Cookies

A culinary mystery. Or, more specifically, a cookie mystery. The Oreo cookie is celebrating its 100th birthday, but I remember in my youth a cookie almost identical to an Oreo. Problem is that I can’t remember what it was called. I can see it, I can taste it, I can remember dunking it in milk just as people today do with an Oreo, but I can’t remember its name. It was two chocolate rounds filled with a white creme, just like an Oreo, but maybe just slightly larger. The color wasn’t quite as dark brown. It wasn’t quite as thick as an Oreo, maybe because it used less creme filling. And it was slightly crispier, crunchier. I can feel the crunch in my mouth right now, and it didn’t soak up milk nearly as rapidly as an Oreo does. Its name is on the tippy tip of my tongue, but I can’t get it off. What was it called? I unsuccessfully searched the internet for a cookie similar to an Oreo. I asked Rosalie if she remembered such a cookie and she said no. I described it to her as I did above, and she still said no. Thirty minutes later, while I was still fighting my tongue tip, she blurted out, “Hydrox,” and I shouted, “Yes!” She had no idea where that word came from, how it got in her head. Maybe I sent it there via my tongue tip. So I went back to the internet and found that the Sunshine Company (later known as the Sunshine Biscuit Company) began making Hydrox cookies in 1908, four years ahead of Oreo, which was inspired by the Hydrox. Yet Hydrox suffered from the impression of being a knockoff of the Oreo. Keebler took over from Sunshine Biscuit in 1996, and Kellog’s took over from Keebler in 2001. In 2003 Kellog’s had to give up its battle with Oreo. In 2008 Kellog’s decided to bring it back for a limited time, but in 2009 they stopped production. Phooie!

And while I’m at it, I also remember a cookie shaped like a skateboard, maybe three inches long, a vanilla skateboard covered in a hard pink frosting. What the hell was that one called? My mind keeps zooming in on Lorna Doone, but I don’t think that was it. I can also see and taste this cookie, but again I can’t come up with a name. Anybody out there want to go, “Shazam! I’ve got it!”? If so, let me know.