Nothing could upgrade a grade-school lunch swap faster than flashing a Banana Twin across the table. Little Debbie moved more than 200 snack cakes every single second during the brand’s late-70s heyday, yet a surprising number have slipped quietly off store shelves in the decades since. Some were victims of rising cocoa costs, others bowed to sluggish sales, and a few just aged out of taste trends.
Grab a big, cold glass of milk and let’s go rummage through the lost aisle of Little Debbie snacks.
Editor’s note: This is part of our series on discontinued flavors, articles that highlight foods that are gone but not forgotten, such as Hostess snacks, Eggos, and Pop-Tarts.
1. Banana Twins (1965 – 2020)
Two golden sponge strips welded by banana crème and wrapped like a twin-pack of joy. Fans swear the flavor was closer to homemade pudding than artificial taffy. McKee Foods never issued an official death notice, but customer-service emails cite “declining demand.” Decline or not, almost 600 snack loyalists have signed petitions begging for a resurrection, arguing no current cake scratches the same itch.
2. Spice Cakes (1960s – 2000s)
Molasses-tinged cake layers and a thin coat of white icing delivered warm bakery notes in a plastic wrapper. Families from the Southeast remember them as “gingerbread on-the-go.” Production halted when cinnamon prices rose and pumpkin-spice everything stole the autumn slot.
3. Coconut Sticks (aka Coconut Crunch)
Messy? Yes. Delicious? Also yes. Coconut Sticks were covered in a thick layer of shredded coconut, stuck to a gooey filling and a chewy base. They weren’t for everyone — especially coconut haters — but for people who loved them, there hasn’t been a proper replacement since they disappeared sometime in the early 2000s.
4. Fudge Round Ice Cream
This one wasn’t a snack cake — it was a limited-edition ice cream inspired by a classic. Little Debbie partnered with an ice cream brand to create frozen versions of their best sellers, and Fudge Round Ice Cream was the standout. It was rich, chocolatey, and had chunks of cookie inside. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, and fans are still hoping it gets another release.
5. Marshmallow Supremes
This was basically Little Debbie’s take on a Moon Pie. Marshmallow Supremes had a soft cookie base, a generous marshmallow center, and a chocolate coating. What made them fun was how easy they were to pull apart and eat layer by layer. They were especially good cold. For some reason, they never became a permanent fixture and eventually disappeared.
6. Chocolate Chip Cakes
Chocolate Chip Cakes were soft, slightly dense bars packed with chocolate chips and glazed on top. They were easy to eat, perfectly portioned, and always came in twin packs. They didn’t try to do too much, and maybe that’s what made them so good. Sadly, they haven’t been seen on shelves in years.
7. Carrot Cake Rolls
These soft-baked rolls were packed with bits of carrot and topped with a sweet cream cheese-style frosting. They had a dense, spiced flavor that made them feel almost homemade. Unlike most seasonal releases, these weren’t tied to any specific time of year, but they didn’t last long in production. Fans have been asking for them back ever since they disappeared from shelves.
8. Apple Delights
Apple Delights were chewy snack cakes filled with apple-flavored filling and a hint of cinnamon. They had a glaze that gave them a shiny finish and were sold in individual packages. People who loved fruit-based snacks were big fans, but they were never as popular as their chocolate counterparts — and Little Debbie quietly phased them out.
9. German Chocolate Cookie Rings
These were something special. Shaped like a doughnut but with the texture of a cookie, German Chocolate Cookie Rings were covered in caramel, toasted coconut, and a drizzle of chocolate — basically everything good about a German chocolate cake, shrunk down into snack form. They were never as widely distributed as some of the core Little Debbie products, and after a short run in the early 2000s, they quietly disappeared. If you find someone who remembers them, you’ve found a kindred spirit.
10. Salted Caramel Cookie Bars
Salted caramel had a moment — and Little Debbie tried to ride that wave with these. The Salted Caramel Cookie Bars were soft, chewy bars with a caramel layer and a light sprinkle of salt on top. The packaging leaned trendy, and the flavor was rich without being overly sweet. But they didn’t stick around long. Most stores only stocked them for a limited time, and they’ve been gone ever since. A real loss for anyone who prefers their snacks with a little sweet and salty balance.
11. Cosmic Cupcakes
Cosmic Cupcakes looked like the snack aisle’s answer to interstellar travel. They were chocolate cupcakes filled with crème and topped with chocolate icing and colorful candy-coated sprinkles — like a mashup of the classic Little Debbie Cupcakes and the beloved Cosmic Brownies. Kids loved them, but adults did too. Despite a strong run, they quietly faded out, leaving only the brownies to carry the cosmic torch.
12. PB&J Oatmeal Pies (2000-2008)
Imagine the classic Oatmeal Crème Pie got ambitious: peanut-butter icing on one side, strawberry jelly on the other, all sandwiched between chewy cinnamon-spiced cookies. Kids loved them, parents winced at sticky lunchboxes, and sales never matched the flagship pie. When peanut prices spiked in 2008, the flavor quietly disappeared. Food bloggers still hack a copycat by layering Skippy and Smucker’s between two standard pies. There’s a Change.org petition urging to bring back PB&J Oatmeal Pies with nearly 8,800 signatures.
13. Boston Crème Rolls (2015 – 2023)
A swirl cake riff on the donut-shop favorite: custard-flavored filling spiraled inside yellow sponge, glossed with chocolate-shell icing. Launched as a Walmart exclusive, it disappeared nationwide by early 2023. Social chatter blames short shelf life; crème fillings dry out fast without pricey stabilizers.
14. Apple Delights / Apple Flips (1990s-mid 2000s)
Picture a hand-pie that borrowed its crust from a Danish and its glaze from a cinnamon roll. Apple Delights vanished first; frosted Apple Flips limped along until the mid-2000s. Fans on Reddit still call them “the best Little Debbie ever made.” No word from the bakery yet—only a polite “currently not in production” auto-reply to hopeful emails.
15. Christmas Wreath Cookies (seasonal until 2014)
Green-tinted, corn-flake-style clusters shaped like miniature wreaths and dotted with red-hot candies. They anchored holiday three-packs alongside Christmas Tree Cakes. Demand slid after schools tightened nut-free and dye-free guidelines. McKee Foods hasn’t ruled out a comeback, but parent groups now steer toward gingerbread men. There‘s a Change.org petition pleading for their return, with nearly 1,500 signatures.
Final Crumbs
Little Debbie might still be around, but a lot of its older snacks aren’t. Whether it’s a flavor you haven’t tasted in decades or just the memory of tearing open the plastic wrap at lunch, these treats stick with us. They were part of childhood — and if you ask us, it’s about time some of them made a comeback.
