Oreo Update: Strawberry Shortcake Oreos (and S'More!)

Are They Still Even Oreos?
The proliferation of new flavors under the Oreo banner has created a sense of mission drift in the brand, and new Strawberry Shortcake Oreos reinforce the point. When the dense, blandly sweet Crisco-creme in the middle becomes a whipped and fruity filling, and when the dense cocoa discs of the original become a sweet graham cookie, one has to ask whether the Oreo name is overleveraged.  If a strawberry shortcake cookie is desirable, is the Oreo format that best way to bring it to fruition? Or have we reverse-engineered a cookie using Oreo assumptions when a better tasting treat might have better been achieved starting with a clean slate?  We'll address all of this in our review.

Another day, another limited edition. The picture of tender cakes, juicy berries, and creamy whipped topping makes many promises. Are they ones that a crumbly cookie filled with flavored fat can keep?

A Faux-Fruit Blast

The unveiling of a new Oreo flavor is always an event at Food Kingdom offices, so this was a group tasting, with James N., Brian S., and other curious onlookers gathered round the package as we prepared to breach the cellophane.  One side note: as the photo above shows, this edition did not feature Nabisco's patented re-sealable container that allows you to peel back the top face of the package, remove a portion, and close it back up.  There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason behind when this super-convenient innovation is available.  In any case, as the breaking of the seal let the air escape from inside, the hopes of the crowd were similarly deflated, for the scent was of a strong synthetic strawberry, the kind you find in Hubba Bubba bubble gum or some similar juvenile frivolity. From that moment, none of the tasters really took this cookie seriously.  This shows the importance of image and market positioning, for we instinctively respond more positively to "Strawberry Shortcake Oreos" than we would to "Jolly Rancher Strawberry Oreos" which these could be just as plausibly named.

The venerable "Red 40 Lake" gives the strawberry filling its pink blush.  Note the light, whipped texture, intended to suggest whipped cream tinged with strawberry juice.

Craftsmanship Carries the Day

The above criticisms notwithstanding, there are enough thoughtful design touches to persuade me that these are not just the brainchild of a bored factory manager tweaking the standard Oreo recipe with a different artificial color and chemical flavor in search of an innovation bonus.  For instance, using graham flour in the wafers creates a more tender and crumbly texture due to a lower gluten content.  This, along with what tastes to me like some extra shortening in the dough, produces a more cake-like texture, reminiscent of the buttery crumbs at the bottom of a golden cake pan.  The creme filling is also whipped to a fluffy consistency that allows it to spread and mingle with the cookie crumbs as you munch.  When this cookie is halfway chewed, you do get the distinct impression of real strawberry shortcake, albeit one with a sprinkling of Kool-Aid powder on top.

A Chain Reaction, with Marshmallows

Apart from the modest enjoyments afforded by tasting these techno-berry delights, the ingredient list inspired us to conduct some experiments of our own.  We were all struck by the choice of graham flour in the wafers, since neither biscuits nor sponge cake traditionally use it, and it got us thinking: could strawberries and graham crackers prove a fresh and winning combination?  Might strawberry s'mores be an inspiring variation on the original?

Among the myriad combinations attempted, the strawberry banana s'more was the clear winner.

Pure strawberry s'mores actually proved not to work very well for the simple reason that you can only fit two strawberry slices inside a graham cracker sandwich before the assemblage completely falls apart.  Strawberries can only be placed on top of the marshmallow, not underneath because the strawberries give off so much juice when warmed that the bottom graham cracker gets soggy if in direct contact with the berries.  Bananas, on the other hand, give off very little liquid when heated, so the best combination of all was two slices of banana beneath the marshmallow and one strawberry slice on top.  The preferred heating method is a toaster oven or broiler because the radiant heat of both work from the outside-in, tenderizing and browning the exterior of the marshmallow while keeping the interior reasonably solid, maintaining the structural integrity of the serving.   Microwaving is certainly faster, but the microwaves immediately penetrate into the core of the marshmallow, rendering it soupy, goopy, and unstable.

Choco-banana s'mores were also tasty, but lacked the fresh sweet and sour punch of the strawberry-banana combination.

Conclusions

Strawberry Shortcake Oreos are interesting enough to be worth the $2.99 to throw them in your shopping cart.  But they also serve as an object lesson that reflecting on your food, and following those thoughts wherever they lead, is the most satisfying choice of all.