Is Coke on coke?

I saw a picture of this online, and assumed it was just some more AI nonsense. Surely no one would think to make a soft drink using a cookie flavor, right? That's just...

And here we are. (Please ignore the yellow dog toy in the photo -- all our dogs have ignored it already.)

Yep, Oreo Coca-Cola is a real thing, and man does it sound like a bad idea. But it gets worse! As part of their Besties promotion, for a limited time we have Oreo flavored Coke AND Coke flavored Oreos. What brave new world blah blah blah. 

So the gang at Mondelēz is all in on this with Coke. There's a sweepstakes involved, a trip for your best friend and you to go to London, because -- well, I don't know why London. Because they like Coke and Oreos there, too? (Since when did Oreos become best friends with Coke? What happened to Oreos and Milk? Did they have a fight? How much sugar can you consume in one snack, anyway? Why not throw in a Milky Way too? I have questions.)

I mentioned all this to my wife, and while she thought the Coke Oreos might be okay, the Oreo Coke would probably be poor. So we did a taste test on the soda to find out. 

Our verdict: You can just barely make out a hints of chocolate and Oreo creme in the soda. I was impressed the flavor was there at all. Aside from that, it just makes a sweet drink a little sweeter. There seems to be an odd aftertaste in the Zero version that I've not noticed before in Coke Zero. So, a novelty act, and not one that improves the product. 

Will we try the Coke Oreos? I don't know. There's just the two of us here right now, not counting the dog, and a box of dicey cookies is a big investment for two adults, calorically speaking. You can bet you'll hear about it in this space if we do. Have you tried either of these products? 

And what mashups would YOU like to see? Coke and Entenmann's Coffee Cake? RC and Cap'n Crunch? Pepsi and King Oscar Sardines? Let your taste bud imagination roam free. Although maybe Pepsi and King Oscar is only found in A Fridge Too Far. 

Caffeine crunch.

I know I said I wasn't going to do it. Every shopping trip I could hear its siren call -- "Buy me! You love coffee! You love cereal!" But nay nay! I had told my blog readers last August that I would not try the new Dunkin' Donuts (I still don't want to drop the Donuts) cereals. To quote the Beets, "I eat my sugar cereal, but it makes my teeth bacterial..." So I was going to be strong and pass it by.

Nor do I think many other people were excited about these Post products, because last week they turned up in the bargain bin, a buck a box. 

Sold! 

Okay, I was very curious about a coffee-flavored cereal, since I am such a coffee hound. Also, Mr. Breakfast still has no reviews for the new Dunkin' branded cereals, so I am left to review them myself, or at least the Caramel Macchiato one shown here. The Mocha Latte one will have to wait for another time, if indeed it still costs a buck.

So, what's it like? Well, the brown balls do taste like sweet, strong black coffee crossed with General Mills' Kix cereal. If you like the taste of coffee, you'd like this taste; it is a very good representation of the Dunkin' flavor. The tan marshmallows are the caramel, and they also hit the flavor mark. Overall the marshmallows give it a very Lucky Charms-like consistency. I found it tasty dry or with milk. 

I do wonder about the market for this product, though. Obviously a mature manly man like myself, someone who wouldn't order a Caramel Macchiato on a bet, is not the customer Post would expect to be a regular buyer. Teens? Dunkin' isn't hip enough for them. If we had a Starbucks in the middle of town, the teens would all be going there instead of the two Dunkin's. Adults? Stuff's not healthy for us grown-ups, and it isn't filling -- a big bowl left me starving for lunch at eleven. Children mostly don't like coffee. Although the Dunkin' History on the back of the box looks like it was designed for children.

The Dunkin' cereal may be in trouble. The bargain bin sale may have been a sell-off or a last shot at developing a fan base. It's still on Post's web site as of today, where reviews are 92% positive, 4.5 of 5 stars, but that tells us little. 

I've examined many Dunkin' crossover products on this site, from Pop-Tarts to Oreos to beer, and none of them have stuck around -- except the beer (Harpoon's Dunkin' Coffee Porter). Post might have been better served selling this cereal as a limited edition, as with the Oreos and Pop-Tarts. They could always un-limit it if it took off. 

Meanwhile, Dunkin' can contact DeKuyper about making Dunkin' Coffee Schnapps. Sounds like a winner in this cold weather, huh?

Last chance! Plus: Ain't that Stuf enuf?

Books! Woo hoo

Just using this Friday space to remind you that today is the final day of the Fred Kindle Giveaway. All of my novels for the Kindle and Kindle software are free! Every pixel must go! Get your shovel and scoop up some!

But if you feel gypped that all I'm doing here today is a commercial, and you're ready to throw down your Little Frederick Key Decoder Ring in disgust, let me fill the rest of the page with another brief adventure in the unending saga of Foods I Should Not Eat.

🍦🍨🍧🍩🍫🍪🍬🍭🍮🍯🍰

I was at a meeting last week, before everything got shut down, and these were the cookies on the agenda, lurking by the coffee:

And I thought to myself: Is this a Stuf Too Far? And: How much Stuf is Too Much Stuf? Is there not hubris in this bombastic bonne bouche? Does this Stuf fly too close to the sun? And: Is the coronavirus God's way of punishing us for building this veritable Tower of Babel Cookie? This Titanic of treats? This Sodom and Gomorreo?

And I thought: I gotta try one.

Look at the package! "Back by Popular Demand"! Nabisco didn't want to bring back the Most Stuf -- don't be crazy! We barely contained the Stuf last time! There are some things about which Man was not meant to know! Don't you remember what happened to Phil at the factory? But the public would not be assuaged. THE MOST STUF! they demanded. And so, with a heavy sigh, and a glance at the sycamore tree planed out front ("In Memory of Philip Klopnik / Perished in the Great Stuf Debacle"), Mr. Nabisco gave the order.

I was never a Double Stuf kind of guy. I for one have never seen the chocolate cookies in an Oreo as just a device to convey the filling. Perhaps most are, and after they've parted the cookie and scraped off the creamy inside they lose interest in the chocolate. No, to me, the Oreo is a great balancing act of chocolate and cream, and to Double Stuf would be as silly as to add a third chocolate cookie to the outside.

But I have to say, the Most Stuf almost changed my mind.

It's almost like eating a little slice of cake, with a crisp crunchy layer on either end. The Stuf, being made of sterner stuff than buttercream, is not too much to take in a larger amount. I'm not part of the all-important milk-dunking demo, having eschewed dunkage for most products, so I can't vouch for that. I thought it was pretty good, though. And in fact more satisfying in a way, One Most Stuf was probably as satisfying as three normal Oreos.

Still, I prefer the perfect balance of a standard Oreo,

In the end, though, I have to say -- one should be happy with one's Stuf, however modest; if we cannot be grateful for the small Stuf, we can never be grateful for the most Stuf either.

Requiescant in Pace, Phil Klopnik!

Last reminder: If YOU want a sweet treat, download those sweet books and read to your heart's content. Tomorrow they cost real money again!

Sweet eats.

I'm trying to give up sweets this Lent, except for an upcoming birthday party for which Pope Me has already given dispensation. Still, that's going to mean an unusually long time for me to go without sugar. Can I survive without this key food group?

Meanwhile, though, I can live on the ghost of sugars past, like:

I've ridden Oreos' case for their weird varieties in recent times, such as the Peeps Oreo and the Pop Rocks Oreo. But Pistachio?

Yep -- and although this photo doesn't show it too well, the filling is green.

I expected to dislike the Pistachio Oreo Thin and revolt against its nuttiness, but I was wrong. It's delicious. Chocolate and nuts are a great combo, although one sees the pistachio/chocolate duet far less often than, say, almond/chocolate. My wife was not so enthused about it, but I say, if you like Oreos and pistachios, you'll probably like these.

On the topic of Peeps, though: With Easter coming, the folks at Just Born continue to surprise us with new variations on the Peep theme:

The Orange Sherbet Peep (I always wants to spell "sherbet" as "sherbert") is an interesting take. The orange flavor is pleasant, not forceful like the "fruit" flavors of a Jolly Rancher. The marshmallow candy is usually improved by dipping in chocolate, which adds depth and texture; here they've used "crème flavored fudge," which is not just a sweet hit like white chocolate, but more milky. Really makes it a Creamsicle Peep. Good job, Peeps people.

Getting back to Oreos for a moment: One of the more successful Oreo types I reviewed in 2017 was the Dunkin' Donuts Mocha, and I mention that now because A) the spreading of the Dunkin' Donuts brand continues and B) they are clearly still determined to drop the Donuts from the name.

Yoplait released these four Dunkin' Donuts-inspired flavors, and I as much as I hate to keep on this positive note today, these are pretty good too. The French Vanilla Latte is excellent if you're a fan of coffee yogurts; the Apple Fritter has a strong and tasty apple flavor, like the classic Dannon Dutch Apple back in le jour. The Cinnamon Coffee Roll is flat-out cinnamon and nothing wrong with that. The Boston Cream may be the least successful, first because chocolate is not a great blend with yogurt, and second because the subtle flavor of Boston cream is lost in translation. Still good, though.

Anyway, if you want mild disappointment, I always say you can't beat a McDonald's shake. And now is the time of year to join Uncle O'Grimacey for a Shamrock Shake. 

Still minty. Still greener than the inside of a Pistachio Oreo Thin. McDonald shakes are okay if you're really jonesing for a shake, but there's very little ice cream texture or flavor to one; really, they're so marshmallowy they should work with Just Born on a line of Peeps shakes.

So that's my tour de sweets for now; although our Lenten sacrifices are not supposed to be for selfish reasons, I wouldn't mind if my pants fit better by Easter. I hope Pope Me won't mind.

Pi r square, Oreo are round.

As I promised yesterday, we're reviewing another strange, mutant strain of Oreo cookie today. Last week's Rocky Road Trip came out all right, at least by my reckoning, but what the galloping gourmet is this?

In time for America's favorite pie season -- roughly June to Thanksgiving -- we have Apple Pie Oreos, courtesy of Nabisco and its parent company, Mondelēz. The Apple Pie Oreo has artificially flavored apple pie filling with a graham flavored cookie. The cookie is also presumably artificially flavored; it does not actually taste like health-promoting minister Sylvester Graham, who was too busy spinning in his grave to comment.

Has Oreo finally gone a bridge too far with this one? The defining characteristics of the Oreo are the chocolate cookie and the vanilla-ish cream filling. Other Oreos of various incarnations generally have chocolate or vanilla in there somewhere -- chocolate cookie, chocolate filling, vanilla cookie, or vanilla filling -- but I think this may be the first I've tried that completely eschews both vanilla and chocolate. The question then is, is this really an Oreo?

Think about it: If it was a peanut-butter flavored cookie with peanut butter filling, and round, it could call itself an Oreo but we would know it was really just a round Nutter Butter. If it were an open-faced Oreo with a blob of marshmallow covered in fudge it would not be an Oreo, it would be a Mallomar. And yet this, and the Blueberry Pie Oreo, and the Strawberry Shortcake Oreo, and the possible-grounds-for-investigation-by-child-services-breakfast-police Waffles & Syrup Oreo, all pass for Oreos. Shouldn't Nabisco just have introduced these insane products as new cookies?

I'm sure there are sound marketing reasons for it -- shelf space, brand recognition, whatever. Slap "Oreo" on it and you don't even have to advertise; people will be looking in the Oreo section of the cookie aisle and wham! Red Velvet Oreos! But how far away from the original Oreo can you get and still be an Oreo?

Who knows? It's like one of those how-many-licks on the Tootsie Pop conundrums. The world may never know.

I brought this package to an informal meeting that was attended by a dozen people. I had one cookie before the meeting started. It tasted like apple pie. The graham cookie was less convincing, but definitely had hints of graham cracker, enough to make me think: Who uses a graham cracker crust for apple pie? No one.

At the end of the meeting I went to see if I could snag another and they were gone. This was not the only snack on the table, but it was the only one that had been consumed. These Oreos had been scoffed down with alacrity. The package was in the trash.

If we're going to keep behaving like that, Nabisco has every motivation to keep cranking the wacky Oreo flavors out. Look for New York Cheesecake Oreos, Saltwater Taffy Oreos, Alabama Slammer Oreos, Circus Peanut Oreos, Pizza Oreos, Hot Pockets Oreos (and Oreo Hot Pockets), Pop-Tart Oreos (and Oreo Pop-Tarts -- oops, too late), Green Bean Casserole Oreos, BBQ Oreos, and White Castle Oreos. There's no stopping them now.

Oreo for the road.

As you all know, I often have to take Nasbico to task for their weird and unusual ideas of what to do with their classic Oreo cookie, America's best-selling cookie. Really, many of these Oreo variations were so disappointing that they may have led to the return of Hydrox.

This summer, however, I thought Nabisco got it right with the limited edition Rocky Road Trip Oreo.

My wife disagreed, but let me tell you, I think this cookie's pretty good. Doesn't have much to do with Rocky Road ice cream, except for the marshmallow, but who cares? It's an Oreo cookie with chocolate filling that has crunchy marshmallow bits in the filling -- and in the cookie itself. I know, right? The marshmallows are of course not of the Campfire or Jet-Puffed variety, but rather more like the marshmallows from Lucky Charms. And we're always after those Lucky Charms.

It got me thinking about Rocky Road, meaning the ice cream. I've never been a big fan; I like flavors of ice cream more than ice cream with lots of chunky stuff in it. Rocky Road has chocolate and marshmallow and nuts, usually almonds (unlike the Oreo version, which has no nuts). The history of Rocky Road is itself interesting, and as usual our friends at Mental Floss are on it. Apparently still-extant two ice cream manufacturers, Edy's/Dreyer's and Fentons Creamery, claim credit for inventing the popular variety. Or maybe it was some guys in Kansas. It's a mystery. Good thing that all of Ben & Jerry's stupid flavors are documented.

As are Oreos. Rocky Road Trip is obviously a vacation-season variety, and I gather it will gone soon. Summer's semi-officially on the wane; although we have almost another month to go, kids in New York know they're finished. They'll be waiting for the school bus next week. I know other kids in other parts of the country have already started classes, but in New York, or at least the southern part of the state, we stick to the no-school-in-August (except for dumdums and college students) rule that was in place when I was a child. No kid today knows why Jerry Lewis = Doomsday, but if you're in my age group you do. Labor Day weekend was the last gasp of summer, and even if summer sucked, even if you wanted to see your school friends again and break out all your new school supplies, even if you were bored stupid, summer was still better than school.

If you fall into the no-school-yet category, get a pack of Rocky Road Trip Oreos and cram a few in your mouth. It's a vacation cookie. It'll make you feel like you're in the back of a Winnebago, cruising along without a care in the world.

Or maybe not. But it's a nice thought, isn't it?

OreouCH!

I was definitely behind the curve on this one, and here I am several days after the Fourth finally reporting on it. 

Nabisco first released Firework Oreos last year, but I never got around to trying them. I'm not sure that back in those innocent days of 2017 I realized that Nabisco was putting a loaded weapon into the mouths of children here. Look at this thing!

It is an Oreo that is loaded with Pop Rocks. They call it "popping candy" but we know it's Pop Rocks, and we know how those sharp crackles and pops feel in your mouth. More important, the outer cookie doesn't give the game away; it is identical to the normal Oreo chocolate cookie. In other words, people, this is a prank cookie sold by a major corporation.

"Mmm! Oreos!"

"Why don't you eat one? Or five? (heh heh heh)"

"Thanks! Yum yum... May! Mhat the helmm is THIM?"

"Hardy har har!"

Okay, so Pop Rocks are not dangerous, except to say that they actually did blow the doors off a van once. Accidentally. Imagine what they could do on purpose.

Food and Wine magazine reviewed these Oreo Bombs Bursting in Mouths last year, and this was their take: "the general consensus remained that Oreos are darn good alone and popping candy is a just a fun new way to enjoy them even more."

Sez you, Food and Wine! It's time to put these patriotic sandwich cookies to the Fred Test. So under strict laboratory conditions (in chair in front of TV), I ate some. And here's the results:

Meh.

My hopes of having an explosive-centered cookie were dashed. I hardly noticed any pops at all. I guess the filling acts as a silencer. I hate to disagree with Food and Wine, but it just seemed grainy, like someone had gotten some Pecan Sandies too close to the Oreo manufacturing line. It tastes like a normal Oreo, which is great, but you'd never guess it was a Pop Rock center if you didn't know. Prank value dropped precipitously. People magazine gave it a C+, and I agree. Who would have guessed People would do a more precise food review than Food and Wine?

These being July Fourth-centered treats, though, they could salvage their score by passing these five tests:

1) Did they make me feel patriotic?
Sure. Look at the package! 

2) Did they make me think of my (non) ancestor, Francis Scott Key?
Everything does -- the man was a giant. These cookies particularly made me think of the lines, "O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand / Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!" 

3) Would I take them along to invade Tripoli and capture Derna?
I can't think of a single better cookie to bring along for such an adventure.

4) Did they make me consider the benefits of socialism or did they inspire me to the rugged life of freedom?
Capitalism to create Oreos, freedom to eat it without some busybody from the NIH interfering. You don't see the Brits with their National Health eating these. Ha!

5) Did they make my dentist call and ask what the heck I thought I was doing?
Nope. Don't tell.

So there's my experience with Firework Oreos; your mileage, or rather your explosive strength, may vary. Always happy to hear your experiences with these products. Next time: Dunkin' Fries -- breakfast side dish or elongated Munchkin?

Christmas calories.

Last week I said I might break down and eat that third seasonal doughnut by Dunkin' Donuts, the Frosted Sugar Cookie Donut. "No!" you said. "Be strong! Don't eat the fattening, tooth-rotting sugar bomb, Fred!"

I thank you for your concern, but I did it anyway.

This doughnut was described by Dunkin' Donuts as a "frosted donut with cookie dough flavored filling and topped with crumbled frosted sugar cookies" -- my fear, you may recall, was that it would taste like a sugar-frosted sugar doughnut with sugary-sugar-flavored filling and topped with sugar. I mean, I could just spoon sugar out of the five-pound sack directly into my mouth and save the trip. But that's not what this doughnut was like.

As with the gingerbread cookie I described in the last thrilling doughnut episode, the cookie crumbles on top of this doughnut have little flavor, and seem to be there to provide just texture. The filling is not that pure gout of sweetalanche that other Dunkin' products have had; it does have a bit of sugar cookie taste but not just sugar. However, "sugar cookie" is a flavor that is usually characterized by butter as well as sugar, and is subtle -- I don't feel that it has been captured here. I will say that the doughnut is not aggressively oversweet and is pleasant. While the unsweetened crumbles used in place of actual sugar cookies help prevent it from being too powerful, they still come across bizarre, a cookie that doesn't taste like anything.

On the topic of Christmas and cookies, though, I have to ask Nabisco: What the heck is this?

The Oreo "Winter" limited edition is the laziest excuse for a special Oreo that Nabisco makes. Look at that thing. That is a plain Oreo with red food coloring in the center. No unusual flavor. This is the outfit that gave us Cookie Butter Oreos and Cookie Dough Oreos and Birthday Cake Oreos and freaking Blueberry Pie Oreos, and this is all they do for Christmas? Sorry: "Winter"?

And what's "winter" about this? Red? Obviously they mean Christmas, but they won't say it, or even "Holiday." Christmas is associated with the color red. Winter is associated with white and ice-blue. They're not even trying. This is a lazy, lazy holiday cookie. Too lazy to even call it a "Holiday" cookie.

If they were going to do something for the Christmas season, and didn't feel like inventing a new flavor, they should have made the filling green and red (they used multi-colored fillings in their Candy Corn Oreos and others) or alternated red and green ones in the package. Then call them Holiday Oreos. Or, what the heck, Christmas Oreos.

But just red filling? Cram them in the jar until February and call them Valentine's Oreos. This is just sad.

Bringing back the classics.

For a long time it was that weird Earth-2 cookie... the Oreo that Dad would bring home when he had to go to the store and didn't remember what Oreos were called... My friends, I present to you, the original chocolate sandwich cookie, the one and only...

HYDROX!!!!!

The Hydrox had quite a checkered history. The name seems to be an indicator of that chemical compound known as dihydrogen monoxide, and in fact it was. Wikipedia says its creators were looking for a name that promoted purity and goodness, and what's better than hydrogen and oxygen? It's not generally known that the Hydrox predated the very similar Oreo, and by a considerable margin; the Hydrox cookie came on the market in 1908, and Mr. Sandwich-Come-Lately Oreo in 1912.

If you haven't heard that the Hydrox cookie is back, you may have some questions.

Q: Did it go somewhere?

A: It sure did. Sunshine Biscuits, the company that made Hydrox for almost 90 years, went toes-up in 1996 when it was bought by Keebler, which was then bought by Kellogg. Some of its products, like Cheez-It crackers, are still made by Kellogg, but the Hydrox cookie breathed its last in 1999.

Q: So, you ate, like, 18-year-old cookies?

A: No, silly imaginary person! Hydrox is back! Leaf Brands, an outfit dedicated to reviving defunct but popular products, has brought the Hydrox back to life. As always for food products, fighting its way onto supermarket shelves has been a problem, but Walmarts are carrying them. I got my pack as an Amazon add-on.

Q: What's the Hydrox like?

A: Hydrox is one of those cookies that inspire powerful loyalty in some people, so reviewing it is a delicate matter. I am a natural supporter of the underdog, but even more I am a supporter of truth and rightness, and if the underdog is wrong, he's got to get his butt kicked. And it's all opinion anyway.

And my opinion is... the Oreo is better.

Now, hear me out, Hydrox fans! The Hydrox is a very, very good cookie, and I can understand why some would prefer it. It's exactly as Leaf describes it: crunchier cookie, less sweet filling, darker chocolate. I actually prefer the filling in the Hydrox, which is a little thicker than that in the standard Oreo, and tastes of sugar, not corn syrup. (Hydrox does not contain that evil HFCS; Oreo does.) I just find that the chocolate part is a bit chalky and doesn't have as much flavor as the Oreo. That's the whole basis of my preference, and it is a preference only. God knows I'd eat my weight in Hydrox if they were free and I could still wear my pants afterward.

That's my take on the whole thing; I would still buy Hydrox, but most people will probably always think of it as a second-rate Oreo, which is totally unfair. If you have fond memories of Hydrox, or are curious about it, or just want to root for the underdog, or just would shove any cookie in your face like me, go try a package and let me know what you think.

The summer of Oreos.

As we proceed through summer, it appears that Nabisco, or its parent company with the meaningless and lousy name Mondelēz, has lost its mind. Specifically as regards Oreos, which some call the world's greatest store-bought cookie. 

Blueberry Pie Oreos, which actually came out last year, have returned. If it has a pie crust cookie and blueberry flavored filling, is it really still an Oreo? And then there are the "Firework" Oreos, a standard Oreo that has something like Pop Rocks in the filling to pop off in your mouth. 

However, I was at a gathering last week and found that the Nabisco people have partnered with family fave Dunkin' Donuts to create the Dunkin' Donuts Mocha Oreo. 

Nabisco, you have redeemed yourself.

As we know, Dunkin' Donuts frequently goes over the top with its bizarre and too-sweet doughnuts, but I want to tell you this cookie is just right. The chocolate Oreo cookies are unchanged, but the filling nails it. It is quite sweet -- sweeter than regular Oreo perhaps, but I didn't have a control cookie for the experiment -- with a good coffee flavor that is not phony and not burned-up Starbucksy. Blended together this is a great combination of chocolate, cream, and coffee, just what you'd want in a mocha beverage.

I've not been overwhelmed with other Dunkin' spinoffs like the Pop-Tarts. In fact, with Girl Scout cookie cereals and such there's entirely too much synergy in the supermarket for my taste. However, when they get one right I must applaud, and this Oreo variant has gotten it right. Bravo, Nabisco and Dunkin' Donuts.

I still think that Mondelēz sounds like a Spanish name for dry rot, though.

Yet another thing I shouldn't have eaten.

Square doughnut?

Yeah, breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts again. This time I made the horrid mistake of getting one of the new cheesecake doughnuts---it's a... Are you ready for this?

You're not ready for this.

You can't handle this.

Oh, all right.

It is an Oreo Cheesecake Square, which---along with the Raspberry Cheesecake Square---are the latest killer doughnuts unleashed on an unsuspecting populace.

This is all wrong.

Regular readers of this blog know that I often complain about these Dunkin' Donuts doughnuts being much too sweet, so sweet they make diabetics pass out for blocks around, so sweet they make your teeth itch just looking at them, and these readers may suspect that I protest too much. That I'm Br'er Fred, begging not to be forced to eat the oh-too-sweet doughnut.

But the problem here is that the cheesecake squares (and yes, I tried both) are not so sweet as they are weird. I mean yes, they are too sweet, but the "cheesecake" filling is not pleasant. It has a tang that supposedly resembles cream cheese, but tastes more like buttermilk to me. Nor is it rich like French cheese cake; it is almost thin. It tastes like a cheesecake that got to warm, melted, and went off. I kept wanting to like them, I truly did, but it just wasn't working.

Maybe others will find these pleasant, but I didn't. Someone must have okayed them back at DDHQ. Someone must have said, "These taste awesome! Release the squares!" But I would have put a stop to this nonsense before it got that far.

Oh, well; back to the Boston Kreme!

Unholy marriage...

...of Nabisco and Hershey:

Evil.

This is just cruel.

Unless you're one of the unfortunate souls that is allergic to peanuts or, even more tragic, chocolate, you're aware that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (made by Hershey) are among the world's great candies. And Nabisco's Oreo is one of the world's great cookies. But we thought they were safely tucked away in their respective universes, like Loki and Set, Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor, Darth Vader and the Daleks. But something happened, and now this temptation to fat has been fired at us, and right at the start of swimsuit season. What will it do to my girlish figure?

I saw them in the store and desperately wanted to try them, but couldn't justify smuggling the calories into the house. So I texted this picture to the lovely Mrs. Key in a "Can you believe this?" manner and she texted back "BUY!"

I love her!

Her review was similar to others on the Net, as it turned out---too sweet, for one thing. "Too sweet" is a concept with which I am not overly familiar, but the point is taken. The Oreo doughnuts that have just made their annual reappearance at Dunkin' Donuts are really, really sweet, so it seems to be a Nabisco risk they run, a fine knife's edge trod by the Oreo people as they skate where angels fear to tread.

Eviller.

But I liked the Oreo Reese's. I've always been one to walk on the dark side. Or at least the oversweet chocolaty side.