What Lady Gaga Oreo Cookies?

Food icon Oreo has teamed up with music icon Lady Gaga for a limited edition cookie inspired by her latest album Chromatica – a combination of celebrity cache and grocery store cred that Andy Warhol would heartily endorse. Why now, six months after the release of said album? Stop asking questions and eat. Or dance. Or both.

The cookie wafers are bright pink with a kelly green filling – a fun twist, although similar to last year’s Sakura Matcha Oreo from China. Gaga’s colors were brighter, however.

How are they?

While billed as standard Oreos with color, I disagree – these were buttery and had an almond extract flavor. They tasted a lot like spritz cookies (you know, the kind you squeeze out of grandma’s 50-year-old cookie press at the holidays), which was a plus for me!

I’m not sure if this flavor deviation was intentional. The extra food coloring for intensely-hued foods can bring a bitter taste – red/pink are notorious for this. I wonder if more flavor was added to offset any possible bitterness.

Packaging here is disappointing. A lot of white space, and the back has almost nothing on it! Come on, this is GAGA. She ain’t minimalist! I want holographic metallics at least. Mockups of the full-sized pack have a hot pink background and a larger “monster rip”, but even then, meh.

There’s a promotion involved as well, but the only way to know that is the “Scan here for something fun!” QR code on the side. Mmmkay. You can make and share an “Oreogram” singing message.

Anything else you need to know?

Right now, 6-cookie-packs have been released to convenience stores, with full-size package release date TBD.

Conclusion:

Fun cookie colors (although not totally new), slightly interesting flavor deviation that might be unintentional, but lame packaging. Worth a try if you love Oreo cookies or Lady Gaga.

Purchased Price: $1.79 each
Size: 6.1oz pack (6 cookies)
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 12 grams of total sugars, including 12 grams of added sugars, and less than 1 gram of protein.

“Gin-ger-bread gin-ger-bread gin-ger-bread Or-eee-ooo. Oh what fun it is to snack-on-you even though-there-is-no snow. Hey!”

That’s right, baby! It’s only October, and there’s ZERO snow in sight, but my heart is-a-singin’ cause Gingerbread Oreo are back! Sort of. Originally released way back in 2012 and making appearances for several years after, Gingerbread Oreo have returned to usher in the 2020 holiday season in a new festive form.

The original Gingerbread Oreo, last seen in 2015, was a standard Golden Oreo cookie filled with a gingerbread-flavored creme. The newest iteration is a gingerbread-flavored cookie filled with classic Oreo creme and crunchy sugar crystals. The wafers are garnished with five wintery designs to warm our holiday hearts.

I’m an autumn boy through and through, and spice is the name of my game. The last three years, Pumpkin Spice Oreo have vanished from shelves, and while Maple is a nice addition, it doesn’t quite hit with the same punch as those lovely warming spices. Needless to say, I love the new Gingerbread Oreo.

Opening the package is like a cozy holiday nostril massage full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, rounded out with a cool vanilla sweetness. Gingerbread is at its best when its aggressive spice is complimented by a sweet, soothing and creamy, frosting. The cookie itself isn’t over the top spicy, but it’s more pronounced in its assertiveness than Cinnamon Bun and a whole helluva lot more impressive than the lackluster Cookie Butter.

The balance between the cookie and the creme is great. While I wouldn’t have been mad at a cream cheese flavored filling, the original Oreo “white stuf” does a convincing job at bringing the sugary blast my tinsel-y tastebuds want.

The crunchy sugar crystals add a nice little textural intrigue. Their red color, paired with the undeniably cute designs on the outside, really brings the jingle bell vibes full circle. The Oreo actually look like a perfect cookie representation of an inverted slice of gingerbread loaf, and I find the visual-meets-taste appeal to be hard to stop eating. I just want to keep going. Run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Yes, it’s still spooky season, and I actually dug into these right before watching “The Thing” for the sixth time. But it’s my first taste of Christmas this year, and quite frankly, Nabisco won me over. Whether these are better than the sweeter and more vanilla-forward Gingerbread Oreo of the past will be totally subjective. But for this spicy boy they’re right in the same tier of junk food greatness.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: 10.7 oz
Purchased at: Walgreens
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 12 grams of total sugars, and less than 1 gram of protein.

What are Oreo Mooncakes?

Oreo cookies are The Borg. An alien life form that roams the galaxy, conquering and assimilating civilizations (for the non-Trekkies). Sure, they’re not doing it by force – more like delicious seduction – but still, there’s no culture or food item that cannot or will not be Ore-ized. Churros, candy canes, matcha, and now – mooncakes. Resistance is futile.

Mooncakes are iconic Asian delicacies – baked pastry wrapped around a paste filling. They’re served during the Mid-Autumn Festival (October 1st this year) to celebrate the autumn full moon. While the cakes and the festival originated in China, they’re both celebrated and eaten across the continent. China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines roll out the beloved mooncakes each year – often with variations of favorite fillings and styles. Japan and Korea celebrate related fall lunar festivals, but mooncakes are not a large part of their menus.

Mondelez (Oreo’s parent company) have become a player in the mooncake game in the past few years through their Vietnamese division, and you know Oreo just had to make an appearance! They’ve been exporting Oreo Mooncakes to China, Singapore, and Thailand since 2017 in flavors like brownie, strawberry jam, cocoa with milk, cappuccino, and pineapple custard.

I failed to source these last year, so I was thrilled to see them for sale online in America recently. Apparently importing mooncakes to the U.S. is a tricky business. Google this if you have time to go down a rabbit hole of egg yolks and customs regulations. I bought a 2-cake set with one Oreo brownie-flavored and one strawberry jam-flavored mooncake. While manufactured in Vietnam, it came via Thailand, so these mooncakes have more passport stamps than most people I know!

How are they?

It had been a while since I had regular mooncakes, so I decided to buy some from a Chinatown bakery to compare. They had flaky pastry shells, and heavy but delicious fillings – red bean, lotus and pineapple.

After opening the gorgeous Oreo gift box, I cut into the brownie mooncake first. The pastry shell was considerably doughier than a traditional mooncake, although definitely had that Oreo black cocoa flavor. It was the most Oreo-y element. The tan-colored filling might have been lotus paste, but it was hard to tell because the chocolate brownie center totally overwhelmed it. It was delicious, but more brownie than Oreo.

Next up, the strawberry jam mooncake. Its pastry was even softer, without much flakiness. The first few bites were bland strawberry, until I got to a small ribbon of the jam center. I wished there was more jam – it upped the flavor quite a bit, and turned it into a pretty decent little cake.

The fillings in both cakes were less dense than the traditional – very solid – mooncakes. The Oreo fillings felt more like half-baked cookie dough. They’re still enough to fill your belly quickly, though.

Overall, a unique experience, but they somehow lost a lot of the charm of both Oreo cookies and mooncakes in the combination.

Anything else you need to know?

This box was absolutely stunning and high-quality. There’s a magnetic closure on top, and it opens like wings. The side panels are laser cut with floral designs.

Conclusion:

These are interesting, but without the classic Chinese flavors, there’s some context lost here – like those reproductions of historic sculptures covered in neon paint. They are shiny magenta Venus de Milos.

But, if you love traditional mooncakes, these are worth a try for the sheer audacity of them. If you love Oreo cookies, they’re worth trying for the completely different format. If you’re on the fence, give ‘em a try, but try a regular mooncake first for a frame of reference.

Purchased Price: $35.00 + shipping
Size: 2-cake gift box
Purchased at: Desert Drinks and Exotics
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Oreo Brownie)
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Strawberry Jam)
Nutrition Facts:– (1 cake) Oreo Brownie Mooncake – 320 kcalories, 11 grams of fat, 95 milligrams of sodium, 49 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. Strawberry Jam Mooncake – 280 kcalories, 7 grams of fat, 65 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 24 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.