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[1] If you’ve given up your beloved Oreos to cut back on sugar, there’s a new Zero Sugar Oreo waiting for you (all photos © Mondelez except as noted).
[3] Look closely: The cookie says “Zero Sugar.”
[3] Add some protein to your snack: Spread a layer of peanut butter on top of the creme center (photo © Peanut Butter & Co).
[4] With a sugar-free cake mix, you can make this Oreo layer cake. Or, mix big chunks of crushed Oreos into sugar-free ice cream for an Oreo ice cream cake. Here’s the recipe (Abacus Photo).
[5] Grab a glass of milk and take a break.
[6] Oreo milk. Drink it, or use it to make the best Oreo ice cream. Here’s the recipe (photo © Kate The Baker).
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Oreos, the most popular packaged cookie in America, has innovated often with special flavors and the ability to design your own Oreos. But we’re most excited about this innovation:
After four years in development, Mondelez, the parent company of Oreos, has just launched Zero Sugar Oreos.
In both Original and Double Stuf Zero Sugar varieties, they will be available permanently nationwide.
Finally!
Current food trends point to consumers’ desire for “mindful indulgence”:
66% of Americans are reportedly trying to limit sugars in their diet in 2024 [source: Statista].
75% say they are trying to limit or avoid sugars in their diet [source: International Food Information Council].
Only 25% say they are not trying to limit or avoid sugar in their diet.
Details follow; but first, elsewhere on The Nibble:
> The history of Oreos.
> The history of cookies.
> The year’s 44 cookie holidays. (National Oreo Day is March 6th.)
> The 10 basic styles of cookies (Oreo is a sandwich cookie).
> The different varieties of of cookies: a photo glossary.
> Recipes with Oreos.
THE SKINNY ON ZERO SUGAR OREOS
Or, as Oreo says, here’s “a quick dunk in the details.”
Oreo Zero Sugar Cookies:
Taste just as good as the originals. Most people won’t notice a difference‡.
The non-caloric sweetener blend is a skillful combination of maltitol, polydextrose, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium (Ace-K). It’s aspartame free (see the different types of non-caloric sweeteners).
They’re individually packaged for grab and go and portion control. There are two cookies in a packet (total 90 calories).
A bag of 20 cookies, 10 packets, has a MSRP of $5.29.
Calorie Comparison
One sugar-free Oreo has about 45 calories and zero sugar.
A regular Oreo cookie is about 53 calories but 4.6 grams of sugar, about the equivalent of a teaspoon.
> If you can’t find Zero Sugar locally, you can order them online.
THE U.S. COOKIE MARKETPLACE
Oreos are by far the most popular packaged cookie in the U.S., with 19% of the cookie market share. That equates to more than $675 million in annual revenue. And it doesn’t include sales in the rest of the world!
Americans consume a staggering amount of cookies—billions of pounds annually. Cookies are one of the most popular snack foods in the U.S.
According to Virtue Market Research, Americans consume more 2 billion cookies annually—that’s roughly 300 cookies per person!
How can that be? Well…according to Mintel, more than 1 in 10 Americans consume cookies multiple times daily.
The average American eats 26 cookies during the holiday season alone [source].
Top 10 brands or brand groups in the U.S. based on market share and sales:
Oreo: 19% market share (Nabisco/Mondelēz International)
Chips Ahoy: 11% market share (Mondelēz International)
Milano (Pepperidge Farm/The Campbell Soup Company)
Nutter Butter (Nabisco/Mondelēz International)
Nilla Wafers (Nabisco/Mondelēz International)
Fudge Stripes (Keebler/The Ferrero Group)
Famous Amos (Kellogg’s/The Ferrero Group
Chewy Chips Ahoy (counted separately, Mondelēz International)
Little Debbie (McKee Foods)
Keebler Sandies (Keebler/The Ferrero Group)
Runners up include:
Girl Scout Cookies* (Girl Scouts USA), Pepperidge Farm Chessmen (Pepperidge Farm/The Campbell Soup Company), Vienna Fingers (Keebler/The Ferrero Group, and Lorna Doone (Nabisco/Mondelēz International).
Despite the dominance of big brands like these, homemade cookies (especially chocolate chip) remain deeply tied to American cookie culture.
What About Homemade Cookies?
According to the American Baking Association, 9 in 10 Americans—nearly 300 million people—bake cookies at Christmastime, and 83% make homemade cookies† throughout the year. And those who bake don’t consume more cookies:
Research has found that people who bake cookies from scratch consume 10% fewer cookies throughout the day than those who did not bake any, but were offered the already-baked cookies [source].
Cookie Triva
The American English word “cookie” comes from the Dutch “koekje” (KOOK-ya), meaning “little cake.”
The British use the term “biscuits” (derived from Latin) for what Americans call cookies.
What Americans call biscuits, Brits call scones—which are not equivalent to American biscuits.
Brits don’t serve a basket of biscuits, rolls, or other breads with meals. Rather, bread and butter or plain rolls are served with appropriate foods (e.g. a bowl of soup, meat with gravy), and there’s toast with butter and jam for breakfast.
The rich variety of American biscuits developed outside of the British culinary tradition. The different types of American biscuits.
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[7] You can’t eat the whole stack, but a two-cookie packet with black coffee is a 90-calorie snack. Add a shot of milk for another 18 calories.
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*Girl Scout Cookies collectively generate about $800 million annually, but are only sold January through April. They are owned by the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), a non-profit organization, but are commercially produced under license by two main baking companies. The Girl Scout cookie program is uniquely American and has become a cultural institution, with people having fierce loyalty to specific varieties and waiting eagerly for cookie season to arrive each year.
†Baked-from-scratch cookies are a lower percentage than more convenient options like prepared cookie doughs and mixes.
‡Die-hard Oreo consumers: Don’t quibble over this if you do taste a difference. We taste food for a living, have a wine writer’s palate, and detected nothing artificial with Zero Sugar vis-a-vis standard Oreos.
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
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