Oreo Space Dunk review: Are the new cookies out of this world?

Another month, another new flavor of Oreo cookies… Not that I’m complaining. As an OG Oreo fan (OGreo? We’ll workshop that one), it’s always an exciting time when the company puts out a brand new flavor, and this month it’s an exciting one: Space Dunk. But how do the new cookies taste? Are they… Out of this world?

Before we get there, it may or may not be important to note that new Oreo releases tend to fall into one of two buckets. Either they’re a new flavor, or they’re a limited release with new packaging and printing on the cookie. Rarely do you get both in the same release. Check out the recent Black and White Cookie Oreos, which we reviewed here on Guilty Eats. Or the recent Super Mario Oreos, which had fun designs featuring everyone’s favorite plumber, but were otherwise regular ol’ Oreos.

Space Dunk takes the unique route of doing both at the same time. As the packaging touts, not only does Oreo Space Dunk come in “5 galactic designs,” but also features “Cosmic Creme with popping candy.” The package also has a QR code to take you to a mobile site featuring info on winning a real almost-space adventure, an AR experience, and a few more bells and whistles.

The designs on the cookies are cute little cartoons, featuring a spaceship, a star, a telescope*, a shooting star, and an astronaut who is definitely not from the game Among Us. Nope, not a bit.

(*I first saw the telescope on its side and thought it was a Dalek, one of the villains from Doctor Who. It is not.)

And that’s all well and good, and designs are cute, and everyone loves AR websites. But how does the new Oreo Space Dunk taste? Pretty good, actually!

If you haven’t experienced Oreo’s popping candy before, it’s nowhere near as strong as Pop Rocks, mostly has a little fizz in your mouth and enough of a “pop” that you can hear it while you’re eating. Also for those who are averse to the popping candy experience, my theory is the Oreo creme tends to mute the effect, so it doesn’t last that long. No burnt tongues here.

As for the “Cosmic Creme,” while my trusty assistants (read: children) couldn’t taste much of a difference from the regular Oreos, my experienced palette detected a light taste of marshmallow. I’m not the biggest fan of marshmallow as a flavor so I appreciated the whiff of it, versus the full-fledged experience. And despite the pink and blue creme, it’s not going to paint your tongue; it’s just some fun space colors.

Overall, it’s a good-tasting Oreo with some extra fizz, but the most fun part is the little hole in the top of the cookie. To be clear: it’s a regular Oreo chocolate cookie, just with a tiny hole in the center. So why is this fun? Because if you don’t pop the whole cookie in your mouth, but rather take a smaller bite - or just press down – the creme pipes out of the hole, looking like the stem of a shooting star. It’s less sensical in some of the designs (the astronaut popping a leak in his helmet is downright alarming when you think about it), but a fun little addition to the cookie that I haven’t seen before.

Overall, this is a successful launch for the limited edition Oreo. While I wouldn’t say I’m over the moon for them, this new blast of flavors is a successful lift-off for the company. A new star, if you will! Spaceships! Sorry, I ran out of puns.