Oreo’s New Limited-Edition Flavor Is So Good, I’d Petition to Make It Permanent

There’s a lot to love about an Oreo cookie. While the classic OG flavor will always have a special place in my heart (and at the top of our official ranking), I’ve been very impressed with the new flavors popping up on shelves in recent months. (Case in point: Chocolate Covered Pretzel and Mint Chip.) 

For the latest launch, the iconic cookie brand partnered with singer, actress, and entrepreneur Selena Gomez to release a limited-edition flavor. Selena is spicing things up (quite literally) with a cookie inspired by horchata, the refreshing Mexican drink made with rice, cinnamon, and sweetened condensed milk. Naturally, I booked it to a grocery store to get my hands on a shiny burgundy pack. You can pretty much guess what happened next …

Horchata is one of Selena’s “absolute favorite” drinks. She grew up drinking it often as a child, so it only made sense to combine those “comforting, nostalgic” flavors into a cookie, she explains. The two chocolate-cinnamon-flavored cookies sandwich not one, but TWO, different flavors of creme: a chocolate and cinnamon creme stacked on top of sweetened condensed milk creme that has little bits of cinnamon sugar speckled throughout. 

The fun doesn’t stop there. The cookies feature an array of different music- and Selena-inspired designs like headphones and music notes. There’s even one that reads “selenators” (what her fans are called). She’s also dropping a new song to coincide with the launch, which people can access by scanning the QR code on the back of packages. It’ll also unlock other exclusive content. As a bonus, you can find a cookie with Selena’s signature in roughly every three packs (it’s the first time Oreo’s ever stamped a cookie with anyone’s autograph).

Selena’s also a big advocate for mental health. In solidarity, Oreo made a donation to the Rare Impact Fund, founded by Selena herself in 2020, which aims to make mental health resources more accessible to youth worldwide. 

The flavor was first made available for presale in the United States on June 2, and has been in stores since June 9. A 10-ounce pack is around $5, depending on the retailers. (You can also find it on shelves in Australia and New Zealand starting June 17.) 

For starters, I LOVE cinnamon and put it on virtually everything. So when I opened the pack of Oreos and got a whiff of that familiar sweet, spicy, warming scent, I knew I was in for a treat. The cookies themselves are cute, too; the different designs are a nice added touch, and the swirl of the two creme flavors is stunning. 

I twisted open a cookie to get a flavor of the cremes on their own first. The chocolate creme has a very mild chocolaty flavor, while the cinnamon creme is strong and packs a punch (it actually overpowers the chocolate when you eat the cremes together). 

But when I took a bite with the chocolate cinnamon cookie, I got those dark chocolate, somewhat bitter notes I’ve come to love from the classic cookie. All three together blend beautifully, and the taste of cinnamon lingered on my tongue. 

The Kitchn’s Director of Groceries and Shopping, Mara, was impressed by the flavor of the creme, too. “The filling really shines here. It’s creamy and cinnamon-y, and tastes like the inside of a freshly baked cinnamon roll with a generous layer of icing,” she says. I’ll give it to Selena — I can totally see the horchata reference. I’d even petition for these to be a permanent flavor.

Buy: Selena Gomez Oreo Cookies, $4.88 for 10.68 ounces on Amazon (normally $5.29)

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: Oreo’s New Limited-Edition Flavor Is So Good, I’d Petition to Make It Permanent