Poor maple.
Since the dawn of seasonal snack food proliferation and the veritable arms race of limited-edition flavors, it’s been getting overlooked each fall by pumpkin spice and any combination of apple flavors. And while it seems obvious maple would make its way into prime-time cookie form, it sure took its sweet time. Hell, it took Oreo 25 other flavors to even consider maple!
Frankly, Maple Creme Oreo Cookies are long overdue, especially given the fact that people have been smuggling Dare Maple Leaf Crème cookies across the Canadian border for as long as I can remember.
Like any rational human being, I eagerly enjoyed my first Maple Creme Oreo by twisting the cookies ends off and licking the crème, which looks like peanut butter. More viscous than regular Oreo creme and slightly gritty, it has a delicate depth and slightly unprocessed flavor. These are not woodsy, warming, or even caramel, all flavors associated with darker colored maple syrups. But for what they lack in a romantic conception of drizzling maple syrup over pancakes after a long day of chopping wood in Vermont with our best flannel shirt, they make up in general appeal.
In that light, the creme does hit a maple note, although one that straddles a slightly-more-sweet-than-it-needs-to-be mixture of corn syrup and light brown sugar. You’re getting maple flavor, but you’re not getting maple syrup — a sensation complicated by the Golden Oreo wafers.
While the creme is far too sweet on its own, the Golden Oreo wafers help balance out the taste. When I first bit into one, an odd but welcomed memory of Golden Grahams surfaced on my tongue. I’m not sure if the wafers received a slight flavor change for the cookie, or if was the combination of being stuck to the maple-flavored creme, but the taste was different and better than the average Golden Oreo.
In any case, the wafers had enough complexity to dull the sweetness while rounding out the maple flavor, making the complete cookie chomp the preferred method for eating these.
While Oreo could have gone a lot of different ways in pairing the maple flavor, I tend to think the simplest variation is often the best. It definitely works here, and although Maple Creme Oreo Cookies are not quite as good as Canada’s Maple Leaf Crème cookies (which are made with real maple syrup), they’re still good enough on their own to deserve consideration to be in the regular lineup.
Purchased Price: $2.99
Size:12.2 oz. package
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) 140 calories, 6 grams of total fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 65 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 13 grams of total sugars, 13 grams of added sugars, and less than 1 gram of protein.
I was disappointed with these. Trader Joe’s maple leaf cookies are way better.
“…especially given the fact that people have been smuggling Dare Maple Leaf Crème cookies across the Canadian border for as long as I can remember.” I see those at Big Lots and Ocean State Job Lot all the time, along with other flavors.
They’re not usually the ones made for the Canadian market. The quality of the ingredients (and sometimes the ingredients) can vary. Still a pretty tasty option!
Candian Maple Leaf Cookies & TJ Maple Leaf are much better IMO. Agree with above.
Not using real maple syrup in these Oreos was a poor marketing decision by Nabisco. I have zero interest in trying a bag of “artificially flavored” maple cookies when I could easily purchase real flavored maple cookies.
That’s what I was thinking until we tried them. We like them way better than Dare from Canada. We LOVE them.
Who has to smuggle Dare cookies over the border? I think I’ve seen them at Meijer, but I know you can get them at Kroger and (oddly enough) Menard’s. The latter is a home improvement store that has a small grocery section, which has never not seemed weird to me.
I just bought these at Target for $2.99 in the Chicagoland.
Totally gross. Had a couple with milk before bed, woke up puking my guts out with nothing but maple flavor. Feeding the rest of them to the chickens. Gross
They are awful! They taste more burnt sugar than maple: how could they have been released? If you want maple cookies go with Dare or Trader Joe’s brand.
Canada’s maple cookies are over rated, expensive, and not anywhere near as good as these! I certainly hope that Nabisco comes out with these as a permanent flavor. These are truly the best maple cookies EVER! Tasty!