Dunkaroos are a snack food from Betty Crocker, first launched in 1990. It consists of a snack-sized package containing

cookies A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chi ...

and frosting; as the name implies, the cookies are meant to be dunked into the frosting before eating. Individual snack packages contain about ten small cookies and one cubic inch of frosting. The cookies are made in a variety of shapes, including a

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

with an uppercase "D" in the center (the only shape featured in the 2020 version), feet, the mascot in different poses, and a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

Marketing

The Dunkaroos mascot is a cartoon

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

, explaining the product's name which is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsvest A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit), or vest ( US and Canada), is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. ...

, and tie and spoke with an Australian accent, and was voiced by

John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is a two-time Tony Award winning American actor, playwright, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer and director. He is best known as the writer, director and star of the 2001 film '' Hedwig and th ...

. At the height of their popularity in 1996, a contest known as "Dunk-a-roos Kangaroo Kanga-Who Search" was held, resulting in the new mascot: Duncan, named the dunkin' daredevil.

History

The product was discontinued in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2012 but continued to be sold in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 2016,

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

announced a campaign called "Smugglaroos", which encouraged Canadians travelling to the United States to bring the snack to Americans who wanted it. Dunkaroos continued being sold in Canada until January 2018, with no comment by General Mills. In December 2019 Dunkaroos were brought back unofficially by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

with a chocolate-hazelnut flavour. The biscuits are shaped like a kangaroo biscuit. This is only available in Australia as Nestlé does not have the right to sell Dunkaroos worldwide. On February 3, 2020, a BuzzFeed article was published claiming that General Mills sent them exclusive info regarding a return of Dunkaroos. The official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account for Dunkaroos claimed that they are scheduled to be re-released during the summer of 2020. It also used to link to the BuzzFeed article in the bio, but this was later changed to their official website. In May 2020, Dunkaroos began arriving at 7-Eleven stores in the United States until being brought to other stores, including

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

, and

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...

, a few months afterwards. The new single serving package went from 1oz to 1.5oz, and the sugar was reduced significantly. On July 22, 2020, limited edition merchandise based on the brand was released, with each order coming with a pack of the aforementioned snack. On November 23, 2020, limited edition Dunkaroos cookie dough, complete with frosting, was released. Around early January 2021, a Dunkaroos cereal was released by General Mills. Around January 2021, Dunkaroos yogurt was released under

Yoplait Yoplait ( , ) is the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is jointly owned by American food conglomerate General Mills and French dairy cooperative Sodiaal. History In 1964, 100,000 French farmers agreed to merge six regional dairy coo ...

Go-Gurt Go-Gurt (stylized as Go-GURT), also known as Yoplait Tubes in Canada and as Frubes in Britain and Ireland, is an American brand of low-fat yogurt for children. It can be sucked out of a tube, instead of being eaten with a spoon. It was introduced ...

product line. In 2022, a new, limited-time only orange sherbet flavor was released, alongside a variant with chocolate cookies and chocolate chip frosting.

Varieties

Dunkaroos come in rainbow sprinkle frosting with

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

cookies, vanilla frosting with chocolate cookies, chocolate frosting with graham cookies, strawberry frosting with vanilla cookies, and rainbow sprinkle frosting with chocolate chip graham cookies. Cookie dough, a cereal, yogurt, pancake mix, and a separate frosting pack also spawned from the 2020 version. Previously the cookies were cinnamon flavored. There was a special

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...

edition, featuring yellow frosting. The cookies also collaborated with

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

in 2010 to add varieties based on their movies, like ''

Megamind ''Megamind'' is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Tom McGrath from a screenplay by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, the film stars ...

'' and ''

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...

''.

References

External links

Dunkaroos Twitter

Official Website
{{General Mills Products introduced in 1990 General Mills brands Brand name cookies Fictional kangaroos and wallabies Cartoon mascots Historical foods in American cuisine