White Chocolate Macadamia: Pepperidge Farms "Tahoe"

By erika on 8/26/10 3:10pm
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I still find it endearing that Pepperidge Farms gives each of its cookie varieties their own name.  Most companies are content to just call it a "white chocolate chunk macadamia nut cookie," but to Pepperidge Farms, it's a Tahoe.

The combination of white chocolate and macadamia nuts seems so quintessentially 80s that I'm surprised to see it still in action.  It's a very pale combination - pale in color, and pale in taste.  Subtle, I should say, like a good vanilla ice cream.


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Double Stuf Oreo Cakesters

By erika on 8/19/10 1:43pm
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I assume that Cakesters are a cynical attempt to cash in on the grassroots foodie groundswell of popularity for whoopie pies and macarons.  (Not macaroons - macarons, those colorful little French sandwich cookies.)  

I'm not sure if I approve of this or not.  I mean, I want to hate Nabisco for co-opting a movement towards delicious artisanal fresh cookies, and turning it into yet another pre-packaged branded "artificial food-like substance," in the words of Michael Pollan.

The problem is, THEY'RE JUST SO DANG GOOD.


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Make Your Own "Buckeyes" - Delicious No-bake Cookies

By colormejosh on 8/14/10 11:04pm
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These cookies always remind me of home. They are the traditional cookies of the Ohio State Buckeyes (named for the horse chestnuts of the Buckeye tree) and they are as delicious as they are easy to prepare.

Here's what you need:

    * 3/4 cup Peanut Butter    * 1/2 cup butter, softened    * 2-1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar    * 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips    * Tooth Picks

Here's what you need to do with the above:

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Cafe W Chocolatey Chunk Cookie

By erika on 8/14/10 1:38pm
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I'm honestly not sure which issue to address first: the ominous use of the word "chocolatey" or the fact that this "Café W" is apparently Walgreens' new house brand.  

I had to make a late night unscheduled trip to Walgreens this week.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Walgreens in the next town over is the closest place to buy tampons at 11PM on a weekday.  It's open 24 hours, and you don't have to walk all over hell and gone just to get what you need and make it back to your car. 

(Safeway, I'm looking at you.  I love your giant aisles and vast wide open spaces, but if I only want one thing, it's like an expedition just getting there and back.)


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Safeway Brand Crème Wafers

By erika on 8/5/10 12:20pm
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Oh my darlings, I am so suggestible.  Yesterday when I was thinking about manna I thought of crème wafers.  And wouldn't you know what I brought home from the store last night?  That's right!  Grocery store brand crème wafers.  

There are better brands of crème wafer, but Safeway only carried Safeway brand.  I know that there are better brands, because I have some very vivid memories of a temp job I worked for a while back in, oh, 2004 or so. 

Those were hard times.  I'd just broken up with my live-in boyfriend and cadged money from my family so that I could afford to move out, and I barely had two pennies to rub together.  


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Fudge Shoppe Cheesecake Middles

By erika on 7/22/10 3:22pm
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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.  


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Newman's Own Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

By erika on 7/11/10 12:58pm
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Actually the literal name for these, as far as I can tell, is "Newman's Own Organics - The Second Generation - Champion Chip Cookies: Espresso Chocolate Chip."  

Which highlights a problem I have with the Newman's Own packaging in general: way too many words.  

Sometimes using too many words can make things confusing, when you only wanted to clarify the situation.  Such seems to be the case with these cookies and the term "organic."  You will notice that "organic" is in the brand name, but not in the cookie name. 

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Mother's Taffy Sandwich Cookies

By erika on 7/8/10 10:21am
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"Your Favorites Are Back" proclaimed the package.  And it's true - as I mentioned yesterday, the Mother's cookie company went under in October of 2008 after what Wikipedia describes as "an accounting scandal." 

Luckily for fans, Kellogg purchased the Mother's brand and factory a few months later, and Mother's cookies went back into production in May, 2009.  

Taffy Cookies have what is often referred to as a "small but vocal following."  Taffy fanatics were despondent in the months after Mother's shut down, and before it was announced that Kellogg would be bringing the product back.  The problem is that there is no substitute for Taffy cookies.  


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Circus Animals, Frosted Animal Crackers

By erika on 7/6/10 4:47pm
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I'm not actually sure what the "real" name for these is.  They go by many different names, depending on the brand. 

I recently bought a bag made by Mother's Cookies which calls them "Circus Animal Cookies," but my friends bought a bag made by Franz called "Frosted Animal Crackers."  

(Incidentally, my friend and I both accidentally brought said cookies to the same event.  Which was "she's wearing my dress" embarrassing, as well as more than a little weird. Neither of us had eaten these cookies for years, before we picked them up at the store the day before.)


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Oatmeal Cookies

By erika on 6/28/10 1:10pm
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Oatmeal is one of the finest kinds of cookie you can make, and not just because it lends that air of healthfulness.  Although that definitely doesn't hurt!  Oatmeal after all provides dietary fiber, as well as soluble fiber which can help lower cholesterol.  (That is great, because it helps to balance out all the butter.)  Oatmeal gives a cookie body without making it too heavy.  It lends a nutty flavor, and a chewy texture that cannot be reproduced with any other ingredient.  Oatmeal is also really cheap, especially if you buy it in bulk!


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