Oreo Continues to Outdo Itself, This Time with a Carrot Cake Flavor

Join me on a journey to the past, to a simpler time. You were a kid, coming home from school. First thing you did after dropping your book bag on the floor was pour yourself a glass of milk and pull the blue package of Oreos out of the cupboard before your parents caught you. Back then, of course, the Oreo formula had only a few variations, and you stuck to the classic: Vaguely vanilla crème sandwiched between chocolate cookies. It did not occur to you in your wildest dreams that this cookie recipe could ever be improved upon. It seemed — and probably still does, to your adult brain — perfect.

And yet, we find ourselves in an era when Oreo is absolutely dead set on remaking the Oreo in almost every flavor combination it can reasonably (and to be honest, sometimes unreasonably) translate into cookie form. The latest flavor? Carrot cake.

In the past five years or so, Oreo has unleashed a barrage of odd and sometimes delicious flavors onto the public: There are now marshmallow Peeps, blueberry, cotton candy, key lime pie, and cherry cola Oreos.

Comparatively speaking, a carrot cake flavor is not that strange. And yet I wonder what they will taste like. Will the crème be cream-cheese flavored? And will the cookie have a spiced ginger or cinnamon flavor? Oreo is set to release its latest creation early next year, so we’ll have to wait until then to find out for sure (although the Instagram account Candy Hunting, which dutifully keeps track of these things, does seem to confirm that the filling will indeed taste like cream cheese).

It looks like next year will be big for Oreo. The company plans to roll out a cornucopia of new Oreo variations, which includes dark chocolate, Easter egg (cookies in the shape of eggs with filling in spring-appropriate colors), and the limited-edition “Love, Oreo” which has pink filling and heart patterns on the cookie.

I suppose all these forays into reimagining the Oreo in ever-varied and changing forms shows that the mad scientists at Oreo are not afraid to experiment with a few weird ideas (remember that Oreo with the popping candy in it?) but I personally miss the less-complicated days of the original Oreo: unfussy, reliable, a guaranteed treat instead of a potential trip into risky flavor territory. While it’s entertaining to find out what Oreo has come up with next, when it really comes down to it in the aisles of the grocery store, I bet you still reach for that good old original flavor. Maybe the Double Stuf if you’re feeling adventurous.