It’s time in the northern hemisphere!
You know, when the days get shorter, the temperature at night drops to a level that annihilates all the bugs that want to bite me, and….
The SEASONAL FLAVORS have ARRIVED!
Let’s start with the one that’s in my house:
That’s right, PUMPKIN. SPICE. OREOS.
Please note: any and all disparagement of pumpkin spice is not necessary.
Please also note: I did NOT get to try one of these, but I am told by my younger child, who pursues all the seasonal flavors of Oreo with gleeful determination, that they are “really good.”
When asked how to describe them, the reply was,
Turn pumpkin pie filling into icing, and slap it between two crispy snickerdoodles.
So, let’s say that you’ve found a package at your local purveyor of seasonal cookies. You need a book to go with your cookies!
What books do we pair with this flavor? Shana, Amanda, and I are here to help!
Sarah: For pumpkin spice Oreos, I’d pair a fine stack of four with The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. It’s cozy, sweet, and a little spicy, and very good indeed.
Shana: Pumpkin pie is one of my favorites and I wait all year for pumpkin season (even though canned pumpkin means pies could be made year round). So I’d pair these with The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan.
The couple in this book has waited a long time to get together, perhaps unnecessarily. Pumpkin spice has a reputation for being basic, but it’s actually complex. The relationship catalyst in Milan’s book is the launch of a British sauce recipe, and the story made me rethink my dismissal of British sauces and chutneys as boring and simplified. The book made me really hungry, just like reading about these Oreos!
Amanda: I’m not super big on pumpkin pie (however pumpkin spiced coffee drinks are another story – love those!).
I think of something a little witchy as pumpkin reminds me of the transition from the end of October into November as we start the Thanksgiving prep, but of course, with a focus on gathering and family time.
My vote for this one goes to The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston.
…
Next up, a flavor that isn’t necessarily seasonal but I find more easily in the fall:
Carrot Cake Oreos!
Amanda says these are delicious. They’re less sweet than the other two, I think.
Amanda: Whenever Sarah sends me mail, there’s always a little snack included. I think we were Twitch streaming and she was talking about the abomination that are Carrot Cake Oreos and I jokingly said to send them over. Next thing I know, I have a ziploc baggie with oreos inside arriving on my doorstep. It felt like some illicit drug deal.
There’s definitely some spice to them, but what I remember most is the cream-cheese style filling. Less sweeter than the original creme filling. I think this would be a great option for someone who finds a regular Oreo to be too sweet.
So: what book do we pair with this one, y’all?
Sarah: I’d pair this book with The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian. This book is cunning, fun, diverting, and there are some elements that I did not expect but really appreciated. I think the carrot cake Oreos are a little unexpected, too.
Shana: These would make me want cake, so I’d pair them with Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley. There’s a cupcakery owning hero, and some strong enemies to lovers flavor.
Amanda: I’m not going to go with a romance with for this. Instead, I want to suggest a kooky whodunnit – Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson.
It’s unassuming on the surface, but is a fun, new sci-fi take on a locked-room mystery with some wholesome characters.
…
And finally, our most elusive seasonal flavor.
My younger child loves these, and we haven’t found them in a while. They’re more than a limited edition. They’re rare.
He describes them as “Heaven.” “God’s gift to earth.”
Specifically: “Apple cider donut Oreos are like cinnamon cookies dunked in the flavor of apple cider, then y’know. Icing Texture.”
They are his absolute faves, and we haven’t scored a package yet this year. Fingers crossed!
I have no knowledge of what these taste like. If they arrive in the house, they disappear very quickly. But what books can we pair with this elusive, deeply enjoyable flavor?
Sarah: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming. This was such a rare find: funny, immersive fantasy with a fantastic heroine in a familiar fantasy plot.
Plus, the heroine’s name is Cinnamon, and she loves cheese enough to yell about it in the first few pages. Like I said, a rare find.
Shana: Oooh, these sound good! I would pair them with Greener Pastures by Aurora Rey. One of the heroines runs an apple orchard and makes hard cider. She has a serious sweet tooth too.
Amanda: Anything with apples, I have to suggest Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen.
New England. Orchards. Come on! Anything with apple cider flavors definitely makes me think of fall in my area. My partner and I are going to attempt an apple cider donut tour of New England and I’m very excited.
What about you? Do you have a seasonal favorite in the flavor department, or do you too seek the experience of the apple cider donut Oreo? What book would you pair with a stack of cookies?
I really have to try something pumpkin spice flavored someday. In my country, we don’t have the tradition of pumpkin spice flavored things in the fall the way that you have in the USA, so it’s another one of the exciting things that I hear about on TV and in comic strips but I don’t encounter for real.
On the subject of Oreos, my brother once gave me a packet of American Oreos after a trip to the USA. I was surprised to notice that they weren’t as crunchy as European Oreos, or have as high an amount of cocoa. Not bad cookies or anything, but clearly completely different cookies from the ones sold in Europe under the exact same name. (Of course, these days the cocoa content in European Oreos has decreased from about 7% to about 4%… I still miss the old ones…)
although I do respect your wise counsel in many things, I cannot get on board with these faux-reos
There is even pumpkin spice Special K, presumably to atone for any other pumpkin dessert sins!
The purpose of carrot cake is as a vehicle for cream cheese icing, so alas I will give those Oreos a pass.
I’ve never been much for pumpkin spice, in part because allspice is the dominant note and I don’t care for it as much as other warm spices (also my family is pecan pie or nothing when it comes to American Thanksgiving). But I can be seduced by apple cider anything, so I shall keep a look out for these special Oreos!
PS Thank you Amanda for the Eddie Robson rec! A teenage love for Connie Willis means that I can always be suckered by scifi riffs on classic genres.
Maple. Where’s the maple. There were a couple glorious years when I found maple flavored coffee creamer. It was glorious stuff. Now it’s all pumpkin spice and peppermint (bleech). Yes, yes I have achieved something similar with maple syrup and milk, but there’s much to be said for having just the one bottle in the mini-fridge at work.
Book pairing? Why Alice Clayton’s Hudson Valley series, of course.
I was thinking this article would be about the new Snickerdoodle Oreos announced yesterday, but upon rereading that announcement, I see they won’t be available until Oct 17. If younger child is willing to do another taste test in a few weeks (and it sounds like that won’t require too much convincing), please let us know if they’re any good.
@DonnaMarie If you have a Trader Joes near you, they have maple sandwich cookies in the shape of leaves that are both tasty and adorable.
Speaking of Trader Joes, it’s not quite seasonal time yet, but their chocolate covered peppermint jojos (jojos are their version of oreos), are extremely delicious.
My dad used to LOVE those peppermint jojos from Trader Joe’s, ate a ton of them to stay awake on long drives.
The sugar wasn’t worth the heart attack though, lol, an don’t want one so I stay away from all this dessert stuff now. Absolutely improved my whole quality of life. It’s amazing how sickly they all appear now… But I do still really like the packaging on the seasonal jojos.
(I did have apple cider donuts many years ago–it was a very odd experience b/c I was buying a six pack at the farmer’s market to share with my family on our vacation and the vender was like “You won’t want to share, you’ll want to eat them all!” and I was like “Yeah, lol, sure they’re great but I’m gonna share them” and she just kept *hammering* on the idea that I was going to eat them all. Beyond the “little joke to soft sell you on buying more” type thing and fully into the realm of weirdness. I kinda wished I’d just walked away out of spite, lol. Even full-on sugar addict me only ate like 1.5 of them.)
@Mikey: typically pumpkin spice is nutmeg or allspice, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon in some sort of combo depending on what you’re baking. It’s all the warm spices.
@Carol: FAUX REOS LOLOLOL.
Alas, we tried store brand apple cider donut sandwich cookies, and they were Not Good. But we are certainly going to look for the snickerdoodle Oreos. Both the teens would be curious about those!
I grew pumpkins this year. Pie pumpkins, not jack-o-lanterns. They were extremely prolific, so I am going to be making pumpkin pie, cake, muffins, pancakes, any way I can think of using them. Recipes accepted.
I don’t know if Trader Joe’s carries this all over the country, but on the East Coast they have a seasonal Honeycrisp Apple Cider that is delicious. Shelf stable, I stock up on it every year.
Besides TJ’s, there are maple sandwich cookies by Dare Foods that are good, and Wegmans makes their own brand, but I haven’t tried it.
Amanda! If you’re doing an apple cider donut tour of New England, I highly recommend Lyman’s Orchards in Middlefield CT. They have the best around, plus a corn maze and pick your own orchards. There’s also Neil’s Donuts in close by in Middletown. And after your donuts, I recommend craft cocktails at Conspiracy in downtown Middletown. They’re doing their fall tarot deck menu. That’s right, they’ve turned a tarot deck into a cocktail menu. And it’s only two hours from Boston!!!
Target has some maple-flavored goodies. I got maple shortbread cookies that are pretty tasty.
I love the S’mores Oreos but apparently they were a limited edition because I can’t find them anymore. I saw the pumpkin pie spice ones at the store and immediately went looking for S’mores but no luck.
I do really like the Oreo thins with chocolate cream. Nicely chocolatey.
My favorite Oreos (after the original) were the pistachio thins. Like every food product I discover and love, they were discontinued.
@Senetra: I HATE when that happens.
@MaryK my sister, who was largely into pregnancy cravings at the time, wrote an email to
Oreo demanding to know where the s’mores Oreos were. Alas, the reply was something along the lines of
“Not currently offered”.
@Mikey if you feel like it, you can make your own pumpkin spice to use in all kinds of things (it’s technically just the spices that get mixed into the pumpkin purée to flavor the pie). I use: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/8 tsp ground cloves. Some people also use allspice but I’m not a big fan of it.
@Angelique & @Karin thanks for the recs. Do you went to hear about the bff & I competing to make perfect maple/bacon/brown sugar shortbread? It got ugly, but the results were yummy.
We find we’re most satisfied with the Double Stuf over any of the seasonal Oreos.
@denise: Double stuf is 1000% an essential classic.
@Karin:
I don’t have the recipe, but a favorite in the Magura family is pumpkin cookies with chocolate icing, and otherwise, we are not pumpkin people at all. Ours have more of a cake like texture.
I just had my first pumpkin spice latte ever. I asked the server if it was sweet and she said no(!!)
More successful was a pumpkin cornbread, lots of cinnamon, more like a muffin than cornbread.
I’m another fan of the early-summer S’more-eos myself. The red-hot Cinnamon that are usually around valentines (i think) are also good. I never really liked clove or nutmeg, but i do love cinnamon.
The most recent seasonal oreos i tried were the Neopolitan, which are a solidly ok mid-level flavor. Could be my imagination, i haven’t measured, but cramming 3 layers of filling in means they at least feel like they have more filling than usual (although not full double-stuff levels). I like the strawberry in them mostly. And although not a “flavor” as such, i love the Fireworks Oreos with poprocks in the filling, because they make me feel like a gleeful little child. The joy of Oreos is that if you like them at all, there’s a variety out there somewhere that’s just right for you, from the classic forms to the newest oddities!
My favorite fall-flavor cookie that’s not in Oreo form is Molasses cookies!
@Karin
How about savory recipes? Curried pumpkin soup is a favorite at my house! Quick and simple to make, hearty and delicious
@Wait, what?, thanks, I keep forgetting about pumpkin soup!
@Wait, what?: That does sound delicious. Would you have a recipe to share?