Sometimes Foodie: Chocolate and Mint for Cookies? Groundbreaking.

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Oreo - Target

Are you even a food blogger anymore if you don't try weird new Oreos? What was once fun, rare, and unique has now become a monotonous status quo. A food blogger blinks, and Oreo releases three more flavors. Can you keep up with it? And more importantly, are they even worth it?

In the beginning, I was all aboard the Oreo-hype train. (Toot, toot!) I'd work a full day at my normal job, then go to three or four Targets or Walmarts on my way home from work looking for the next new wacky Oreo flavor and I believe my Oreo claim to fame is that I was the first blogger to discover and review Fruit Punch Oreos. (A sad legacy.) All the hype and the in-store-hunting and the stress to be the first made food blogging less fun for me, and this is supposed to be a fun hobby after all, so I dropped it. And I don't miss it.

If I just so happen to be at a Walmart or Target for some reason (which is very rare these days since I'm strictly an Aldi girl), I'll check for these new items, like Oreos, but I'm no-longer a card carrying member of the food-hunting blog crew. That being said, I went to Target to grab allergy medicine and protractors, and found THREE different flavors of Oreos. The Baskin Robbin's Mint Chocolate Chip, the marshmallow 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing, and the fall Maple ones. When it rains, it pours.

First up to bat, Mint Chocolate Chip! Will they differ from normal year-round mint?

Visually, the only distinction between this and the normal mint version is that the creme in this cookie to two-toned. We have a pale minty green layered with a rich fudgy brown. I'm getting Andes vibes, but I guess Baskin Robbins beat them to the branding punch.

Sniff-test time, and here is where things start to get drastically different. Normal mint Oreos have a smooth vanilla'd mint aroma, and these are a bit punchier with a distinct chocolate aroma. Again, this is leaning very Andes to me, but that is not a bad thing. There is also a creamy kind of toothpaste-like note to this scent that I don't get with the normal mint Oreos. (Which I'm kind of into. It smells "clean.")

Trying the creme on it's own, there are crispy crunchy little crystals in the icing, which add some texture. I think it's meant to mimic ice crystals, or the crunch of chocolate chips in it's namesake, but texturally is doesn't quite hit the mark. There's also a mild cooling sensation that reminds me of the bizarre mentholated Blueberry Ice Cream Oreos I got from Asia, but edible.

So it kind of tastes like mint ice cream, but more Halo-top fluffy fake ice cream than the creamy real deal. The chocolate in the filling is easily overpowered by the mint, but it's still there, slightly lingering in the tastebud-background.

Together with the cookie base, the chocolate gets a bit of a boost, which I liked, but this cookie really shines with a glass of ice cold milk. It's delicious and refreshing while still being fatty comfort food.

In the end, this is a bit bolder, brighter, and more flavorful than the normal mint cookie, with a mild cooling mint effect that lingers on the very back of your throat, but I can't say that it completely overthrows the original. It's good, but only slightly better than normal, but that is just my opinion. My fiancee's daughter disagrees. She loved these and thinks they are superior to the normal mint cookie, but she also enjoyed that Thin Mint Girl Scout cereal that came out a few years ago that I was very "meh." about, so in the end it's all about personal preferences and tastes.

Fans of these would also like: Girl Scouts Thin Mint Cereal, Keebler Dark Mint Fudge Stripes, Crest Be Adventurous Chocolate Mint Toothpaste (I miss that stuff!!)