'Color of Wet Mud!' Oreos Invade England

ABC News/CSM ^ | May 17, 2008 | BRENDAN O'NEILL

[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]

[Joya]

Have my first batch of these cookies in the oven now. Except I used a gluten-free baking mix instead of flour. They smell wonderful. Thanks so very much for the recipe!

Your FRiend,
Joya

= = =
Ping to Quix

recipe by MHG in Tennessee is

2 cups oats (One Minute Oats), one cup all purpose flour, one tblspoon of baking soda, and enough peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) to make a heavy dough (about 3/4 cup of peanut butter; you can add a dash of water if the dough is tto heavy to fold together); spoon heaping tablespoons full onto a baking sheet and flatten them with a wet fork (best at 1/4 inch thick).

[Joya]

I just tried one and it was deee - licious!

Glad you shared.