I had a new cookie flavor the other day. They say your tastes can change as you age and I can attest to that. Growing up, Oreo cookies were okay but only when drowned in milk. Last week I tried a Selena Gomez Oreo and loved it. Now, I want to try anything with this flavor combination of cinnamon and chocolate.
Of course, I had to do a deep dive on the history of Oreos. This led to the story of 2 brothers, 2 cookie companies, corporate intrigue, and salesmanship.
In the mid-19th century, America’s commercial bakeries changed from a cottage industry focused on simple crackers to the more formal factories we know today, producing a range of fancy biscuits, cookies, and other “dainty goods”. It was during this time that brothers Jacob and Joseph Loose bought a controlling interest in the Corle Cracker and Confectionery Company, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Guided by Jacob’s expansionist philosophy, the newly named Loose Brothers Manufacturing became a multimillion-dollar business within a few years. But Jacob didn’t see the sense in competing with his fellow bakers in the Midwest when they could all benefit from joining forces as a corporation. So, in 1890, he hired a big-city lawyer named Adolphus Green to oversee the negotiations and paperwork needed to join everyone together. The moment the ink dried, the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company became the second-largest corporate bakery in America. Naturally, Jacob named himself president, then appointed Joseph to the board of directors and Adolphus to general counsel. On the national stage, American Biscuit fell between the New York Biscuit Company and the United States Baking Company. For the next seven years, the trio duked it out in a competition so fierce, reporters called it “the biscuit war.” The battle took its toll, and, in 1897, poor health forced Jacob to step down as president.
That put Joseph in control. He decided to end the biscuit battle and make peace, or a profit, at least. With Adolphus Green’s legal savvy, ABC entered into an agreement with NYBC and USBC. Jacob fiercely opposed the merger from his sickbed, and he begged Joseph not to go through with it, but alas: His two most bitter enemies gobbled up American Biscuit, creating the super-giant National Biscuit Company (Na. Bis. Co.). On its board of directors: three of Jacob’s former board members, his former lawyer, his treasurer, and his own brother.
So, when Jacob recovered his health, he had something of an ax to grind. From his perspective, the National Biscuit Company was resting on his laurels. In 1902, he teamed up with John Wiles to form the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company. Setting out to reclaim all that was lost, Jacob pushed his new company through a decade of exponential growth, until he once again had one of the largest corporate bakeries in America, second only to Nabisco—but a distant second. In 1912, Nabisco made $45 million to Loose-Wiles’s $12 million.
The popularity of Jacob’s company hinged in no small part on one biscuit, a best-seller so in demand that groceries bought it by the ton. In 1908, a little cookie called Hydrox was an instant classic. Loose-Wiles advertised Hydrox as “a dessert of itself,” but it looked like a work of art. Each wafer had a scalloped edge, a border of scrollwork, and six seven-petaled flowers chained together by leaves and stems, with a laurel wreath at their heart.
Whether through coincidence or spite, competitor Nabisco unveiled the Oreo on Loose-Wiles’s 10th anniversary in 1912. Oreo was advertised as “two chocolate-flavored wafers with a rich, creamy filling,” competing directly against Hydrox’s “two chocolate wafers filled with sweet vanilla cream.” Oreo couldn’t match the detail of the Hydrox design, but it imitated what mattered most: the laurel wreath.
For a time, Hydrox remained the “King of Biscuits,” and one of the most widely consumed cookies in America. Oreo didn’t have much initial success. Groceries struggled to entice customers away from Hydrox, and advertisements tied Oreos to sales on other Nabisco products to help unload their inventory.
In 1924, the Loose-Wiles company partnered with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) to create the country’s first kosher-certification program. The OU seal fostered tremendous support for Hydrox within the Jewish community. Twenty years later, Oreo didn’t even make it onto a list of Nabisco’s most popular products, much less one worth the expense of certification. Oreos weren’t certified kosher until 70 years later, when they stopped being made with lard.
When Hydrox debuted in 1908, its pseudoscientific name (hydrogen + oxygen) was used to name all kinds of goods, from Hydrox Aerated Table Water to Hydrox Ice Cream and Hydrox Ginger Ale. Cashing in on the Hydrox fad gave Loose-Wiles a bit of street cred, but it later meant they couldn’t defend their brand in court. Eventually, the number of random Hydrox products on the market stained the word with a generic vibe. Loose-Wiles realized they had an image problem, but instead of renaming Hydrox, they renamed the company: Sunshine Biscuits.
This name change did nothing to help the struggling cookie. From 1915 to 1965, Hydrox seemed hell-bent on exposing Oreo as an impostor, even going so far as advertising a tiny bear cub literally crying over stolen cookies. They relentlessly billed Hydrox as the “first,” the “finest,” the “original,” the “only,” and the “classic.”
That crabby campaign did nothing to win anyone’s heart. Consumers wanted a tasty treat, and Oreo offered exactly that, with happy, colorful advertisements about crisp, chocolaty sandwich cookies crammed with more filling than any other brand. Nabisco had the stamina and financial resources to sell Oreos at a loss. In the 1950’s Nabisco came out with a completely redesigned cookie and a snazzy campaign for “new Oreos.” Simultaneously, they raised the price. Americans didn’t flock to the suddenly affordable Hydrox; they shunned it as cheap in every sense of the word.
The lights went out at Sunshine shortly thereafter, and the Hydrox brand bounced around the industry, first sold to the American Tobacco Company, then resold to G. F. Industries, Keebler, and later Kellogg’s, which formally pulled the plug in 2003.
Oreo has released over 50 different flavors through the years. They are sold in over 100 countries. Nabisco launched several new Oreo variations, including Double Stuf Oreo in 1974, Halloween Oreo in 1991, and Oreo Mini in 1992. By the turn of 2024, Nabisco had sold over 500 billion Oreo cookies worldwide. My favorite Oreo is lemon crème but I can see myself buying some Pumpkin Spice Oreo in a few weeks.
Oreo Dump Cake
Ingredients
20 Oreo cookies.
14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk (1 14-ounce can).
1 8-ounce container of Cool Whip, thawed for about 15 minutes before starting.
1 box of chocolate cake mix
¾ cup of butter (1 ½ sticks or 12 tablespoons, cut into 12 pats of butter or more).
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease a 9X13 baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Place Two layer of 10 Oreo cookies across. Pour the 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk over the cookies evenly. Then use a spatula to spread the 8 ounces of Cool Whip across the top of the condensed milk. Sprinkle your 1 box of chocolate cake mix in an even layer over the Cool Whip. Use a fork to rake out and break up any lumps. Add butter. Cut the ¾ cup of butter into 1 tablespoon slices, or smaller, and place them across the top of the cake mix, covering as much surface area as possible. Do not mix. Bake and serve. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven when done and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Here are some tips to ensure your Oreo Dump Cake turns out perfectly: Don’t Overmix: The beauty of dump cakes is in the layers. Mixing too much can lead to a dense cake. Use Quality Ingredients: High-quality Oreos and chocolate chips will enhance the flavor. Experiment with Flavors: Try using different cake mixes, like red velvet or vanilla, for a fun twist.
