Root Beer: I took this shocked and appalled selfie (Oreoelfie?) with root beer Oreo residue still clinging to the sides of my mouth. The root beer flavor in the frosting was strong. Like Vicks Vapor Rub strong. I could feel root beer vapors wafting from my tongue into the deep recesses of my brain with each inhele. I wouldn’t say that I wanted to die, but I can’t say I didn’t want the Oreo to die. Root beer cookies just no.

Berry: I hated this icky, fake-fruit flavor. Many of us thought it smacked of pink medicine.

Caramel Apple: Again, I disliked the fake fruit flavor, this time in green apple. It wasn’t medicinal like the berry, but still gross. Are these fruity flavors the precursor to Jolly Rancher Oreos? We couldn’t find the fruit punch flavor in our local stores and none of us cried about it.

Birthday Cake (Vanilla & Chocolate): I spit out my first bite of Vanilla Birthday Cake Oreo before forgoing the chocolate. Until this day, I’d avoided Birthday Cake flavored everything, which makes me biased. I don’t even like real birthday cake.

North Dakota blogger Molly Yeh writes about Funfetti and Birthday Cake flavors in a post about Funfetti Biscotti. She hits the nail on the head when she identifies clear, artificial vanilla extract as tasting like nostalgia. For many, this tastes like the grade school birthday parties and vanilla lip glosses Yeh mentions.

For me, the flavor tastes like the smell of the tweeny body splashes my friends used to douse themselves in after gym class that always made me nauseous. Birthday Cake and Funfetti enthusiasts will like these Oreos.

Visit my fellow North Iowa bloggers to find out which Oreos brought them ecstasy or horror. Our opinions differ widely. Who knows what we will try next!

Group Photo

Don’t ask me why I’m holding a Berry Oreo.

My Fellow Taste Testers
Amy, Modern Rural Living
Beth, It’s Just Life
Katy, Learning As I Go
Sara, All In An Iowan Mom’s Day & Travel With Sara
Val, Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids

(In Absentia)
Donna, Donnahup.com
Laura, All Things Travel 

14 Comments

  1. Beth Ann Chiles

    You never disappoint! I can’t believe you wrote about the speculum. You left out the pea sized bladder part that Val and I lost it over! Jeni— my post pales in comparison. You reign as food blogger—- I humbly accept the hostess with the mostest title but only after crowning you Her Highness The Foodie! Great post!!!!

  2. Katybeth

    Oreo’s are my favorite store bought cookie. And because of the excessive and non-stop chatter about Oreo’s on Beth Ann’s facebook page I am starving for one. My wicked kid has my car so I can’t go out for a package – leaving me stranded and oreoless. Beth Ann feeling my pain sent me to read your throughly entertaining review of the double filled chocolate goodness. How reading about Oreo’s was suppose to curb my craving is still a mystery. But Beth Ann is from Ohio – so that might explain it. I digress.

    Mostly I agree with your assessment of the Oreos. With one very strong exception. Birthday Oreos are second best only to the original. I love them. And how is it possible to not like birthday cake? I must know. Everyone loves birthday cake? Do you hate all birthday cake? I see another post in your future to clarify your birthday cake position.

    Loved the pictures, post, and almost accurate assessment of my favorite cookie. Tomorrow, I am buying Oreo’s in bulk so I am never stranded without a pack again!

    • Jeni Flaa

      Every once in a while I do crave a classic Oreo. I don’t like cake very much. Sometime I like fruit cakes, but am not generally a fan of anyone’s birthday cake. It probably doesn’t help that I dislike frosting:) I hope you find the perfect variety tomorrow!

    • Beth Ann Chiles

  3. Sara Broers

    And why were you holding a pink Oreo? What a fun time… I’m glad I was there in person and not a flat person this time!

  4. Katy Flint

    Just reading your post makes my heart happy from the wonderful evening, the laughs, and conversation!

  5. Nick Lucs

    Thank you for tasting all of those crazy Oreos. I’m sure it was scary at times 😛

    I’ll stick with the plain, and mint kind. 🙂

    • Jeni Flaa

      The North Iowa Bloggers are at your taste testing service:) I agree that I like the mint and plain the best. No double stuffed for me, either.

  6. Feisty Eats

    What a fun event and group of people! Love your recap.

    • Jeni Flaa

      I wonder what we’ll taste next:) Sounds like you had a great event in ND today!

  7. Tracie B.

    This looks like it was a lot of fun – and now I want to try all the flavors, just to see if they’re really that bad. 🙂 I should just take your word for it, but I think I’m a sucker for punishment.

    • Jeni Flaa

      I never want to eat an Oreo again! So you’ll have to eat one for me:)

  8. Manon

    I’m usually all for trying new things, but I’m just a classic Oreo kind of girl–I don’t even like Double Stuffed! Also, I’m with you on potlucks–I’m a dip-a-holic………to the point I’ve hosted parties that have been known as DIPAPALOOZA! I’m not sure I should admit that…..

    • Jeni

      I would LOVE to go to a dip party. Honestly, I did really like Oreos, but that night just killed any desire to eat more. Too much of a good thing.

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