Well folks, “Spooky Season” is just about over.

Crazy, right? It feels like it just started.

No, seriously, it feels like “Spooky Season” literally just started. That term seemingly appeared out of thin air and now every single person insists on saying it fourteen times a day.

For that reason alone, I was relieved to see Christmas snacks like Snickerdoodle Oreo Cookies starting to hit the shelves.

Are snickerdoodles even a Christmas thing? I’ve never really thought of them as distinctly Christmassy, but who am I to argue?

Snickerdoodle Oreo has both cinnamon-flavored cookies and crème, which are both speckled with red and green crunchy flavor crystals, so ya know what? Sure, these are Christmas cookies.

I love a good snickerdoodle. I love Oreo. Surely, I love these, right?

Ehhhh, I have some gripes. Bah humbug and whatnot.

First of all, there’s something very “synthetic cinnamon” about the scent these cookies emit. There’s a fine line between appetizing and “candle,” and these smell like the latter.

The cookie wafer itself has a very mild cinnamon flavor. There’s no mention on the package, so I may honestly just be tasting a cinnamon Ghost of Christmas Past radiating from the crème. These might just be decorated Golden Oreo, but I think I’m right. Either way, it’s a pretty bland cookie.

The crème is nice, but not exactly bursting with cinnamon. It’s like the classic Oreo crème with a dash of cinnamon. They’re not cloyingly sweet as a result, so that’s a positive.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no mistaking the cinnamon, but these are a little on the boring side. I do love the colorful flavor crystals though. They’re basically the sprinkles you’d decorate Christmas sugar cookies with, and they made the wafers look like Doritos Cool Ranch Oreo, which excited me for some strange reason.

I should acknowledge that while I find these tame, they do a nice job of emulating the cookie’s flavor. It’s not like snickerdoodles typically burn your mouth like a shot of Fireball or a stick of Big Red, so I’m not sure what I was ultimately expecting.

Another thought I couldn’t shake was that snickerdoodles are usually as much a textural cookie as they are a flavor experience. If I’m eating one, I want it to be soft. I associate this cinnamon profile with a soft cookie, so maybe these never even had a chance to be a favorite.

Snickerdoodle might literally be the center point on an Oreo flavor scale. I don’t really remember the exact taste of the Cinnamon Bun Oreo, but I’m positive I liked those more. In reality, these probably aren’t that much of a far cry from those, but they’re definitely worse.

With these being released in October, I’m curious to see if Oreo has an even more Christmassy variety up its three sleeves. If not, you’re stuck with Snickerdoodle, which is… fine. They’re fine. They’re inoffensive and probably worth a try, but they certainly don’t pack enough of a punch to eat during something called “Spooky Season,” so maybe wait a week or two. Merry Christmas.

Purchased Price: $4.69
Size: 12.2 oz package
Purchased at: Shop Rite
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 Cookies) 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein.

The original Triple Double Neapolitan Oreo debuted 11 years ago. It was stacked like a Big Mac with a Golden Oreo wafer, strawberry creme, a middle wafer, chocolate creme, and ending with a top wafer.

Of course, that’s the only way Nabisco could do it back then because it didn’t have the Oreo production technology it has now. Back in 2011, who would’ve thought that it would be possible to create flavored wafers or make the creme layers thin enough that three could be stacked on top of each other, avoiding a cookie that looks like the equivalent of a New York pastrami sandwich if it used the original creme’s thickness.

But here we are in 2022 with a Neapolitan Oreo reboot with two waffle cone-flavored wafers with vanilla, strawberry, AND chocolate cremes stacked sloppily on each other as if they’re celebrating a national championship or something.

So is this 2022 version better than the 2011 one? Yes. Although the original was given a 5 out of 10, so the bar was a bit low to begin with. But this one is automatically better because its execution is much improved. As for its flavor, it’s a slight upgrade from the 2011 offering.

With some bites, the strawberry creme came through more, while it was the chocolate with others. The standard Oreo creme is there, but there’s not much to say because it seems it’s there more for show to complete the Neapolitan ice cream look and to increase the sugar content. This would taste the same if the white creme wasn’t there. The three layers cause the cookie to taste too sweet for my taste buds, and they were satisfied eating one or two of them. Of course, your taste buds may vary.

As for the waffle cone-flavored wafers, they have a noticeable cinnamon flavor, which makes them taste graham cracker-flavored. Their crunch is slightly different from a regular Oreo wafer, and it might be enough to trick oneself into thinking it’s waffle cone-like.

Overall, this 2022 version of Neapolitan Oreo is good, but not “OMG, I hope this is around FOREVER!!!” great. However, you should pick it up because with this cookie, with its flavored wafers, different wafer designs, thinner creme layers, and multiple creme layers on top of each other, you can experience a showcase of what Oreo has learned to do since the first Neapolitan Oreo.

Purchased Price: $4.00
Size: 13.2 oz package
Purchased at: Times Supermarket
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) 180 calories, 9 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar (16 grams of added sugar), and less than 1 gram of protein.

When Oreo announced its new limited edition flavor, I thought it was Groundhogs’ Day. Haven’t we seen a coffee-flavored one already?!

After scavenging this site’s archives, there have been the following varieties:

• 2017: Dunkin’ Donuts Mocha Oreo
• 2017: Salted Caramel Oreo Thins
• 2019: Latte Oreo Thins
• 2020: Fudge Dipped Latte Oreo Thins Bites
• 2021: Java Chip Oreo

Okay, close, but not quite this exact flavor. I see you, Mondelez! There’s basically no additional R&D needed if you just mash up previous cremes, right? After Oreo runs out of existing mash-ups, I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing savory flavors like the current state of the ice cream aisle…

Lack of uniqueness aside, it’s still a tasty Oreo. When I opened the package, the smell reminded me of 7-Eleven or Meijer Express, and I mean that in a good way. It’s that very distinct smell of syrupy, artificially aromatic coffee. It’s almost Pavlovian for me as I can just hear the ding of the door opening and the sweet coffee aroma immediately tickling my nostrils. The scent also helped me overlook how messy the creme looked. I was surprised not to see neat rows.

This scent comes from the dual creme layers of supposedly mocha latte and caramel. I say supposedly because the tan part carries the team. It has all the flavor, so I thought it was caramel latte filling. I tried the darker brown creme repeatedly, but I couldn’t pick up anything distinct except for a flat, sweet note. So, I concluded that it was there just visual interest. I thought the darker brown filling was gratuitous because the cookie itself did a fine job being the chocolate portion of mocha. It also added a much-needed depth, a counterpoint to the caramel sweetness. Can you tell that I’m #TeamCookie?

But apparently, it’s mocha latte and caramel cremes. I really didn’t get that at all, and I have gingerly peeled apart the layers on many a cookie at this point.

Overall, there have been more exciting limited edition Oreo cookies, but I think this did the job of emulating a caramel mocha latte. I am, however, still left wondering if Oreo’s coffee flavors have caffeine in them.

Regardless, I’ve started to dip these cookies into an espresso as my afternoon treat and it’s getting out of hand! Where’s the family-size pack of limited edition flavors when you need ’em?!

Purchased Price: $3.98
Size: 12.2 oz
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and less than 1 gram of protein.