My first thought when I read that Dairy Queen’s Blizzard of the Month for November was the “Candy Cane Oreo Blizzard Treat,” was “Yick!” I’m a big ole fan of Oreo, but Sam and I have so much fresh, natural mint in our garden that I just can’t get behind fake mint flavor. I decided to try it anyway (pull my arm, no really) and I’m glad I did.

Dairy Queen describes it as:

The smooth mix of candy cane and OREO^® bits blended together with our famous creamy vanilla soft serve is sure to make this holiday season your sweetest one yet!

I don’t know that it made this my sweetest holiday season yet, but this is a pretty delicious Blizzard! The flavor was nice and it wasn’t the fake mint flavor I imagined. Well, I guess that’s not true – it tasted exactly like a candy cane (probably because there’s candy cane in it, duh!) and not the sort of tinny fake mint I was afraid of. The mint balanced nicely with the richness of the Oreo, though overall it is obviously a very sweet Blizzard.

What really did it for me though was the texture. I’ve had Oreo Blizzards from Dairy Queen a time or two in my life, and in most of them the Oreo is pulverized beyond recognition and adds flavor but no texture. That was not the case here. I had largish chunks of Oreo, which were somehow magically still crispy despite soaking in melting ice cream, and then tons of little tiny slivers of candy cane that gave a very satisfying crunch – PLUS – and this isn’t mentioned in their description – there are pieces of chocolate in there. Flakes would maybe be the best way to describe them?

Overall, I was surprised by how satisfying this was for someone who really didn’t think it sounded good. I can only imagine how delicious it must be for someone who hears Oreo and candy cane and is already excited.