Oreo kidding me?
Another month, another goofy variety of "limited edition" Oreos.
This time it's Cotton Candy Oreos, said to be available only at Target stores. If you can't find them, Mr. Tidbit advises that you're not missing much. Each consists of two Golden Oreo wafers, with a gaudy bicolor filling: half blue-green and half pink. But though it might be difficult to describe the flavor of cotton candy, it is pretty easy to say when a flavor isn't cotton candy. Or, actually, anything else: They're pretty bland.
Cotton Candy Oreos come in a 10.7-ounce bag, which is the same price as all other Oreos, including the 14.3-ounce bag of regular Oreos.
Reese's redux
You might have noted that Mr. Tidbit didn't mention the recent appearance of another "limited edition" Oreo variety, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos (regular chocolate Oreo wafers, with a two-color peanut butter filling). They showed up before these Cotton Candy Oreos but after the debut in March of Red Velvet Oreos. Mr. Tidbit didn't discuss them because he had already done so last June, when they first "limitedly" appeared.
At that time (last June — pay attention) he mentioned that in an odd coincidence, as soon as the 12.2-ounce bags of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Oreos turned up, Peanut Butter Oreos, one of the several ongoing non-limited-edition varieties of Oreos, disappeared from store shelves. Peanut Butter Oreos have a single-color filling and come in a considerably larger 15.25-ounce bag.
Mr. Tidbit wondered whether the Reese's Oreo was just the regular Peanut Butter Oreo with a bicolor filling, in a smaller bag (and thus at a 25 percent higher per-ounce price.)
So when he first spotted the recent reappearance of Reese's Oreos, he bought a bag, then tried to find a bag of regular Peanut Butter Oreos for comparison. They had disappeared again, but he recently found a bag at a small, less efficient store, and he and some of his little friends tasted them side-by-side. (The Oreos were side-by-side; Mr. Tidbit and his little friends were in several facing chairs.)
After exhaustive effort, we concluded that the fillings of the two cookies are different: Both taste like peanut butter, but not the same peanut butter. Mr. Tidbit's opinion: The regular Peanut Butter Oreo is mellower.
You're welcome.
Al Sicherman
