My theory is that OREO doesn’t really care if most folks buy more than one package of any particular novelty flavor sandwich cookie. Didn’t like Red Velvet? Here comes Caramel Coconut! Imagine my Christmas surprise when gingerbread OREOS reappeared for 2020 with a new and improved recipe.
Before this year, what we got was Gingerbread Flavor Creme OREOs – two vanilla cookies with a gingerbread-spice filling. Maybe it was more efficient to repeat the vanilla cookies from other “yellow” OREOS, but it’s just backwards to have the gingerbread flavor on the inside. Nabisco must think this particular OREO has staying power, so it’s been re-reciped.
Short answer – the new ones are better. I don’t know the legal distinction between gingerbread and “gingerbread flavor,” but these OREO cookies have ginger, cinnamon, molasses, and, although I don’t taste a hint of chocolate, cocoa. I’d put them somewhere between a cinnamon-sugar graham cracker and a less-buttery Biscoff. The filling is the basic vanilla creme with red sugar flecks to plus-up the texture. I could do without the grit, but it does subliminally remind you of Christmas cookies.