Oh what devious minds have been at work in the Keebler cookie factory?  Who was it who first proposed "Hey, let's make a cookie out of cheesecake"?  I really hope that person's genius was recognized.  I hope they at least got a nice bonus that following December.  

How is it that I have lived my entire life without cheesecake cookies?  This must be how people felt when air travel was invented.  Every once in a while something so revolutionary comes along that you can't help but wonder how you ever got along without it.  Cheesecake Middles cookies are such an item.

The basics: a dollop of cheesecake inside a graham cracker cookie, with fudge stripes and a fudgy bottom.  The overall visual effect is like that of a thumbprint cookie, but with white creamy cheesecake instead of sticky red jam.  

The cheesecake is fairly standard stuff, a little bit tart, the kind of thing you would expect from a cookie that includes "natural and artificial cheesecake flavor" on its ingredients list.  It's just a slightly different kind of cream filling that's on the outside.  The texture is similar to the filling of an Oreo cookie, although the taste is much less aggressively sweet.  And more, well, cheesecake-y.

The most delightful (read: delicious, and possibly demonic) aspect of these cookies is that they acknowledge what we all know, but never say aloud: sometimes, the graham cracker crust is the best part.  Let's face it, graham cracker crust is downright delicious.  

These cookies change the proportions of graham cracker crust to cheesecake filling to something more like 50/50.  If you ask me, that's about right.  The graham cracker part is done to perfection: it has a little bit of a crunch, but it crumbles nicely.  It's sweet, but not too sweet.  The graham cracker flavor is very evident, but not overwhelming.  

I could eat an entire box of just these graham cracker crust cookies.  I want to make them and bring them to parties, except that I can't figure out how you could do it.  Maybe you could press graham cracker crust into a mold.  But I kind of doubt it.  Delicious as they are, these cookies are the product of Science, not the kitchen arts.

I don't think the fudge stripes add anything but visual appeal.  However, the fudge layer on the bottom is a nice chocolatey touch.  Although it tends to sweat, and can leave your fingers a little bit sticky.  But if fudgy residue on your fingertips is the worst thing that happens to you today, I'd say you're doing pretty well.

The package labels these "Original Graham," which raises the question, are there others?  I was only able to find information on this one flavor online.  I suspect Keebler might be floating them as a test, and planning to come out with other flavors if they do well.  Honestly, I don't think they could improve upon this cookie.  Sure, they'll try - they'll dollop sticky fruit flavors on it, or change the cookie to chocolate, or who knows what.  But trust me, "Original Graham" is all you'll ever need.