How to Make a Giant Oreo Cookie - Secret Copycat Restaurant Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why did Hydrox fail? ›

Oreo eventually surpassed Hydrox in popularity, which resulted in the Hydrox cookies being perceived by many as an Oreo off-brand, despite the opposite being the case. Compared to Oreos, Hydrox cookies have a less sweet filling and a crunchier cookie shell that is less soggy when dipped in milk.

Hydrox aren't a knockoff — they're the original sandwich cookie. Hydrox debuted in 1908, a full four years before Oreo came out, and they were revolutionary at the time.

Oreo (/ˈɔːrioʊ/; stylized in all caps) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet fondant filling.

The cocoa used in Oreo cookies is dutched (treated with alkali). This makes it darker, and also makes it less bitter. Dutched chocolate comes in a number of different grades, one of which is called black cocoa.

— Leaf Brands, L.L.C., the maker of Hydrox cookies, seeks payment of $800 million in damages due to lost sales and reputation from Mondelez International, Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies, in a Federal Trade Commission complaint signed Aug. 17 by Ellia Kassoff, chief executive officer of Newport Beach-based Leaf Brands.

In 2001, Kellogg's acquired Keebler and Droxies soon was dropped. Other than a brief reappearance in 2008 for the cookie's 100th anniversary, Hydrox has been absent from shelves. Under federal law, a brand goes back into the public domain if it is not used for three years.

The Oreo cookie, introduced in 1912, was inspired by the Hydrox. The Oreo eventually became more popular than Hydrox which resulted in Hydrox being thought of as a copy of Oreo.

The name sounded too much like a household cleaner while the company, much smaller than National Biscuit, had less marketing power. Fast forwarding through the 20th century, Oreo nudged Hydrox into the background. By 1998, Oreo sales were at the $348 million market while Hydrox was a pitiful $16 million.

You may have noticed that any time that filling is mentioned on Oreo packaging, it's called “creme.” This is no typo. Technically, the creamy filling inside an Oreo is not cream at all: The recipe used actually contains no dairy; as such, the FDA prohibits Nabisco from labeling the product as “cream.”

(In the center, between the two chocolate wafers, is a white filling made of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, and “palm and/or canola oil.)

What does Oreo stand for? ›

The most common version asserts that Oreo derives from or, French for "gold" and supposedly the color of the original packaging. Others say it stands for "orexigenic," a medical term for substances that stimulate the appetite (including cannabis).

If your dog has eaten a lone Oreo, she's probably fine. But Oreos aren't recommended for dogs. Of course, chocolate is toxic to dogs, but there's not enough baking chocolate in an Oreo to cause immediate alarm. That said, it's not wise to feed your dog anything containing even a small amount of a toxic ingredient.

Oreo Magic Dunkers (2000-2000): Yet another "color changing food" as was the style at the time, these were standard Oreo cookies, but with a twist--they'd turn your milk blue after being dunked. So wildly unpopular, they were discontinued after only 2 months.

Sure, Oreos look harmless in their shiny wrapping, lined up neatly in one mouth-watering row. However, one of the main components of Oreos is chocolate, which is highly toxic to cats and dogs. Now, let's be clear that a single Oreo very likely won't kill your cat, but it can make them very sick.

So when and why did Oreos become more popular than Hydrox? The truth of the matter is that Oreos outpaced its rival not just with a superior name, but with superior marketing.

Hydrox isn't a causality of any major misstep; it simply lost out in the cutthroat world of snacks. Sunshine Biscuits manufactured Hydrox, which at one point was the third-largest bakery in the US, for a century before being discontinued around 1999 after Keebler acquired the company.

Yet Oreo's dominance is unparalleled, accounting for roughly 10% of all cookies purchased in the US. Nabisco, the maker of Oreo (and a subsidiary of Mondelez Inc.), commands nearly 40% of the cookie market. Hydrox, meanwhile, was discontinued in 2003.