Posted on 05/18/2008 6:01:21 AM PDT by Daffynition
LONDON -- "It's very dark. It's almost black." May Woodward, an office worker in central London, is holding an Oreo cookie in her hands. It's the first time she has ever seen one "in the flesh as opposed to on an American TV show," and she's not sure she likes what she sees. "It's the color of wet mud!" she complains. "And the bit ... looks like toothpaste rather than cream."
She twists and turns the cookie in her fingers, staring at it from every angle with a screwed-up look on her face that seems to say, "Gross!" not "Mmm, cookie time." You could be forgiven for thinking she's handling some dangerous alien element, Cookie Kryptonite, say, rather than one of the best-known biscuits in the Western hemisphere.
She bites, chews, raises an eyebrow, chews some more.
"OK, I get it," she says, finally. "I can see the attraction. It's very sweet." Suddenly she seems to change her mind. "Actually it's too sweet ... it's becoming mushy," she says, alarmed as tentative chewing becomes frantic munching to wolf the cookie down.
My impromptu taste test in Leicester Square is now attracting the attention of puzzled passersby giving us weird looks.
Ms. Woodward's verdict is that the Oreo is "too ... damp."
I tell her that, according to the ads, it should be "dunked" before eaten.
"In tea?" she asks. (Dipping biscuits we Brits call all cookies "biscuits' in a steaming hot cup of tea is an almost sacred ritual here.)
"No, in milk," I reply.
"Milk?! A biscuit dipped in milk? Who does that?"
"Apparently Americans do," I explain.
"Well, let them," she say dismissively. "I won't be doing it anytime soon." And with that, she disappears into a throng of pedestrians, nonplussed by what has been labeled here as "America's Favorite Cookie."
" " "
The Oreo has landed in Britain. And it is giving rise to a furious Battle of the Biscuits.
The classic sandwich cookie may be as familiar and nostalgia-inducing as, well, Mom's apple pie for Americans, but the majority of us here have never seen or tasted one. Until now.
Now, Kraft, the makers of what some Brits refer to as "the black-and-white biscuit" is launching it across the United Kingdom in an advertising campaign that makes it hard for anyone who lives and breathes to avoid the Oreo message. Big blue-and-white posters on the sides of our iconic red buses implore us to "Twist Lick Dunk." A new TV commercial shows a young boy teaching his scruffy dog how to eat an Oreo: "First you twist it. Then you lick it. Mmm. Then you dunk it," he says, sploshing his Oreo into a glass of milk. This will be the first time that many Brits have seen a biscuit dipped in milk.
[snip]
Thanks for the cookie recipe. I don’t see any sweetener in there except the caramel on top. Is that correct?
Thanks!
You can add brown sugar (1/2 cup; I use to do the recipe with the brown sugar but discovered it wasn’t vital when I accidentally left it out one time!), or just enjoy the sweetness in good peanut butter (I use Jif). I hope you enjoy the cookies. Sugar tends to make a cookie crispier, so the baking soda is a substitute for the crispiness (perhaps some food chemist can explain that one, I sure can’t).
Thanks !!!!!
(Jif is my very very favorite peanut butter.)
Can’t wait to try the recipe.
So do I!...although when you think of it, Hydrox is such a strange name for a cookie, eh.
The old time marshmallows were special....a wonderful texture and taste.
Today's jet puffed stuff is awful!
Ping to post #111; cookie recipe that only calls for oats, flour (could try it with Pamela’s baking mix), baking soda, and peanut butter.
Am thinking of trying it sometime using a wheat free flour substitute.
night night,
Joya
Yes, I am an Englishman after all....;)
Just looked at your profile page and seen the Union Flag :o). I should check first before making a fool of myself :o).
Seeing as you are British then you probably also like one of my favourites Cadbury’s chocolate fingers.
Modern marsmallows are more like a sort of plastic rubber and do not melt properly.
Well if is was only 6 - 8 years ago then they were definitely around unless he was of course in a very small village with only a local store and not a large supermarket nearby.
They did one in Caribbean and few years ago on an old sugar plantation that dated back to slavery tying it into a family back in England that was quite fascinating.
Even more off topic as a child if my feet ached after walking a fair way I used to say to my mum - “my feet feel like an aching peach on a dish”.
Where that came from I have no idea.
What a tasty treat.
A boiled egg wrapped in bacon, and encrusted in sausage. Then deep fried.
Being a person who once had a gall bladder I recall more than one evening of agony after eating one of them.
“I know many Americans after me sending them Cadbury’s chocolate chip cookies tell me that they compare most favourably with any American cookie.”
I was addicted to Cadbury milk chocolate bars. Love them. Now I’m limited in how much chocolate I can eat. Only a little bit, infrequently. Luckily for me, wouldn’t you know, Cadbury comes out with packaged mini-bars of the dairy milk chocolate, individually wrapped and then put in a bag. I was in hog heaven when I found that out. Now, rarely but at cherished moments, I can indulge in a mini-bar (about one and a half inches long per bar), and I suck on that piece for as long as I can stretch it out. Good thing I don’t live in England, surrounded by all things Cadbury. A Cadbury chocolate chip cookie must be a wondrous thing to behold and consume. Surprised they don’t sell them over here in the U.S.
Exactly!
“A boiled egg wrapped in bacon, and encrusted in sausage. Then deep fried.”
Sounds good to me.
A friend’s mother’s husband was English, ate bacon and eggs and “fried bread” (I think it’s the toast cooked in the bacon grease) every day, smoked and drank Scotch every day, lived to be 93 or so. The prostate cancer finally got him.
So much for “health” food. LOL.
Sounds good, check the 1918 cookbook that i was posting from yesterday, last page or the one before, it also has a recipe that as I recall is about the same one.
I too thought it was worth making.
Let me know if you like it.
Good British food is delicious. Mmmm, a good roast beef, or even a huge English breakfast. And there is nowhere on this huge continent that serves as good fish and chips. And better Indian food than in India... Don’t even get me STARTED on Cadbury — which I think is packed with crack cocaine because it is so addictive.
There is good food everywhere; you just have to know how to look for it.
(Never could get into my Dad’s HP sauce, though... Phew)
When you cook the fried bread you need to make sure the fat is really hot maybe turn it up so that it crisps and does not taste just fatty when crisp and really hot fried bread is wonderful but needs to be watched all the time as it can quickly turn from just ready to burnt.
Hiya snugs,
At last, I’m replying to your lovely comment.
Thank you for sharing that anecdote.
As Art Linkletter put it, “Kids say the darnedest things!”
Fondly,
Joya
(who f-i-n-a-l-l-y got a day off!)
= = =
Even more off topic as a child if my feet ached after walking a fair way I used to say to my mum - “my feet feel like an aching peach on a dish”.
Where that came from I have no idea.
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