Kotas Reviews Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos

Man, it's be a crazy year for Oreos, eh? Lots of new flavors, contest controversy and several returning limited editions, such as Cinnamon Roll, that appear to be falling into the "seasonal" brand label. Still, it doesn't mean there aren't dozens of other flavors to explore! I'm sure we're not at all sick of them yet. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's dive into Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos.

New!

Well, here we are. Another pie flavored Oreo. Past examples haven't really conveyed a lot of "pie-ness", but there's only so much you can do with a cookie. Frankly, I think they are just using it to denote "graham cookie" instead of a vanilla or chocolate cookie. Whatever. The package looks fine, but much like Bioware games generally have a decent story, Nabisco doesn't get to crow about their excellent packaging anymore. In fact, it's sort of expected that Oreo packaging will be good from now on. Still, that's quite a pie they are displaying, eh? Let's see what lies inside!

It's the little differences that count.

Well, I can't say I'm shocked. It looks about what I'd expect a chocolate peanut butter cookie to look like. I'm not a fan of the "split color" look, but it does make for an obvious comparison. I personally think they should just have it split length wise, and do a half-layer of chocolate and a half-layer of peanut butter, laid down so that each bite gets some of each type of creme. Oh well, maybe that's harder than this weird dollop half method. Definitely smells of peanut butter and graham cracker, but the chocolate really isn't present in the scent.

Upon tasting them, they mostly taste like a peanut butter cookie. The graham flavor comes through, certainly, but there is little to no chocolate about these cookies, no matter what the color of the creme says. The peanut butter flavor is overwhelming, tasting a lot like Nutter Butter cookies, but not quite. There is something that might be chocolate in there if you really concentrate, but otherwise? Non-existent. It's not terrible, if you like peanut butter cookies, but it's certainly nothing special or Oreo-y. I think the traditional chocolate cookie would have been a lot better here, or even one chocolate cookie and one graham cookie. As it stands, it's an Oreo trying really hard to be a Nutter Butter cookie. Don't quit your day job, Oreo.

On the FACE Rating System, this gets 0 Faces. It's fine, I guess, but I don't think the world needed a More Different Peanut Butter Oreo. If you want a peanut butter creme cookie with a bit of chocolate, just dip a Nutter Butter into a chocolate spread and enjoy that. 

Kotas Reviews Smokin' Hot Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups

In my long life, I've had a strange relationship to spicy foods. As a wee lad, I detested them (a trait my kid seems to have inherited) and would actively avoid anything described as "spicy". However, as time passed, by high school I had learned to appreciate some small level of spice in foods. By college, I was happily eating fairly spicy foods and now I will sometimes get frisky and get "top level hot" at restaurants. Sometimes. Still, there is a weird trend as of late of putting spicy into things what not ought to be spicy. So of COURSE I had to try it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Smokin' Hot Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup.

Dare to Share indeed.

So, gas stations have amazing shit sometimes, and this is one of those things. My long suffering spouse bought this for me on one of our semi-regular Lotto Ticket Purchases. The cashier, I'm told, said "Wow, not a single other person has bought these. Tell ya what. Lemme give you a coupon. Just let me know how they are." If that's not a ringing endorsement, I can't tell you what is. What a fucking train wreck of a snack food product, eh? Peanut Butter Cups from Butterfinger I can actually conceive of, but why the FUCK would you put spicy hot anything in them? I guess because spicy boiled peanuts maybe? Or "chocolate with pepper in it"? I dunno, I'm not a flavorgineer. Anyway, the packaging is about what I would expect, with what looks like a challenge printed on it. Well Nestle, Challenge Accepted.

Sure, why the fuck not?

So, I guess "rounded cornered square" is acceptable for peanut butter cups now? Fine, whatever. The chocolate shell feels very...plastic-y and greasy, like you'd expect from cheap chocolate knock off peanut butter cups. This does not bode well. Let's crack it open.

Well, no ghosts in there. That's something.

Yeah, okay it's a peanut butter cup. It also has a nice ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. The chocolate is still a bit waxy, but it's not crumbly, and that helps a lot in the peanut butter cup experience. But none of you care about the subtle aesthetics of this thing now do you? Let's eat! 

Well, that wasn't so bad, in fact that was pretty go...OH GOD WHY? WHYYYYYY? This thing hits like a freight train of pain that is also on fire. Maybe it was just the one I ate, but good LORD the spice on this is strong. It's a shame too, because the actual peanut butter cup was tasty. A bit less sweet than a Reeses cup, good peanut butter flavor. The chocolate isn't as good, but it's also way better than I thought it would be, so all in all a different but comparable sort of treat. Until the dragon breathes fire down your throat. The heat adds NOTHING to the flavor of this candy, it is just there for the sake of being there, which I detest. Way to ruin a perfectly good candy, Nestle!

On the FACE Rating System, this gets 2 Frowny Faces. An otherwise decent candy ruined by some stupid marketing trend about Hot & Spicy Nonsense. There was a reason no one bought these, and I didn't eat more than one. In fact, I think I threw out the remainders after my spouse had one. No. Just NO.

Kotas Reviews PB & J Oreos

Some foods were always meant to go together. Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Bread and Butter, Rum and Coke, all famous the world over and about as basic a combo as you can make. Two great tastes that just so happen to taste even Greater together, and become a staple recipe for years. So clearly we have to somehow cram this into a food that isn't remotely like either of the other two. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's reveal the mysteries of Peanut Butter and Jelly Oreos.

Because this is the face of Science.

I have a very strange relationship with peanut butter and jelly. It was a staple of my childhood lunchbox, because it was easy and quick for my mom to make, but when I got old enough I tended to leave off the jelly and just go nuts with peanut butter. To this day I am addicted to peanut butter sandwiches but only rarely, usually when I'm feeling nostalgic (or someone else made some) will I bother with the jelly side of this all time classic recipe. I can however tell you that I never, EVER considered that it might be a dessert flavoring. Oh well, let's take a peak, shall we?

The packaging is pretty bog standard on this one. Oreo logo, nominal picture of particular food and a cookie version of that same food. What throws me off here is the little green call out box that explicitly tells you what the cookie is trying to do. If a cookie has to spell out its concept for you, that does not indicate that it is confident in what it is, ya know? Let's open it.

Lackluster...that is the word I'm looking for.

I can see why they went with a Golden Oreo base here. Chocolate, while great with peanut butter, is probably not the best choice when paired with jelly flavoring. The vanilla here doesn't really match either, but it won't overwhelm the flavor of the creme. I have to say, going for the "split" look here has failed on a number of levels, because it looks so...slapdash. Like they threw some jelly flavor juice on the usual peanut butter filling and went "Ta da!". Not appetizing at all. Let's eat, I guess.

You know, I'm not a fan of peanut butter cookies really. They are okay, but finding a really good one is hard to do so I generally just don't bother. This variant is actually worse then that. The peanut butter tastes like...well it tastes like those revolting orange and black taffy bits wrapped in orange and black paper that always show up around Halloween for some reason despite maybe 1 in 100 people actually enjoying them. The completely artificial jelly flavor on top of that is...not helpful, and its sickeningly sweet TotallyNotGrape flavor makes the whole thing taste like solidified angst. No. Just...no.

On the FACE Rating System, these get 2 Frowny Faces. Absolutely bad, but just "I really don't like this flavor" bad and not "OH GOD IT'S POISON" bad. This is probably one of those love it or hate it flavors too, because when I disposed of this trash by leaving it in the break room at work and my co-workers LOVED them. I personally say skip 'em, but if you are curious be my guest and try them out. Just don't save any for me.