12 Discontinued Keebler Cookies You Forgot You Missed

Is there a cookie brand as iconic as Keebler? Sure, Nabisco can claim comfort classics like Chips Ahoy! and Oreo, and Pepperidge Farm is one of your top cookie brands, according to a survey, but Keebler is the brand that really taps into sweet, nostalgic childhood. What kid didn't want a cookie crafted by the adorable Keebler Elves? 

Since 1969, these tree-bound elves have served up some of the best cookies around, from the addictive Fudge Stripes to the perfectly crumbly pecan Sandies. Of course, the Keebler brand was originally founded in 1853, making it over a hundred years older than its elven mascots. With such a long and storied history, it makes sense that this baked good brand has left more than a few discontinued cookies in its wake.

This list represents some of the most beloved fallen heroes from the Keebler line. These are the cookies that offered us sweet bliss that our inner child is still pining for. As you peruse the line-up, remember: It's better to have tasted the cookie and lost it than to never have had it at all. 

Let's kick off this round-up with a truly beloved bygone cookie. Magic Middles got the name from the delicious melted fudge center hiding inside a traditional shortbread shell. Eventually, the cookie line would expand to include chocolate chip and peanut butter exterior flavors and the bite-sized version, Mini Middles. This cookie's lasting appeal was all in its textural surprise, promising a gooey interior even though it wasn't "fresh-baked." And if you wanted to recreate that warm, fresh-from-the-oven sensation anyway, all you had to do was zap it in the microwave for a few seconds. 

After its initial run from 1989 to the early 2000s, the cookie was quietly discontinued around 2011. The fan disappointment was immediate. As one Facebook fan stated, "I will never forgive those elves for discontinuing these. Never." Pleas to bring the cookie back have so far fallen on deaf ears, and the reasons offered for its discontinuation are flimsy at best. In an X exchange between a fan and the Keebler Corporation, Keebler stated, "To keep our product line interesting and give consumers innovative flavors, we periodically have to discontinue products, which was the case with our Magic Middles." 

So how should you get your magic fix today? Cookbook author Stella Parks offered a pretty good copycat recipe for the original shortbread and chocolate flavor combo in "Bravetart." Another online homemade dupe recipe basically suggests that you make a typical cookie dough base and then fill it with frozen ganache balls. 

These simple and sweet rectangles first made their debut around 1988, looking exactly like edible dominoes. The original two flavors featured a graham cracker cookie base with one side sporting a chocolate fudge coating and a chocolate cookie base with a white fudge backing. It was kind of like one-half of the E.L Fudge Sandwich Cookie, but with a more sleek and stylish design. Unfortunately, they still flamed out in the early '90s for mysterious reasons.

If you want to attempt to chase the original flavor, you can always dip a chocolate or regular graham cracker in white or milk chocolate, but the texture won't have the same soft give. For that, you can maybe slather it with a ganache coating (it'll be a bit too messy for a proper dip), which is a silky combination of heavy cream and melted chocolate. And for a bit of non-edible fun, there's a chance you can get a 1983 collectible Keebler Elf dominoes set online. Though it's certainly a cute bit of kitsch, we know it can't deliver the same delicious joy the cookie version did. 

Not dissimilar to Nabisco's peanut-shaped Nutter Butter cookies, the Pitter Patter was essentially a peanut butter sandwich cookie featuring a basket weave pattern, an oat-accented cookie, and a peanut butter creme filling. There are two incarnations of the Keebler Pitter Patter cookies: the 1971 original and the 2013 revival. A fan of the original described the cookie as having a super crunchy and hard texture, with a more toothsome bite than Do-Si-Dos, its Girl Scout contemporary. 

Speaking of Girl Scout cookies, the 2013 revival version of the Pitter Patter was positively compared to Do-Si-Dos. This is unsurprising considering that a branch of Keebler has been making the Girl Scout Cookies since 1934. The brand is also known to occasionally double dip and offer up some delicious Girl Scout knock-offs, too (looking at you, Coconut Dreams). How does this help you? Since the brand has again stopped selling Pitter Patter cookies, consider grabbing a box of Do-Si-Dos to help tide you over until the next — we hope — revival.  

Those Keebler Elves never get tired of a good fudgey cookie. A classic from the 1980s, Swirly-Q's sported a dramatic spiral of filling inside a tender cookie. The filling in question was that signature Keebler fudge or, as the retro Keebler commercial would have us believe, a "river of real chocolate." One Reddit poster remembered them as thus: "They tasted like shortbread with a hint of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate depending on the color you were eating." 

Despite being a nostalgic favorite for many, it had a disappointingly short run from 1983 to 1987. Sadly, it also hasn't enjoyed a temporary revival like some of the other cookies on this list. This is also a cookie that's hard to recreate at home. Unlike a traditional pinwheel cookie, which uses two kinds of flavored, colored dough to create a spiral effect, the Swirly-Q's were swirled with a chocolate filling — a formula that is a lot harder to get right. 

As a kid, I felt these cookies call out to me like a siren in the grocery store aisle. With a florid, bright pink box and an exotic-sounding name — to an 8-year-old, that is — these cookies promised romance, elegance, and sweetness with a cosmopolitan twist. Again, according to an 8-year-old. A quick look around online shows that I'm not alone in my nostalgic adoration for Keebler's bygone Danish Wedding Cookies. 

So, what exactly could you expect from a Danish Wedding Cookie? The Keebler classic offered a powdered-sugar-coated cookie that had a touch of coconut and mini chocolate chips. The texture was melt-in-your-mouth perfect and never dry. Most traditional Danish wedding cookies will lean on pecans for their tender texture and taste, but the Keebler version does not use any pecans, opting instead for oats as the crumbly base. In a word, these specific Danish wedding cookies are distinct from any other commercial brand out there. Several Facebook fans noted that other versions, like Walmart's bettergoods Traditional Recipe Wedding Cookies,  had an overwhelming almond taste or seemed doused in confectioners' sugar. 

If you really want to taste the magic of these cookies again, your best bet is to bake a homemade copycat recipe. There are several such recipes floating around online, but most rely on the formula of a buttery cookie punctuated by a mix of finely processed desiccated coconut (shredded, sweetened coconut), rolled oats, and mini chocolate chips. 

This one is a true retro throwback. Rich 'n Chips was a classic cookie that had a big run from the 1970s to the 1980s. The charm of these decadent treats lay in both the sandy texture and the combination of regular chocolate chips and an additional "secret" flavor chip. Several past fans remember the secret flavor as butterscotch, but a little sleuthing reveals it might have been something a bit nuttier. 

A quick peek at the ingredient list shows that the cookie had some peanut butter and molasses as well. The molasses added some caramel richness to the dough (perhaps evoking the butterscotch flavor), but the peanut butter could be in the lighter-colored "secret" chips. There's also a mysterious catchall ingredient listed as "artificial flavor," which could refer to a butterscotch taste. Either way, it'll remain a secret for the foreseeable future. The cookies disappeared sometime in the 1980s and haven't been seen since. 

There was some festive magic in each crumb of the Keebler Jingles cookies. These holiday treats came with red and green sprinkles, a slightly spicy flavor, and were offered in themed shapes — ornaments, stars, fir trees, wreaths, and, of course, bells. The sweet DNA for the original recipe lies in a classic anise-flavored sugar cookie made by a Chicago company called Salerno. In the 1990s, Keebler took over at Salerno and made its own version of Jingles. While the anise flavor was key to those first cookies, it seems the Keebler ones lacked that spicy punch. Still, there are plenty of fans who preferred this less spicy take. 

A Facebook user longing for the original Keebler Jingles recipe mentioned in a post that they'd tasted numerous different brands of Jingle-like cookies, finding the Voortman Bakery brand to be close but no cigar. They then tried seven to eight recipes that were also busts. "They either spread too much or were too dry, even tried adjusting ingredients and then they lacked the very distinct flavor," they wrote in a comment.

We know one thing for sure: The holidays will never be the same without Keebler Jingles.

Opera Creme cookies — not to be confused with the Opera Cream candy you can find in Cincinnati, Ohio — were another Keebler treat that seemed fancier than the rest. After all, kid logic dictates that any cookie that's associated with the opera should probably be eaten with elbow-length white gloves. These were the rare baked good brand that offered both vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies, each coming with a distinct lemon filling. Many fans fondly remember sharing the cookies with family, with each sibling or parent preferring either the vanilla or the chocolate better.

Sadly, the cookies haven't been seen since the '80s, with one anonymous commenter on a blog post claiming a Keebler representative said the cookies were too expensive to make. Speaking of money, a poster on the In the '80s forum claimed that they offered Keebler $5 million for the recipe, but supposedly still got turned down. This unique combo of citrus with chocolate and vanilla cookies is hard to find in other cookie brands. For now, we'll be pining for them, like one former fan who posted on In the '80s, "I'm 68 years old and rarely eat sweets anymore but if they brought these back I'd be standing in line for my share." 

These were a true American classic. What's not to like about pink and white frosted animal cookies with nonpareil sprinkles? Well, if you're a company like Ferrero Rocher, the answer is a bit complicated. In 2019, Ferrero made a big baking purchase from Kellogg's, acquiring brands like Famous Amos, Mother's, and Keebler for a cool $1.3 billion. While it may seem like a case of "the more cookies the merrier," Ferrero streamlined some of the overlap and axed some beloved cookies, like Mother's Iced Raisin Cookies. Another victim was the Keebler Frosted Animals Cookies, which were in direct competition with Mother's Animal Circus Cookies, a brand that had an identical color scheme and look. So shouldn't the Mother's frosted animal crackers keep the Keebler fans happy?  

Unfortunately, no, these cookie fanatics are not satisfied with Mother's brand of Frosted Animal Cookies as a place holder treat. As one Redditor joked about the Mother's cookie frosting, "If I wanted wax, I'd just buy a candle to eat." There is still some hope for those looking to buy a similar dupe. One poster on Reddit recommended Target's Market Pantry White Fudge Animal Cookies as tasting very close to the Keebler original. 

Here come more nostalgic chocolate cravings from the tree-bound Keebler elves. Sweet Spots were essentially shortbread cookies filled with a rich puddle of fudge. The charming original tagline read, "the little shortbread cookie with the big drop on top." It seems an apt description. As one Redditor described them, "it was mostly a big chocolate 'Hershey kiss' disguised as a cookie." The packaging was also praised by former fans, with one noting that the four-pack of cookies was perfect for their lunch box. Alas, these petite beauties only had a brief run from 1992 to roughly 1995.  

If you want to get close to bringing these cookies to the home kitchen, consider trying out a traditional thumbprint cookie – a retro Christmas cookie recipe that can be enjoyed anytime of the year. There are plenty of flavor combos out there, like peanut butter and chocolate, but your best bet is to combine a shortbread cookie base with a Hershey Kiss pressed in the center. 

Admittedly, a raisin cookie doesn't have the same far-reaching appeal as a traditional chocolate-studded cookie does. But for the people who like a bit of natural fruity sweetness, Keebler's Golden Fruit cookie is sorely missed. Similar to Garibaldi biscuits (coincidentally named after the same Italian revolutionary who inspired the Garibaldi Cocktail), the Golden Fruit cookie relied only on a golden raisin/sultana filling to sweeten a razor-thin pastry base. In fact, these cookies were so lightly sweet that many fans used to dip them in sugar to up the ante. Sadly, this retro treat was officially discontinued by 2001.  

If you want to try and get a nostalgic taste of these, you can try to make your own Garibaldi Biscuit — also known by the less-appealing name of squashed fly biscuits or fly graveyards — by looking up a recipe online. If you're a "Great British Bake-Off" fan, Prue Leith has a classic one to start with. Or, if you're feeling lazy, you can always buy a box of Crawford's Garibaldi Biscuits at a British specialty food store. 

Once upon a time, a cookie's shape was a great way for companies to repackage an old recipe in a novel way. Such is the tale of Keebler's Cookie Stix, which came in standard flavors like chocolate chip, peanut butter, and butter. These sweet and crunchy baby baguettes were intended to be an instant milk-dunking classic. Heck, it even came with the famous "Got milk?" slogan tacked onto some ads. Dunking aside, these cookies became nostalgic icons because of that playful shape. As one contemporary consumer told Deseret News, "You can use your cookies to build little forts or something before you eat them! Is this a great country or what?" Cookie nationalism aside, Cookie Stix only graced shelves from 1997 to 2001. 

If the shape was the only thing you liked about these cookies, you could maybe scratch your itch with Keebler's Fudge Sticks, which are at least oblong and dunkable. But if you want that combo of crispy chocolate chip cookie flavor with the baton shape, you'll just have to resort to your tasty memories.