The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Make crumbly, crunchy pies from your favorite cookies
Cooks can transform simple sandwich cookies into pies
Many visitors to New York City, especially foodies, eat their way through Chelsea Market, the food mecca and home of the Food Network.
What most don’t realize, the building once housed Nabisco, where Oreo, the world’s most popular cookie, was first baked in 1912.
The sandwich cookie is available in 100 countries worldwide, with nearly $2.9 billion in global annual revenues. This cookie has a Facebook following of more than 43 million.
Did you know...
⏩ Fifty percent of all Oreo-eaters pull apart their cookie before eating them; with women twisting them open more often than men.
⏩ Twist, lick, dunk is the way not only children, but adults, too, eat an Oreo.
⏩ Oreo is younger than the similar Sunshine Biscuit Co.’s (later acquired by Keebler and then Kellogg) Hydrox cookie, introduced four years earlier, in 1908.
⏩ A lemon creme-filled Oreo was introduced in 1920 as an alternative to the white-creme filled version.
⏩ The first Oreo was sold in Hoboken, N.J. The packaging of the cookie was a bulk tin and was sold by weight.
Over its long life, the Oreo has been made in many flavors, shapes and sizes. Because of its worldwide distribution, the company has produced cookies with flavors to meet diverse tastes. Many varieties are available in specific countries, offered seasonally or for a limited time only. Varieties include:
⏩ Green tea ice cream flavor creme (China)
⏩ Blueberry ice cream flavor creme (Indonesia)
⏩ Oreo duo, two complementary half-and-half flavors
⏩ Dulce de leche and banana creme (Argentina)
⏩ Coconut delight (Indonesia)
⏩ Cool mint creme Oreo
⏩ Double Stuf Oreo with a slight minty creme filling;
⏩ Candy cane Oreo, first released for the holidays in 2012, later returning as peppermint Oreo in the years following;
⏩ Watermelon Oreo cookies were a limited edition release for the summer of 2013 consisting of two golden Oreo cookies with watermelon-flavored filling;
⏩ Oreo heads or tails have vanilla creme filling with a chocolate Oreo wafer on one side and a Golden Oreo wafer on the other.
⏩ Sugar-free, reduced fat, football-shaped and minis.
So where do these ideas come from? The first #MyOreoCreation contest was held and hundreds of thousands of flavor ideas were sent to Oreo. The company reviewed the submissions and developed prototypes from many of the entries. Select fans were surprised when they received custom samples of their idea, such as coffee-and-doughnut-flavored Oreo cookies and avocado-flavored Oreos. Once the contest was closed, the company narrowed the vast list using criteria that included taste appeal, creativity and originality, and conducted rigorous taste tests before selecting three finalists.
The three finalists whose ideas are now limited-time Oreo cookies available in stores are: Robert D., of Westfield, Mass. (kettle corn-flavored Oreo cookies); Eden F., of Winnetka, Calif. (cherry cola-flavored Oreo cookies), and David M., of Bellmawr, N.J. (Piña colada-flavored Oreo Thins cookies).
You can vote for the winning flavor before June 30 at https://bit.ly/2q0PvR8.
Participating fans will be entered for a chance to win one of thousands of prizes. The winning flavor will be announced on or around July 7, and will unlock $500,000 for the creator of the winning flavor.
Here are recipes from “Oreo Sweet Treats,” published to celebrate the iconic cookie’s 100th birthday.
Cherry-vanilla ice cream pie
18 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
(about 1 ½ cups)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine,
melted
3 cups vanilla ice cream, softened 1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling, divided
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup*
Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate sprayed with cooking spray. Refrigerate until ready to use. Mix ice cream and 1½ cups of pie filling; spoon into crust. Freeze fiour hours or until firm. Drizzle chocolate syrup over pie. Serve topped with remaining cherry pie filling.
*Substitute a chocolate syrup that hardens to form a shell when drizzled over the pie.
Oreo cookie bread pudding
4 cups day-old French bread cut into
1-inch cubes
10 Oreo cookies, quartered
2 eggs
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted 1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine bread cubes and cookies in a large bowl. Whisk remaining ingredients until well blended. Add to bread mixture; toss to evenly coat. Pour into 1½ quart casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 45 to 50 minutes until center is set. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Culinary calendar
⏩ Worth tasting culinary walking tour: 10:45 a.m. Saturday, four-hour culinary walking tour of downtown New Haven. Eight to nine stops at some of New Haven’s favorites. Reservations required, tickets at https://bit.ly/2FjiwMP, 203-4153519, 203-777-8550, $64.
⏩ Shoreline clam bake, Saturday, 1-4 p.m., Black Hall Grille, 100 Shore Road, Old Lyme. 860434-1414 www.blackhallgrille.com. Live action oyster and clam shucking station.
⏩ Oregon pinot noir winemakers with a French connection, June 19, 6:30 p.m., Park Central, 1640 Whitney Ave., Hamden, 203-469-4218, $85. In this unique tasting, sample a collection of pinot noir from Oregon from as many of the French-connected wineries as possible. Taste them blind- why? Because thrown in is a ringer: a red Burgundy to see if it stands out. It will be hard to detect, but that's the fun of this tasting. Enjoy a three-course menu with a choice of entrée. Tickets https://bit.ly/2IYHnaX.
⏩ International wine and craft beer tasting: Compassionate Care awards gala, June 21, 6 p.m., Woodwinds, 29 Schoolground Road, Branford, 203-7824330, $75, https://bit.ly/2J0BcHK. Features a delicious variety of wine and beer from many vendors, buffet dinner, silent auction, and DJ.
What chef would you like me to interview? Which restaurant recipes or other recipes would you like to have? Which food products are you having difficulty finding? Do you have cooking questions? Send them to me: Stephen Fries, professor and coordinator of the Hospitality Management Programs at Gateway Community College, at gw-stephen.fries@gwcc.commnet.edu or Dept. FC, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven, 06510. Include your full name, address and phone number. (Due to volume, I might not be able to publish every request. For more, go to stephenfries.com.)