Oreo Black & White Cookie review: Will these replace the New York classic?

Let me say this up front: I will eat any new Oreo flavor they release. Literally, anything. But even though all Oreos are generally “good” to “great,” not all flavors are made equal. And when you add in an iconic dessert for inspiration, as Oreo has done with their new Black & White Cookie flavor? Particularly for a New Yorker such as myself? Well, you’re going to get held to a higher standard.

To take a small step backward, the new limited edition flavor is “Black & White Cookie flavor creme” between two Golden Oreo cookies. The creme itself is split down the middle between vanilla and chocolate, just like a classic black and white cookie. And like previous limited edition flavors, it is available pretty much anywhere nationwide while supplies last.

But how does this new creation taste? We’re already starting at a deficit thanks to the Golden Oreo, unequivocally the lesser cookie versus the classic chocolate. But the bigger problem with these is that, at least personally, I wouldn’t associate a classic black and white cookie with taste so much as texture.

The goal with a really good black and white cookie is that it should be a small, pillowy angel food cake dome at the bottom, almost like a muffin top but without the crunch. There should be a little hardness under the frosting so it doesn’t all fall apart, but not too much so that it destroys that soft underbelly. And the frosting needs to A) stick to the top of the cookie, and B) have the slightest bit of pull to it, not as strong as taffy or as sticky as gum, but enough so you feel like you’re biting into something significant. It should also, ideally, be as large as your head, but I won’t get too angry at anyone who gets the mini-black and whites.

This Oreo is not that. It’s an Oreo, with vanilla and chocolate creme. Which, getting back to my original point, is still pretty good, but it’s definitely not great. And it doesn’t evoke the same feeling as snagging a black and white cookie at a deli, along with a cup of coffee with milk and sugar.

One Oreo Hack(tm) that was suggested by my children when taste-testing? We unscrewed a regular Oreo, as well as one of the Black & White Oreos, and put the chocolate top on, so you had a little more even vanilla/chocolate. Golden Oreo on the bottom, chocolate oreo on top; vanilla/chocolate creme in the middle. It’s still not a classic black and white, but it’s closer.

Regardless: if you’re looking for a totally fine cookie, you can certainly pick these up. But they won’t replace a black and white cookie, they certainly won’t replace an Oreo, and I don’t expect these to forgo the “limited time” to become part of the regular Oreo rotation.