Photo Credit: taylorhatmaker

When I was an adorably chubby little boy nothing got me more excited than lunchtime. It wasn’t the floppy, soggy ham and cheese sandwich or the wrinkly ziploc bag full of cheerios (not even the honey nut kind, mind you). But there was always one item in my Power Rangers lunchbox that gave me the sugar rush I needed to get through the rest of my trying day: the Dunkaroos.

History

Dunkaroos were created in 1988 by Betty Crocker. Each packet of Dunkaroos comes with about 10 kangaroo-shaped cinnamon crackers nestled comfortably next to roughly one tablespoon of soft, sweet vanilla icing.

After the initial success of Dunkaroos, they began branching out into more flavors, like chocolate chip graham cookies with rainbow sprinkle icing, vanilla cookies with strawberry icing and graham cracker cookies with chocolate icing. If you brought all the different flavors with you and began mixing and matching, the possibilities were endless.

Photo Credit: Callie

Dunkaroos, Power, Respect

Let’s not forget how valuable sweets were on the unforgiving blacktop of the playground. It was all about the hustle back then. More often than not I would keep my Dunkaroos for myself, but they were such a hot ticket item I could have traded away for virtually anything. Unfortunately for young Matt, the thought of trading my coveted delectables for his mother’s horribly assembled collection of vegetables and other lame things was simply out of the question. My Dunkaroos empire virtually made me the king of the playground jungle and I’ve never once looked back.  

The Fall Of Dunkaroos

On a fateful Monday (I’m assuming, since Mondays suck) in the year 2012 Betty Crocker announced that Dunkaroos, to my dismay, had been discontinued. When asked by an avid fan why they were discontinued a representative from Betty Crocker simply responded, “There are many factors that go into the decision to discontinue a product and we regret that you’re disappointed with the discontinuation of Dunkaroos.” This far-from-thorough explanation did nothing to ease my sadness.

Although Betty Crocker has ended the production of Dunkaroos in America they continue to be made by their saviors in the Great White North, more specifically in Alberta and Ontario. On top of that, Americans still have an opportunity to purchase them online.

While Dunkaroos will no longer steal the show in our bellies they will always be the main attraction in our hearts.