Dunkaroos are a brand of

snack food A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

from

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, Gener ...

, first launched in 1990. It consists of a snack-sized package containing

cookies A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

and

frosting Frosting or Frosted may refer to: * Frost, a thin layer of ice on a solid surface * Icing (food), the sweet glaze used in confectionery * FROSTING, a surveillance programme * Frosting (crime), a form of vehicle theft * Frosting (decorative arts) ...

; 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 point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

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 carri ...

Marketing

The Dunkaroos mascot is a cartoon

kangaroo Kangaroos are 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 gre ...

, explaining the product's name which is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''dunk'' and ''kangaroos''. The original mascot was Sydney, a caricature of modern Australian culture, who wore a hat,

vest 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. It ...

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

John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer and director. He is known as the writer, director and star of the 2001 film ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film), Hedwig and t ...

. 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 2012 but continued to be sold in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In 2016,

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

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, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

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 BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

article was published claiming that General Mills sent them exclusive info regarding a return of Dunkaroos. The official

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account for Dunkaroos claimed that they were 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 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

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 in the United States and 23 other ...

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * 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 artille ...

, 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 Cinc ...

, 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 a French dessert company and the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is fully owned by the French dairy cooperative Sodiaal since 2021. In North America, the Canadian subsidiary was taken over by Sodiaal in 2025. Th ...

's Go-Gurt 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 flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

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'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

edition in 2007, featuring yellow frosting. The cookies also collaborated with DreamWorks in 2010 to add varieties based on their movies, like ''

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

'' and ''

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman, from a screenplay written by Letterman and Michael J. Wilson. The film features the vo ...

''.

References

External links

*
Dunkaroos Twitter
{{General Mills Products introduced in 1990 Products and services discontinued in 2012 Products introduced in 2020 General Mills brands Brand name cookies Fictional kangaroos and wallabies Mascots introduced in 1990 Anthropomorphic kangaroos and wallabies Kangaroo and wallaby mascots Cartoon mascots American mascots Historical foods in American cuisine