Even if you claim to love your family’s homemade baked goods best, you may still have a soft spot for brand-name cookies. Varieties like classic OREOS and Chips Ahoy! have been supermarket staples for decades, while other offerings were blips in people’s childhoods. Here are the discontinued cookies that still inspire cravings years after their time.
Not to be confused with the 1982 film of the same name, Savannah Smiles developed a cult following when the Girl Scouts added them to their cookie lineup in 2012. The half-moon-shaped cookies were distinguished by their powdered sugar coating and lemony flavor. Though they had a longer run than many other new Girl Scout cookies, they were ultimately discontinued in 2019.
No food encapsulates the low-fat diet fad that infected the 1990s better than SnackWell’s. The brand’s fat-free Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes were marketed as a healthier alternative to traditional snacks, despite the fact that they were still loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and carbohydrates. As the low-fat craze gave way to the low-carb Atkins diet in the 2000s, SnackWell’s became less popular. The SnackWell’s brand was officially retired in 2022, and though there are plenty of purportedly health-conscious snacks on shelves today, many people still crave the fudge-and-marshmallow-covered chocolate cake cookies they remember.
OREO has released dozens of limited-edition flavors over the years, but none have made a splash quite like Magic Dunkers. This novelty cookie variety from 2000 left behind swirls of blue when submerged in milk. Despite the dramatic effect—which apparently took a year to get just right—the food coloring didn’t change the flavor of the cookie or the milk.
Keebler Magic Middles—shortbread cookies stuffed with fudge or peanut butter—quickly found a fanbase when they debuted in the 1980s. Fans have been demanding the product’s return since it was discontinued, and though Keebler has hinted at bringing them back, there are no official plans at the moment.
Matcha Joe-Joe’s are one of many discontinued products missed by Trader Joe’s customers. The sandwich cookies made from golden biscuits and green tea-flavored cream were sold by the grocery store chain from 2017 to 2019.
Cookie lovers may remember this snack food from the 1980s. Nabisco’s Giggles were sandwich cookies featuring holes in the shape of a smiling face. Each cookie had a chocolate and vanilla cream center that sometimes seemed to give the eyes pupils and the mouths teeth. The effect may have been more creepy than cute, but the discontinued snack brand does have a following.
Chips Ahoy! cookies with Sour Patch Kids were never meant to be a permanent part of Nabisco’s catalogue. The sweet collaboration was met with mixed reviews when it debuted on a limited-edition basis in 2020. People who prefer chocolate chips in their cookies over sour gummy candies didn’t mourn the loss of this product.
These sandwich cookies from the popular cookie brand Burry’s were a chocolate lover’s dream. They consisted of flower-shaped chocolate biscuits and a fudge filling that overflowed through a hole in the top of the cookie. Though they were a hit in the 1960s and ‘70s, the treats are no longer around.
Popular in the 1990s, Dizzy Grizzlies were the cool, extreme sports-loving older brother to Teddy Grahams. The cookie itself consisted of a bear-shaped graham cracker coated with chocolate and sprinkles on one side—the idea being that flipping them over would make them dizzy. The bears were depicted skiing, skateboarding, and taking part in other athletic activities that were played up in the marketing.
Nabisco is behind several iconic cookie brands, but not all of its products have stuck around. Many long-time customers lament the loss of Melody cookies, which were discontinued in the 1970s. The simple chocolate biscuit had scalloped edges and sugar crystals sprinkled on top. The treat has been out of production for decades, but there are plenty of copycat recipes available online.
Released in 2011, Newtons released a baked good that was more of a traditional cookie than its famous fruit-filled bars. Newtons Fruit Thins were crispy cookies flavored with ingredients like dried cranberries, dried blueberries, oats, and brown sugar. The product was unable to compete with classic Fig Newtons, however, has been absent from shelves for several years.
Michele Debczak
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