JFG Nation, Happy Monday. It’s time. It’s time for what? It’s time for what I described a couple of months ago…this blog will be going on hiatus! Well…sort of. Let me pull back the curtain a little bit: over the past couple weeks, my job as an attorney has accelerated to an artificial finish line that I burst through last Friday. Now, with that in the rear view mirror, I can finally turn to the chicken scratched pages of ideas for the future of this blog that I have stacked all over my apartment. Design changes. Format changes. The new look. Holy crap.

And as I sat to edit this post, I realized that this was going to be a daunting task. I used to have a somewhat technical background, but now ACTUALLY tweaking a website? Um…help. WordPress has lulled me into a false sense of security, and I don’t even remember how all of this started. Anyways, I thought I could maybe blog daily still and experiment with formats at night, but as I take it all in, I realize: nope – this has to happen cold turkey. It’s going to require due attention – no half-assing.

So yeah – I have a lot of things to cross off this list of “JFG To Dos.” And I’m going to get started. BUT, if you’ve been paying attention, the title of this post is “hiatus…sort of.” I’ll still be doing the Nosh Show, so I’ll put up a post next Monday to pimp that out. And maybe I’ll continue doing Monday posts until the renovation is finished. Yeah…let’s maybe do that. We can do a weekly meet up on Mondays where I can tell you what I’ve been up to, and you can let me know how you’re doing. Like we’re pen pals. Pen pals that love junk food.

Meanwhile, I’ll of course still be INSTA-REVIEW-ing over on my IG account, and you can always hook up with me on Facebook and Twitter.

So yeah…onward. This blog was born out of a feeling that I didn’t want to just say I was going to do something, and not do it. No, it’s time for me to follow through and, once again, DO IT. Get to work.

So, until next Monday – today’s junk food: Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos!!

Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos came out last Monday, and at this point, the internet is FILLED with takes on this new variety of Oreo. I bought two packages last week; one got chomped by my co-workers, and one I’m still nursing at home. While out and about this weekend, however, I looked for more packages – and they were hard to find. The grocery stores I stopped into didn’t have them or no longer had them, and a random Walmart I checked out were flat sold-out of them!

My point: unless a new wave comes out, these are disappearing quickly. If you can find ’em, buy ’em!

Brownie batter…who doesn’t love it? That super fudge-y concoction was a staple in most homes growing up. Just when I didn’t think Oreo could come up with anything new, these hit the shelves. When I first saw these, my brain shouted “DUH OF COURSE BROWNIE BATTER IT’S GENIUS.” After Cookie Dough, we ALL should have expected these to come down the pipeline.

Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos don’t have anything really different in its ingredient list. These Oreos are still entirely vegan – but not gluten free. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is coming however – gluten-free Oreos. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. GLUTEN FREE OREOS WILL EXIST IN 2016!!!

I opened the package of Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos, and holy crap. Everything smudged everywhere. But…not in a bad way. I mean, the smudges looked like brownie batter or fudge. And the cookies were…were they glistening?

Oh, these Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos WERE glistening. I’m sure that’s indicative of some sort of unhealthy oil, but what it looked like to me was wet brownie batter. I LOVED the way these cookies looked, how some of them were a bit messy.

These Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos smelled great too – they had a deep rich fudge-y smell that wafted out as soon as I opened the package. I personally thought they were almost completely spot on with the brownie aroma. There was that tinge of slight bitter/burnt brownie smell. I dug it.

Of course, as you’ve read other places, these Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos were delicious. They were deep in flavor and super fudge-y, and in my head captured everything my mind expected. I mean, it’s not going to be perfect because the best part about brownies is often that super soft bite – that ultimate fudginess. And these were crunchy cookies. But the flavor was pretty spot on.

Eating the creme by itself, it was really dark and really chocolate-y. I didn’t get an overly sugar-y vibe like I taste with the normal creme or even the chocolate creme in Chocolate Oreos. While I realized this creme was also just a sugar bomb, it tasted like fudge – the cocoa was bold and covered any cloying feeling.

Eaten with the already slightly not-sweet dark cookie, the combo was solid – it was the best take of Brownie Batter that Oreos could provide. They didn’t give me the exact feeling of a brownie, which it wasn’t supposed – this was a brownie Oreo-fied. It really satisfied me. I dare say it’s now in my top 3 Oreos – Marshmallow Crispy, Reese’s, and now these.

Of course, I really wanted to see how these Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos would hold up against actual brownies. Quick food faceoff? Sure…QUICK FOOD FACEOFF!

And now, in this corner…..GHIRARDELLI ULTIMATE FUDGE BROWNIES!!!

I had forgotten how easy it is to make brownies. One egg, a little oil, and then the packet from the box. Mix, pour, bake. Man, no wonder little kids know how to make brownies from such a young age.

The JFGal and I opted for the Ultimate Fudge mis because, you know, FUDGE. I’m not a fan of brownies with walnuts, personally – if I’m getting a brownie, I wanted that fudge-y taste to be etched into my brain. I want that soft texture unencumbered by tiny walnuts or whatever other stuff people throw in there. M&M’s? Chill out there, chief.

Even pre-bake, the brownie batter was glistening and shiny – a pool of chocolate-y goodness.

LICK THE BOWL! LICK THE BOWL!

AFTER baking, we squirted the fudge packet (Um, EVERYTHING should come with a fudge packet. Even pizza) all over the place and used the heat of the brownies to melt and get that fudge everywhere, covering the entire surface. The brownie were supposed to completely cool before eating. PFFFT WHATEVER I DO WHAT I WANT GHIRARDELLI

See? That’s…uh…. a super clean piece of brownie cut out from the corner of the pan. It doesn’t look botched at all.  Super moist, super fudge covered. The perfect opponent for….

…the Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreo! Color-wise, it is interesting to see how dark the Oreo was in comparison.

I ate the brownie and could definitely see why the Brownie Batter Oreo would never overtake the real thing – real brownies, if they are super moist, sort of fill your entire mouth full of fudge-y goodness, like you’re biting into a sponge. They are super sticky and that sticky fudginess gets EVERYWHERE. That almost-adhesive feel of a brownie is part of the experience.

The Brownie Batter Oreo was slightly sweeter than the actual brownie, and side-by-side, I could see where the added sugar of an Oreo kicked in. Still – didn’t change my opinion of how good the Brownie Batter Oreos WERE, just that I could now see the direct contrast. While both flavors were similar, it was the moist cake-iness of the actual brownie that the obvious crunch of an Oreo lacked.

The only comparison left to do was to remove the creme from the inside of the Oreo and to fill it with brownie. The moist brownie smashed easily between the Oreo wafers. Eating them side by side…I have to be honest, they were SUPER close in flavor! The actual Oreo creme gave the cookie a bit more sweetness, but the overall flavor, now that textures were closely aligned, was surprisingly close! Kudos, Oreo.

All in all, real brownies still beat out the Limited Edition Brownie Batter Oreos, which I guess isn’t too surprising. But Brownie Batter Oreos – you put up a good fight. You’re an amazing Oreo…now I just hope I can find more of you soon!

Alrighty, JFG Nation – with that, I’m off!

PURCHASED AT: Giant Food, Van Ness, DC

COST: $3.00 on sale ($3.49 regular)

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy