Score a great deal in September on a Dairy Queen classic
This week, in honor of my favorite acronym, BOGO (buy one, get one), I reached out for an iconic drive-thru classic: the Oreo Cookie Blizzard, from America’s roadside ice-cream stand, Dairy Queen. There I was, lost on a country road, in the middle of nowhere, 100 miles from civilization … but only 50 miles from the nearest Dairy Queen.
Through September, if you buy any Blizzard at its regular price, you’ll get a second Blizzard of equal size or smaller for 99 cents. Go with a friend. Let him buy the first one — you’ll pay for the second.
Here’s the Oreo Cookie Blizzard blueprint: Dairy Queen’s legendary soft-serve treat blended with crushed Oreo cookies.
Total calories: 1,030 (for an 18-ounce, large cup). Fat grams: 36. Sodium: 810 mg. Dietary fiber: 2 g. Carbs: 153 g. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: $4.19.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to unbuckle my belt and take a nap here on the couch. I should have ordered a medium, or even a small … but I wanted to beat Dairy Queen out of a 99-cent large. I also lose my mind at the Golden Corral.
Blizzards are cups of vanilla soft serve gently blended with candy, cookies, fruit, nuts or sundae toppings. The mix-ins are softly woven through the soft serve, so the integrity of the cookie pieces isn’t disturbed. Yeah, there’s lots of integrity in the drive-thru.
Blizzards, as we know them now, were introduced in 1985, but Dairy Queen had been using the name “Blizzard” since 1952 for its extra-thick milkshakes.
In 1985, Dairy Queen invented the modern Blizzard simply by leaving the milk out of its shakes. The new Blizzards were an instant success, selling 100 million in one year. The first Blizzard commercial starred Dick Clark. He gave Blizzards a 100 on his Rate-a-Dessert.
The debut Blizzard was made with cookies, but they weren’t Oreos. The Oreo company said “No, thanks” to Dairy Queen, so DQ went with Hydrox sandwich cookies, which are practically the same thing as Oreos. You know how we love recognizable supermarket brands in the drive-thru.
Hydrox was a suitable substitute. Just don’t give us supermarket house brands. Instead of creating their own food lines, supermarkets should concentrate on having their coin-exchange machines work once in a while. I’ve never seen one that was IN order.
The Oreo company changed its mind within months, and Dairy Queen has been using authentic Oreos in its Blizzards ever since. Oreos and DQ soft serve — wow!
Talk about a can’t miss. And it didn’t.
Oreo Cookie was the first Blizzard, and it’s still the most popular Blizzard, followed by Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfinger.