7 Discontinued Pillsbury Items We Miss Every Day

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Since its inception in 1869, Pillsbury has been helping make kitchens the heart of the home with delectable baked goods and recipes that stick with families for generations. Of course, the ebbs and flows of time have led to changes in Pillsbury throughout its century-and-a-half existence. Some changes, like the birth of the beloved Pillsbury Doughboy in 1965, have been a delight. Others, like the discontinuation of beloved products, are more somber occurrences sprinkled in over the years.

Plenty of households know how to properly cut a crescent roll for homemade pigs in a blanket, but there's still something missing for those of us with memories of the old-school Pillsbury Weiner Wrap. Brands ending the life of certain products is nothing new. And while some products are more fondly remembered than others, there's always a feeling of nostalgia that comes from foggy memories being brought back by food items we used to see on store shelves. Enjoy a brief walk down memory lane with us through these discontinued Pillsbury products.

Plenty of delicious breakfast foods were invented in the United States, but along the way our hearts have been broken and our taste buds abandoned as major brands like Pillsbury discontinued certain items. Waffle Sticks with Dippin' Cups are a classic example of a perfectly convenient breakfast many of us remember eating as a fast before-school meal. Pillsbury launched Waffle Sticks in 2003, and the easy-to-hold, dippable shape along with the included cups of syrup meant waffles could be enjoyed with less mess and less prep than usual.

The microwaveable breakfast food could be eaten on-the-go or right at home, and came in buttermilk, blueberry, chocolate chip, and cinnamon flavors. Commercials portrayed Waffle Sticks with Dippin' Cups as impossible to resist, with one ad featuring a kid in a full-body cast choosing to dip a waffle stick rather than go without. Irresistible or not, the Waffle Sticks didn't last long before Pillsbury pulled the plug on the breakfast innovation in 2007, just four years after being put on store shelves.

A more recently discontinued Pillsbury item is the Wildberry Toaster Strudel with Blue Icing — and yes, the blue icing makes all the difference. One post in the r/Breakfast Reddit board calls for the return of the beloved breakfast treat. "I frequently message Pillsbury to bring them back. Help me bring them back and send Pillsbury a message! I can't do it all on my own." There have been a few different variants of the Wildberry Toaster Strudel over the years, but the original pastry came with an electric blue icing that complemented the purple hue of the berry filling nicely.

The icing was later changed to a less-electric white before the Wildberry Toaster Strudel vanished from shelves altogether in 2023. It's unclear whether the pleas of Redditors will be enough to convince Pillsbury to bring back the lost flavor, but even if it does make a comeback the fact that food manufacturers are slowly phasing out artificial dyes means it isn't likely to have an icing color as vibrant as the blue icing used to be.

The disappearance of Pillsbury Orange Cake Mix raises the question of which other cake flavors have been lost to history. Pillsbury released its Orange Cake Mix in the 1950s and kept it in production for a decade or two. It isn't uncommon for discontinued items and flavors to make a comeback, but with over half a century having passed and no orange cake mix resurgence, it appears this one is gone for good. Why was the product discontinued? No one knows, but the taste may have had something to do with it.

The cake mix was advertised as including orange crystals made from the peel and juice of oranges, which were said to balance the sweet and tart flavors of an orange. Decades later, orange is still an uncommon cake flavor even while other citrus cakes, like lemon, remain popular. You won't get your hands on Pillsbury Orange Cake Mix anytime soon, but if you decide to embark on the journey of making your own you have options. An orange-flavored cake would be a great summer flavor paired with vanilla, but it would also fit right in during winter if you used chocolate frosting.

Anyone can have a pink lemonade cake, but Pillsbury's Pink Lemonade Angel Food Cake Mix might be the summer dessert we're all missing. In 1961, Pillsbury released this particular cake mix complete with complementary pink lemonade frosting. The fluffy texture of Angel Food cake and the citrus lemonade flavor would make this ideal for serving up with a side of fruit salad. But the box of cake mix included over 14 powdered egg whites, making the mix incredibly expensive.

There was a short-lived revival of the cake mix from 2013 to 2017, but if you want a pink lemonade Angel Food cake now, you'll have to make it at home. If you've ever made a plain Angel Food cake, making a lemonade version from scratch isn't a far stretch. Many recipes only call for the addition of lemon extract and a few drops of food coloring since the color is really the only major difference between regular lemonade and pink lemonade. Admittedly, this dessert would be a lot more convenient if Pillsbury gave it another shot at production.

Many of us have made pigs in a blanket by wrapping a Pillsbury Crescent Roll around a hot dog for an easy, fun bite to eat. In the 1970s, Pillsbury had a product specifically meant for this purpose. Wiener Wraps came in a tube-shaped can (likely the same fear-inducing pop-top cans we all know and hate today) much like the brand's other ready-to-bake pastries. The wraps were cut specifically to fit around a hot dog, making for the perfect sealed bun or stick-free corn dog.

The Wiener Wraps came in multiple flavors, including plain, cheese, onion, and Mexican; and would be baked on a cookie sheet with the hot dogs inside. The whole process only took 20 minutes before the wraps were ready. While the Wiener Wraps are a fondly remembered item in the United States, they're not entirely gone from the Pillsbury lineup as the plain ones are still available in Canada. The Wiener Wraps were a great option for quick lunches or gatherings, so while there are plenty of ways to serve a hot dog, it's not surprising the Wiener Wrap is missed by those who remember it. 

Pillsbury introduced the Toaster Strudel in 1982, and just five years later in 1987 the Pillsbury Toaster Muffin joined the breakfast lineup. The logistics of putting a muffin in the toaster required a change in appearance. Instead of the familiar muffin shape, the Toaster Muffin was more of a disc shape somewhat resembling the modern muffin top pastry you can purchase at coffee stands. Some might say the top of the muffin is the best part, but that wasn't enough to save the Toaster Muffin from being discontinued. 

The Toaster Strudel has stuck around for decades and has a multitude of flavor options now available, but the Toaster Muffin didn't receive the same treatment and was removed from shelves shortly after its debut. The muffins might have been a good choice for a grab-and-go breakfast without the messy icing or fruity filling, but decades have passed without any inkling of a comeback for these long-lost, toaster-baked goods.

Absolutely nothing perfects an October movie night like Pillsbury Shape Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Dough. This goes double if you prefer to eat without baking since it's a Pillsbury Dough product that's safe to eat raw. However, these seasonal sensations were once far more whimsical as they incorporated a member of the Peanuts gang from a beloved Halloween story. The Pumpkin Shape cookies weren't always packaged with individual cookies ready to set on a pan or pop in your mouth, either. Originally, the cookies were a slice-and-bake cookie dough log complete with an all-orange jack-o-lantern in the center.

In the early 2000s, the jack-o'-lantern received a makeover and was granted a green stem. The slice-and-bake cookie log was then briefly renamed Linus' Great Pumpkin Cookies. Eventually, the slice-and-bake style changed into the place-and-bake style we know today, and Linus is nowhere to be found. This doesn't make the Pillsbury Shape Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Dough any less of a seasonal staple, but little Linus and the Great Pumpkin are surely missed.