The January slump can be tough to combat — but sometimes, the little things help, even if they’re kind of silly. Case in point: Here is your reminder that Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos exist. In fact, not only do they exist, they are readily available — as in, you could go get yourself a pack right this very second if you felt like it. The day (month) (year) might be feeling a little blah right now, but if you’ve got a sweet tooth (hi, hello, how are you today?), a nostalgia-inducing treat might help alleviate the blah-ness. You’re welcome.
News of the treats first dropped over the summer. During the 2018 Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago — the snack food trade show that also introduced us to Unicorn Magic Snack Pack pudding and Hidden Valley Ranch popcorn and chips — Nabisco debuted five brand-new Oreo flavors, promising they would each drop before the end of 2018: Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake, Rocky Road, and Peppermint Bark, which would be limited edition, and Pistachio Thins and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, which would be permanent.
It turns out that Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos actually hit shelves shortly after we learned of their existence — but as Simple Most pointed out this week, many of us straight-up missed it. I have no idea how that happened (because, I mean, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos)… but let’s fix that right now: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos are available right now, and since they are a permanent offering, you’ll be able to get them until the end of time. Or at least, until either they’re retired or the apocalypse happens.
Interestingly, the cookies themselves aren’t the chocolate-flavored ones I would have expected them to be; they’re graham cookies. Meanwhile, the cream sandwiched between the cookies is half peanut butter and half chocolate. Multiple reviewers, including Junk Banter and Snack Cellar, noted that pie-themed Oreo flavors are usually a big hit; Blueberry Pie Oreos, Key Lime Pie Oreos, Mississippi Mud Pie Oreos, and Apple Pie Oreos have all earned quite a following over the years. So how do these ones stack up?
According to Junk Banter, the peanut butter flavor is stronger overall than the chocolate flavor, which might be either a plus or a minus to you depending on whether you like peanut butter better than chocolate or vice versa. Snack Cellar agreed, writing, “Eaten together, the flavor is good but I completely lost the chocolate aspect amid the nutty, salty peanut butter and floury graham cookie.”
The choice to use graham cookies instead of chocolate ones seems to be a good one, though; Brianna Young of the Three Snackateers noted in her review that she was glad to see them, calling them her “favorite,” while Chris Brugnola of Junk Banter wrote, “I find [the] crèmes work better on the graham wafer than on the chocolate ones they’re typically found on.”
The responses over all seem to be a little bit mixed — but since the peanut butter-chocolate flavor combination is relatively “safe,” they’re by no means a bad Oreo.
I also think they’d work well as ingredients in other baked goods. Initially, I’d wondered what might happen if you made a peanut butter pie with a crust made out of Peanut Butter Pie Oreos (pie-ception!), but that was before I found out the cookies were graham, rather than chocolate. My next thought? Cheesecake. A peanut butter or peanut butter chocolate cheesecake with a Peanut Butter Pie Oreo crust would probably be amazing. How’s that for some baking inspiration?
Peanut Butter Pie Oreos are currently available at a wide array of retailers, including Target, Amazon, and Walmart. Don’t forget some milk for dunking!
