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Oreo cookies are wonderfilled things.

What blessing(s) should one make on Oreo cookies?

As shown below, an Oreo cookie is made of two parts: the wafer part of the cookie, which by itself is a mezonos, and the filling, which by itself would be shehakol.

Should one make a mezonos? Shehakol? Both? Would it make a difference if the cookie were to be pulled apart, and the components eaten separately?

Oreo cookies shown; cream sandwiched by two wafer cookies
(Double Stuf Oreos shown above)

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  • 2
    Why isn't the filling tafel
    – sam
    Jan 21, 2015 at 3:36
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    How much did you get paid for the product placement, with slogan? Also, lest people get misled by that slogan: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/48038/2
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jan 21, 2015 at 3:52
  • What happens if you dip it in milk?
    – NS23
    Jan 22, 2015 at 2:52
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    @NS23 web.archive.org/web/20080509142836/http://www.math.wustl.edu/…
    – msh210 ♦
    Jan 25, 2015 at 8:10
  • @IsaacMoses I put an image description in here; I don't think this image is decorative -- I meant it to be illustrative. I changed the alt-text to a (hopefully) accurate and understandable description of what Oreos look like.
    – MTL
    Feb 1, 2015 at 0:03

2 Answers 2

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  1. Firstly there is the "ikur" the main part of it.
  2. Secondly there is a certain precedence that often sets in when you have grain as part of the product.

In the case of those you just make one b'racha, "mezonot".

If you have a strange eating habit of opening it and spooning out the sugary part in the middle and eating it alone, you would make shehakol on that. You should not probably intentionally eat it this way just to make an extra bracha.

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  • 3
    It's not that strange to open it up. I find it a nice challenge to try and separate it without breaking.
    – Scimonster
    Jan 21, 2015 at 11:41
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    @Scimonster - opening alone would not change the Bracha. Like many of us you probably eat the opened cookie with the sugar.
    – Danny Schoemann
    Jan 21, 2015 at 12:40
  • I would opine (as I'm sure would many others) that the ikar of the Oreo is the cream. This may be derived from the observed behaviour of opening up the cookie and removing the filling for consumption, rather than eating the whole thing
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Jan 21, 2015 at 14:30
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    With an ice-cream in a cone whether on top of one or wrapped in a thin wafer layer I might be inclined to agree with you. For that case seek an authoritative Rabbinic ruling.
    – CashCow
    Jan 21, 2015 at 14:33
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    I'm interested in doing a little bit of further reading on this topic, if I can. If you ever get around to adding sources to your answer, please ping me hear; I'd love to see some sources "inside." Thanks!
    – MTL
    Jan 27, 2015 at 19:42
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I must admit that this is a bit of a draft as I'm completely working off memory. But, I'll take a bite at it ;-) and hopefully come back later with a more authoritative edit... (And of course, you should not be relying on this answer either way for Halacha).

Firstly, we have to figure out what type of Ikar V'tafel this is. [for a quick recap: the 3 types in short are 1) absolute 2) enhancers 3) mixtures]. I took a quick Google around and it seems like the cream is added after the cookie part is baked. This would therefore appear to not be a case of a mixture, which would make it the type of Ikar V'tafel that is "enhancers" (similar to a cracker with tuna).

However, I'm not 100% sure about this. Naturally, if this assumption is false, the entirety of this answer would fall off...

With that being said we have to figure out what's enhancing what. In other words, is the cookie enhancing the cream, cream enhancing the cookie, or neither? Believe it or not, this is generally subjective. In other words, we ask the person why he's eating it.

For example, I would say that for me the cream is enhancing the cookie. I really want to eat a cookie, but without the cream it would be pretty bland and dry. However, I could imagine that there are others out there (as you allude to in your question) that think otherwise.

Once that's determined, we get to the Halacha part. Because the cookie is Mezonos (and is used in a significant way) it gets a bracha either way. So:

  1. If the cream is enhancing the cookie, it's simply Mezonos.
  2. If the cookie is enhancing the cream, it would require 2 brachos.
  3. If neither is enhancing the other, it would also require 2 brachos.

All of the above applies to the case where the cookie is eaten as it is sold. However, if you were to go ahead and separate it, both components would require their own separate bracha. This is once again true due to the underlying assumption that this is a "enhancing" type Ikar V'tafel (if it would be a mixture, it would be a Machlokes if you separate it, IIRC)

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  • Nice, thanks! ...do me a favor, and ping me here if you ever get around to adding sources.
    – MTL
    Jan 27, 2015 at 19:41

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