We got pretty excited when The A.V. Club spotted Oreo's newest flavor lineup a few months back at a food expo.
And on Monday, Oreo's newest limited-edition flavor — Brownie Batter! — officially went on sale across the country. That's when the TODAY team huddled up to conduct a quick taste test. For science.
TODAY.com intern Jordan Muto said it best: "The initial smell had me second-guessing my choice to try them."
...Yeah. About that. We're not sure why these guys had such a potent "new car smell," but, there you have it.
Don't let it deter you, though. Sure, you might have to open up the (square, not rectangular) bag with your nose held, but with the spoiler that these guys are actually really good, you should carry on and dig in without fear.
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Associate Lifestyle Editor Brooke Sassman, for one, remained optimistic. "Once I got past the smell, it felt like I was eating actual brownies," she noted.
Because we're all about the stuf [sic], we suggest you eat that part first. While the rest of the cookie is pretty similar, if not identical, to the original Oreo, the stuf is distinctly "brownie batter." How on earth, you ask, did they manage to replicate that creamy, chocolaty and uniquely "brownie" flavor with such precision?
Well, we don't know. We're not real scientists. But kudos to whoever made that magic happen.
Still, something was missing — something that Home Editor Amy Eley couldn't quite put her finger on.
"I eat anything Oreo and usually devour a box," she told me. "These ones were good, but I was okay with eating just one here and there."
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TODAY.com intern Emma Davis voiced her concern, too...and provided some valuable insight. "I think the best part of brownie batter is its gooey texture," she said. "And that’s the one thing missing in these Oreos."
It's true. As we philosophized some more, we realized that we like batter because it's batter, not because it eventually turns into a brownie. Call it "the cookie dough effect." Batter, like cookie dough, is appealing because it's unbaked. It's forbidden, laced with childhood nostalgia and the thrill of quickly sticking your finger into that bowl of ooey-gooey goodness as soon as your mom turned her back. (Sorry you had to find out this way, Mom.)
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I mean, think about it. We risk salmonella poisoning for real batter. We wouldget really, really sick for it. And all the flavoring in the world can't foster that kind of stupidit— er, devotion.
All that's not to say this wasn't a seriously valiant effort. We applaud you, Oreo, and we're gonna go plug our noses and have another one right now. FOUR STARS.