Bun flavor?

No matter what else crosses Mr. Tidbit's horizon, he must admit that when yet another new Oreo cookie appears, which happens every couple of months, he can't get to it fast enough.

That's true no matter what peculiar new flavor the Oreo folks come up with. But if you ask Mr. Tidbit — and Mr. Tidbit is in the happy position of being able to assume that you would ask him — the new Cinnamon Bun Oreos, which are cinnamon-flavored Golden Oreo cookies generously filled with "cinnamon bun flavored creme" — are a cut above other recent perfectly nice Oreo offerings.

Although on first glance he thought it was silly that the filling is described not as cinnamon flavored but as cinnamon bun flavored, on tasting he had to admit that the cookie and filling together were something more subtle and complex than simply cinnamon flavored — and that cinnamon bun flavored might be a fair description.

Having then performed the separate tasting of cookie and filling that Mr. Tidbit and most 8-year-olds require at such moments, Mr. Tidbit offers this analysis: The cookie is lightly cinnamon flavored, and the filling is even less cinnamony than that, but the particularly creamy filling carries the distinct sense of cinnamon-roll icing. That is in part, perhaps, because two of these cookies, generously filled as noted, have the same amount of fat as three regular Oreos — and twice as much of that is saturated fat.

It comes to the crunch

Mr. Tidbit was about to not mention the new Snickers Crisper candy bar (essentially Snickers with crisped rice added), as he has vowed not to discuss new products that are simply minor variations of existing ones (with the notable exception of the endless stream of odd flavors of Oreo cookies, see above). Then he glanced at the website of Snickers' parent, Mars, and was riveted by the following corporate analysis:

"Consumers' desire for new textures has resulted in the creation of a new Crispy Crunchy Segment within the Chocolate Category. This $1.2 billion segment grew 9.2 percent between 2011-2013, twice the category average."

Crispy crunchy chocolate candy (as opposed to, Mr. Tidbit is pretty sure, say, merely crunchy chocolate candy) is a $1.2 billion business. Is this a great country, or what?

Al Sicherman