Oreo Cookies Vanilla

Oreo Cookies Vanilla are the original variety of a brand that now has dozens of varieties, from different flavoured cookies to ice cream to cakes, cereal and more. Although they are comparatively new in the UK market compared to in the USA where they’ve been around for decades, I can’t imagine there are many people now who don’t know what they are, even if they’ve never tried them.

Oreos are a sandwich cookie, which means two biscuits sandwiching together a cream filling. It’s a tried and tested approach, used in everything from custard creams to bourbons, but only Oreos have managed to achieve fame based on brand name rather than biscuit type / filling flavour.

Oreos are round, black biscuits. The biscuit is supposed to be chocolate flavoured, but I think that is stretching it above. Of course there’s always a difference between chocolate and chocolate flavour, but even taking this into account, I would say the resemblance is minimal to say the least. That’s not to say they are entirely devoid of flavour, because they’re not and I do quite like them, but had I not been told they were supposed to be chocolate, I wouldn’t have guessed easily.

The cream in the middle is vanilla flavoured but to me tastes more like a plain, sugary fondant than a proper vanilla bean taste. I listened to an interesting Podcast recently that said we believe things taste a certain way because of the colour of them, and what that tends to be associated with. White represents plain or vanilla, so you believe that’s what it tastes of. It would be interesting to get hold of the special Oreos, like Halloween and Christmas ones, where the cream is coloured, to see if that affects perceptions of taste.

Although the combination is a good one, I do think that the cream in these Oreos is on the thin side. Yes, it’s sweet, but I think they could easily double the amount without it getting sickly. This is perhaps the reason the company later launched Double Stuff Oreos which, as the name suggest, have a more generous filling. Even though I think it’s a little lacking, the fondant in all Oreos is soft and fluffy and wonderfully creamy, much nicer than in some own brand versions where it can be sticky or dry. They are sweet but not sickly, though I can eat fewer of these than some types as the taste is just sugar really, not an extra bonus like peanut butter or strawberry.

Oreos look nice because the cookies have an embossed design on them, though I’m not sure this texture adds much to the overall eating experience. I will say, however, that I have recently tried various Oreo knock offs (Colombians are big biscuit eaters) and none of them compare. You don’t necesarily realise how nice Oreos are until you try the cheap, inferior versions. A lot of the difference is down to the biscuits themselves. Oreo cookies are just the right level of softness without being either crispy or soggy. They are not thin and hard like wafers, but they still have a nice bite to them. Some cheap versions here taste like biccies that have been left open for a week – not nice. Oreos are best straight from the pack, but stay nice and fresh for some time as long as you fasten or tie them up somehow, or put them in an airtight biscuit tin. The standard guidance is to store out of direct sunlight, but the street vendors here sell them from stands sitting in the sun, and the warmth doesn’t seem to do them any harm (since of course they cannot melt, not being chocolate).

Oreos in general are a bit crumbly, but at least they're so dark that you can see the crumbs easily, and pick them up before the ants get them. They’re not as messy as, say, wafers (Oreo Wafers = yummy) but they are on a par with your average digestive or shortbread. They are also just as noisy to eat – I brought some to an exam I was invigilating, to eat and review while my students did the test, and was very conscious of the crunching I was doing. In the UK I quite like the tubs of Mini Oreos which are smaller versions of the original, and less messy as you eat them in one go rather than biting into them.

Some people do weird things with their Oreos. With the exception of making mine into mini cheesecakes (split a white chocolate covered one, top with Philadelphia) I tend to eat them straight up. I don't split them in half and lick out the middle, or dunk them in my milk. They are, however, advertised as being great with a glass of the white stuff which I think is to counteract any claims that they are a bit dry – mainly because, in my opinion, they don’t have quite enough filling. I know they've had years to perfect it, but I really do like the consistency of Oreos. The cream always ends a sensible distance from the edge, so even if you press down on them, it doesn't squidge out at the sides.

If you’re after a tempting, vanilla smell you might be disappointed by these. While some Oreo types have a strong scent related to their fondant flavour (the Strawberry ones smell lovely and fruity) these just smell generically sweet

I love individually packed treats for taking for snacks or lunch to work, but Oreos let me down in this department. The single packs of these contain not 1, not 2, but 4 cookies which I think is too many. I’m not saying I couldn’t eat them all in one go, but if I was reaching for the biscuit tin for a quick snack, I’d normally help myself to 2 biscuits. Having 4 means, ok I will eat them all, but it’s more than I need, and hardly helpful to the waistline (a 4 pack contains 170 calories and 7g of fat – for that I’d rather have something properly chocolatey like a Galaxy Ripple). For this reason I would prefer to buy a standard tube of Oreos and divvy them up myself – this way is also understandably a cheaper way to purchase them most of the time.

I have eaten a whole lot of Oreo related products over the years, and though I like these, I do think the Vanilla Cream Oreos are a little basic and, well, ordinary. My ranking would put them not quite at the bottom, but fairly low:

• Golden Oreos (ick)
• Chocolate Cream Oreos (not for me)
• Oreo Cookies Vanilla (not bad)
• Mini Oreos (getting better)
• Double Stuffed Oreos (twice as nice)
• Oreo Cakesters (mmm)
• Strawberry Oreos (lovely)
• Oreo Wafers and Oreo Wafer Sitcks (yum)
• Peanut Butter Oreos (hell yeah)
• White Chocolate Covered Oreos (orgasmic)

Overall I would say these are a high quality product with just a slightly above average taste. I’ll happily eat them if offered, but might choose another Oreo type if in the shop myself. For the price I think they offer good value for money, as the taste and texture is better than cheap, value biscuits, but the cream is to thin and the vanilla flavour too subtle for me. As for the title, IF I am choosing a basic, vanilla sandwich cookie, I will go ahead and choose Oreos. For me, it is a case of one you go black, you never go back.

Current UK Selling Price (18th June 2011)

154g roll

Tesco / Sainsburys 99p
Asda 50p

Box with 4 snackpacks (16 cookies total)

Tesco / Sainsburys £1.20
Asda 50p

(source: Mysupermarket.com)