One is a windmill cookie that my mom used to buy possibly in late '70s but definitely in the '80s but I don't know who made them. Here is a pic of it but I found no background on it:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/28...
and the other cookie:
My mom used to buy possibly in the late '70s but definitely in the '80s that came in a red (may have been the Nabisco logo) and clear wrapping and plastic tray about 4 or 5 rows wide and the cookie was yellow or kind of yellow and had a yellow creme filling (a somewhat thin layer). The cookie was round, maybe 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and the cookie had a design on each side that were the same (sailboat?). I think the edge of the cookie had a thin, raised design like a ribbon and the surface had a print but I can't recall what was on it. The cookie wasn't terribly hard nor too soft. It was rather easy to bite into and crumble.
Both cookies were available in grocery stores.
I've had both of these, I seem to remember the Windmill cookies were made by either Nabisco or Archway and I'm leaning towards Archway.
The filled cookies were similar to a vanilla filled Oreo, but I don't remember if Nabisco made them, it seems to me they were a store (generic) brand my Mom bought. I still eat them on occasion but just the small packs now; they are produced by various regional bakeries like Lady Linda, Drake's or some such...
BTW, we had these all the way back in the '60s.
Looks like the archway windmills will be back on the shelf:
http://www.slashfood.com/2009/09/09/a...
I don't have any recollection of the 2nd cookie you mention.
when I say your thread title two cookies came to mind...the super flat cookies that were essentially pastry with raisin filling (we used to call them fly sandwiches) and Ideal cookies: http://www.inthe70s.com/food/idealcoo...
The latter was delicious...the former, not so much
OOH, I love those raisin cookies, I haven't seen them lately but sure would like to. They were made by Sunshine, Golden Raisin Bisquits, no longer produced. I don't remember Ideal Bars by name but if they were the chocolate covered peanut butter bars, yes, yes, yes.
Whatever happened to Mystic Mints, back in the '80s. I used to eat them by the boxful.
Oh I loved those raisin cookies! Not generally a fan of raisins in cookies or muffins, but "squashed fly biscuits" were a big hit in our house! My Dad was British, and he would regularly go to Marks and Spencer's (in Toronto) to get English food, and they carried those there. You might be able to find these still at one of those British speciality shops...
The almond windmills are available at Trader Joe's. Also, if your market has a self-serve cookie display from Voortman's, they also have windmills (but the TJ's, IMO, are better).
CP
I really liked the almond windmill cookies the most. I bought some Lil' Dutch Maid windmill cookies two days ago but I know they can't compare to Voortman windmills even though I've never had them. I'll have to travel probably 60 miles from where I live to find Voortman's cookies as I've never seen them in my area.
On the 2nd cookie I'd have guessed Vienna Fingers if you hadn't said rounf. Not it? I don't think they were Kelloggs when we were kids...
http://www2.kelloggs.com/Brand/brand....
I don't believe it's the Swiss Creme. The design was different than the Swiss Creme and the creme center was, I believe, light yellow or yellow. I don't recall a lemon flavor to them, though. It didn't have a hole in the center.
If I would have known back then that I would have trouble remembering and finding these cookies and also that we would have computers, digital cameras, scanners and the internet, I would have archived photos of the cookie and package!
For those who don't know what Swiss Creme cookies look like, I provided links below.
Swiss Creme description:
http://snacks.cyberpunks.org/Nabisco-...
Swiss Creme package:
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/drsoda_2076_6...
Well, I've been racking my brain and my DH and I have been discussing this all weekend but we're fresh out of ideas. We are "of an age" where we were eating cookies (store-bought ones) back in the '50s and '60s, so maybe the cookie you're looking for came about later than our era. Sorry I can't help.
BTW, do you remember Mystic Mints? I believe it was a Nabisco concoction, an oreo-like thing covered with minty chocolate. They were in the market in the early '80s and just disappeared. I don't see them in the NY market, anyway. I very rarely eat store bought cookies anymore, although I did have some Famous Amos oreo-type things on Friday (not made by Amos anymore) which were passable.
This is a interesting thread about stuff I haven't thought about for years. Thanks for the memories.
Yeah, it's pretty much at least in the '80s and possibly late '70s. That was junior high-high school era for me so I wasn't really focusing on who made the cookies although the cookie itself!
I can't recall if I remember the Mystic Mints name but I've probably tried them. I could go for something chocolate and minty since you brought it up. I'm guessing there wasn't a high demand and were taken off the market.
Mmmm... Famous Amos cookies...
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5351...
I haven't bought many cookies over the past few years just a few times but recently some Golden Oreos and windmill cookies.
I'm glad I was able to stir some memories and thank you for input.
u r so correct on the cookie break cookies they r just as u described them, they even came as a duplex cookie a chocolate and vanilla cookie with the yellowish creme in between ,both those cookies were very good tasting, the last time i was able to purchase some was back in 1985 in the grocery store in memphis tn after that they were not on the shelves anymore, but i first ran up on them in chicago in the 70s
My Sister and I have been desperate to find out what ever happened to Lady Joan cookies - we think they were by Sunshine. They came in a cellophane package and were white delicate cookes with some drizzled with chocolate. They were in spritz cookie shapes. We loved them and have been trying to find something like them with no luck - any ideas?
I think you mean Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, the ones traditionally used for chocolate crumb crusts and, layered with whipped cream, chocolate ice box cake. They are increasingly hard to find in cookie aisles, but they are sometimes shelved in odd places like with the prepared crumb crusts in the baking aisle, or with the ice cream toppings.
Two oatmeal faves that I've not seen in an awfully long time: Dad's, which were flat, crisp cookies made with cut oats rather than rolled, were sold from big jars, usually next to the register in coffee shops and greasy spoons for a nickel each; and Archway Date-Filled Oatmeal, a soft folded cookie with a good smear of date filling. My grandma made killer-good oatmeal date bars, but she kept these around to keep Grandpa (and me, when I was visiting) happy between bakings.
Loved those Archway Date-Filled Oatmeal cookies, among some of their other cookies, apricot filled, lemon bars and the great Hermits. I was nuts for dates when I was a kid, and my mom made date bars also. I still make them today. Seems like it might be time for a batch, now that we're discussing them.
Archway filed bankruptcy in 2008 and closed up US operatons. It was owned by Parmalat at the time of bankruptcy. Now for the good news: Lance (the snack makers) won the bankruptcy auction and reopened the plant in Ashland, Ohio. Archway cookies are in operaton again, although the product line has been trimmed back severely, but you should be able to find some of them, depending on where you live. Archway is still producing their oatmeal line so they may still even make the date-filled variety.
I've told this story before: I'm at the GPs' house for my summer visit, and Grandma comes in and says, "I'm about to get some date bars out of the oven - you want to call Mark (my date-bar-loving friend who lived a block and a half away) and tell him?"
So I get on the phone and say, "Hey, Mark, Grandma says she's got a batch of date bars coming..." at which point there's a loud clattering noise and then the sound of a door being slammed. I say, "Hello? Mark?" a couple of times, and then hang up just in time to hear another clatter from outside, and there's Mark's bicycle sliding across the lawn and Mark pounding up onto the porch.
Last time I made some of those I thought maybe I'd come running, too. Still.
A wonderful story and a nice memory, I'm sure. Your friend could have been me...
I have a less than happy date (not bar) story; I once ate, when I was 10, so many dates stuffed with peanut butter, my own concoction, that I was quite sick for a few days and could only sip ginger ale. You would think that experience would put anyone off dates or peanut butter, but not me.
Btw, I have lost my mom's date bar recipe years ago and now use the Two Hot Tamales (remember their show from FN back in the 90's?) recipe, which is at the FN site and also in their City Cuisine cookbook. The original recipe adds lemon juice to the date mixture but I cut back on it to a scant 1/4 cup and I've also used orange juice with very good results:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/da...
If you try these, let me know what you think, or if you have a recipe that's a bit different, could you share it; I'm always on the lookout for a better date bar.
Enjoy!
Thank you! I have my grandma's recipe, but I think she wrote it from memory, because the proportions are completely unworkable - like, enough oatmeal mixture for just one scant layer, and enough date goo for three pans - and I've had to re-jigger as best I could. She was a baker the same way as I'm a cook, and I'm sure she did most of her familiar items as devoid of recipe as I do; I'm often surprised at how wrong I can be when I try to write a recipe for something I've been cooking for years.
The link from wekick is indeed the Dad's oatmeal cookie company I think you mean...they are based here in St. Louis and I drive by the storefront a couple times a week. You can still find the jars in some places, but I believe the fact that they are sold unwrapped means that you can only get them in places that sell 'prepared' type foods, and not in grocery type stores. If you get to the Lou, be sure to go to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard...they sell a Dad's oatmeal cookie ice-cream (oops, frozen custard) sandwich.
I think one of the cookies in Steenstra's Almond St. Claus Cookies was a windmill. Unfortunately, I can't find a picutre of all the different ones in the box.
CajunJacques, i really hope you see this! i'm almost *positive* you're talking about Keebler French Vanilla Creme Sandwich cookies. they also came in a Chocolate Fudge flavor. we used to get those during "milk & cookies" time in elementary school and summer camp when i was a kid. i haven't thought about them in YEARS - thanks for the trip down memory lane :)
I'm not so sure about the vanilla cremes. The description could also fit a banana creme cookie I used to eat as a kid, but darned if I can remember the brand. I also remember a cookie with a windmill on it, but it was a rectangular cookie with the raised windmill design in the center of the cookie with a ridge around the edge of the cookie framing it. MAYBE Lorna Doone, but again, no brand comes to mind with any certainty. In any case, that's obviously not the cookie CJ is looking for..
No, I'm surprised you don't remember the Archway Windmill cookie; Lorna Doone had a design as well but the windmill cookie was much bigger; yes, rectangular with a raised design.
Tonight mrbushy and I had yet another discussion about this cookie and he seems to think Keebler French Vanilla Cremes were rectangular as well, but I disagree. <Sigh> when wil this mystery ever end.
I actually didn't like Lorna Doones when I was young, too plain for me, I guess, but I was young and didn't undertand the love in a shortbread cookie.
FYI, Mrbushy recently came home from our local Family Dollar cheapy store with a bag of almond flavored Windmill type cookies, not nearly as elaborate a design as yours, no cutouts, but really very tasty, and quite similar to how I remember the cookies tasting. They were packaged under the Family Dollar brand, and were less than $.
Magic Middles - popular around 1989
http://www.crowncombo.com/articles/20...
God they were good...
I have recently found a similar version -- a new Peppdridge Farm milano called "Milano Melts":
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/product...
Not quite the same, but they are filling a void for now. :)
I'm so glad Mystic Mints were mentioned! My father asked me about them a few months ago and neither of us could remember what they were called...but we both missed them!
Another favorite I haven't seen in years was (IIRC) Lemon Coolers by Sunshine. Smallish, domed cookies covered with powdered sugar. There were flecks of lemon zest through out the cookie. These were super refreshing kept in the fridge in the summer!
This whole topic is pretty funny for Chowhound, because I bet most of us wouldn't even eat packaged cookies now (I almost never do), but darn, they were sooo important when we were kids! I remember so many that my family loved: Oreos (of course), Vienna Fingers, windmill, Danish wedding cookies. Such wonderful memories.
The cookies you are looking for are called Cookie Break and made by Nabisco and they are discontinued. My mom found them in Chicago when I was a little kid and they were her favorite, we were talking about them the other day and this is what brought me to this board via Google to see if I could find a picture of them.
Peek Freans "Playbox" cookies - this blog has a photo of the tin they came in ----
(we grew up in Canada - last I saw these cookies was in the early 1970s - at Woodwards Famous Food Floor)
http://ronnas.blogspot.ca/2009/05/pla...
In the 70's I lived in Chicago, we used to buy these cookies that were oval, had an orange inside and covered in chocalote and nuts. I have no idea what their name was, I could eat the whole bag in one sitting it was more like a candy bar than a cookie it was so good, anyone know what Im talking about?
Not sure if this is where I start, but I too am looking for a cookie that is no longer around. I would like to try and re create it. They were cookie bars. The inside had some kind of wafer covered in caramel, then covered in chocolate followed by nuts.(I think peanuts) Almost like a BarNone but not quite. It was late 70's into the 80's. They came in a plastic tray and I'm almost sure the outside plastic was dark brown.
Assuming you mean Nabisco Heyday Bars, here's a copycat recipe you can try: http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/boar...
I remember this cookie so well now that I'm seeing it here. My mother use to buy these cookies for me and my brothers and sister when we were kids back in the late 60's.. Loved them!
I also can't remember the name of the company who made these coconut cookies that was sold in a little package of 6 cookies for .25 cents, they also made oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies but ohhhhhhhhhh the coconut ones were my favorite! I believed these cookies were sold during the early 70's. They were crunchy, hard as rock but for some reason I just loved them! Any know the name of them?
I'm intrigued by this post because I've been going crazy trying to remember the name of a certain "Burry's" cookie from the early 1960's. The box looked like a TV, and the cookies were both vanilla sandwich cookies and chocolate sandwich cookies. The cookies had imprinted images of Tweety Bird and Sylvester. I think it may have been "Burry's Best" but I cannot even find this on the net. What I DID find though was a photo of a box of these "Toy Cookies" I remember them well because one of my sibs was allergic to chocolate!
#1 Windmill cookies are a staples of Belgian desserts.
Called speckulos they come in many similar shapes. I don't
particularly like them because of their specific ingredient
of either anise or nutmeg, but I tolerate them is they have
almonds (nuts or flavoring). I lived in Brussels for almost
a decade, but a native of Brooklyn originally.
#2 Living now in Chicago, I remember Drake's oatmeal cookies.
They were my favorite, circa '59. They gave me my first dental
cavities as they sequestered where my orthodontal caps met my
enamel. But they were the best I ever tasted, then or since.
I even bought a few cases in the '90s. They may be still available from New York. I think their main source/vendor/warehouse in near the Fulton Fishmarket.
# I am looking to get Mallowmars. I am confused by what I hear that they are seasonally still available, only Jan.thru Sept. but
not in Winter (?). I would think they would more likely melt in Summer.
#3 I remember round flat butter cookies which had a cobble-stone markings on their light tan surfaces. I think they were discontinued in the early '60s ... very sugarly, & crunchy.
Don't know the co. (?Nabisco). Anyone know of them?
#4 Also liked Thomas' gooey sliced "Datenut bread" which I ate with abundance with Cream Cheese into the early '80s. Thomas' still exists (cfr. best English Muffins) but do they still make the product and can it be acquired in Chicago?
I used to love the chocolate snaps by Nabisco, when I was a little girl. Especially loved the cute bear face on the box:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonli...
The cookie and other similar ones pictured are those which are endemic to Belgium, especially Brussels where I spent 9 years studying abroad, and possibly also Holland (the Netherlands).
They are Speckulos, of a few varieties, especially as shown with
almonds, and I was surprised that I found them frequently at many chain and well as ethnic groceries and supermarkets. I really don't like them that much, because I can taste the anise, which is used in their ingredients, which with other spices and herbs like licorice and fennel are not of my preference. They are a type of hard gingerbread like cookie which has variations on their stamped pattern. They are not that expensive though usually a little more than the regular popular cut-rate American
brand cookies and are more prevalent during seasonal holidays like Christmas and Easter.
The windmill cookies are available from Voortman bakery. These are commercial cookies in the grocery if you look or on-line. The raisin cookies are available in the Vermont Store catalog or directly from Crawford's and they are called Garibaldis. Or you can go to Europe for them!!!. Definitely worth buying them as making them is NOT the same. Hope any of you people find this post since it has been years.
I remember and loved the windmill cookies of my childhood that were spicy with thinly sliced almonds called "Jan Hagels" but I never found a modern windmill cookie I liked as much. Doing a little research, jan hagels are a dutch cookie with almonds and probably a lot of the windmill cookies I've tried since have just been some sort of spice cookie but not jan hagels.
Oh, oh. Now that the web has revealed to me that jan hagel is a recipe not a brand name, I need to do some cookie recipe experiments! Another strike against keeping my circumference less than my height!
This reply to Heidi is mostly about "windmill cookies," but the book called “Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable," described in the introduction to the piece, may be interesting to others who are working to identify cookies.
=========
As miser and leovr13 have said, in the Netherlands there is an ur-cookie called "speculaas." Then there's the Belgian variant, "speculoos"! (Those apparently contain cinnamon and caramelized sugar.)
My bookmarked link, below, from Bittman's old "Diner's Journal" column, looks reasonable for the Dutch ones. I would use the thinly sliced almonds that you mention, and grind only some of them.
I have read all these comments about cookies from the past but have not seen one concerning a cookie that I loved. They had to be available in the '50's & '60's; a crisp, light tan, flat round cookie with an orange frosting & chocolate stripes across the top. I always called them "tiger cookies" because of the color/choc. stripes but have no idea what they were really called or who made them. I do remember they were packaged in those brown, flimsy, plastic trays but have no memory of what the outside package looked like. The must have been inexpensive because my mom did not usually buy "store bought" cookies because they "cost too much!". She made peanut butter or oatmeal cookies, brownies, etc., but I would beg for "tiger cookies" when we went grocery shopping. I might absolutely hate them if I ate one today but it's driving me crazy that I cannot remember the name or who made these cookies!! I have mentioned these to many people & have not been able to find even one person who remembers them....HELP!!
I've been trying to remember a cookie from the 80's I believe. It was an oblong oatmeal, raisin, cinnamon tasting cookie with a white chocolate/icing on the bottom and it was drizzled on the top of the cookie. I want to say it was packaged in a cellophane type package with white and purple coloring on the package. I'm sorry I don't have any additional information other than to say, they were my very favorite cookies and wish I could find them still but doubt they are in production any longer.
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