Hydrox Cookies are here!

[djmjlcst]

Hey I wrote a note sometime back in July or so stating that Hydrox cookies are coming back for a limited run. Well folks, they're out now. My roommate purchased some at the grocery store today. After trying them, I don't think they're the same as I remember. OK, maybe my taste buds have changed but they taste like Oreos to me. The creme filling is thicker than what I remember, but they are being distributed by Sunshine and manufactured by Kellogg's.

Someone suggested on this list to try Newman O's and they taste more like the Hydrox Cookies that I remember. Much more chocolate flavor and I've converted.

For all the Hydrox lovers out there, just get a package and taste for yourself.

Mike

 

[jeffg]

Newman-O's taste better because they're made with better ingredients: no hydrogenated oil, organic flour and cocoa etc. Their Ginger-O's and Hint 'O Mint's are wonderful. Haven't tried the new peanut butter flavor yet.

 

[gyrafoam]

If they didn't tamper with the original recipie and ingredients one would think they should taste the same. I don't recall Hydrox as having a lot of the creme filling as compared to Oreo.

The Newman's cookies are good, but don't have the same flavor as the wonderful poisonous stuff we grew up with.

 

[danemodsandy]

Remember:

Elimination of trans fats has become the latest nutritional fad * , so any Hydrox cookies you buy today can't possibly be made from the same formula as they were before.

* In my lifetime, I've seen so many things branded "bad for you" and then considered "okay" again, that I've stopped paying attention to the media about food. Eggs have alternately been evil, benign, and good for you about three times during my years on this planet; butter the same thing. Coffee was the work of Satan at one time; now they say it can help prevent Alzheimer's. I have got to the point where only Julia Child's advice makes any sense any more: eat everything you like, but in moderation.

 

[jeffg]

I was commenting on the taste difference, not possible health issues. I remember Hydrox cookies and they tasted like nothing compared to Newman's.

 

[danemodsandy]

JeffG:

I probably got a little too wound up talking about the "evil" status of trans fats today. Sorry 'bout that.

What I was trying to point out is that the re-release of Hydrox can't possibly be made the same way the old Hydrox was, because trans fats have to be eliminated for legal reasons today, making a new recipe necessary. That would cause some taste change. I know some Oreo fans who are very unhappy with the taste change in that product since Oreos were made trans fat-free.

 

[jeffg]

Sandy, hydrogenated oils are used because of their longer shelf life, not because of any taste difference compared to non-hydrogenated oils.

Original Oreos were made with lard, a highly saturated animal fat which really did make them taste better. But there's no reason why Oreos made with non-hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil should taste any different than those made with hydrogenated soybean/cottonseed oil. It's the *source* of fat that makes a difference.

 

[mickeyd]

A confirmed cookie-o-holic,

I know that Oreos were first made with lard, and many other sweet treats were made with palm and coconut oils, saturated fats for sure but not trans fats, a frankenstein monster that came later in the cookie timeline. It is therefore probable that Hydrox originals were not made with trans fats which were not available then; hence, the new Hydrox may indeed taste like the old ones. We should research this, but GOD ! HOW I LOVE GOOD COOKIES, and Newman's surely satisfy.

 

[danemodsandy]

JeffG:

I taught cooking for six years, and let's just say that I know a fair amount about hydrogenated vs. non-hydrogenated oils. They are usually not directly interchangeable in commercial food operations, because they cause different handling characteristics in manufacturing, and the finished products have different storage characteristics; other changes in product formulas have to be made to accommodate the changeover from one fat to another. These changes are much of what cause taste differences, not necessarily the oils themselves.

The Oreo changeover was the subject of a top-level project at Nabisco's parent company, Kraft Foods, involving food scientists who put in over 100,000 man-hours on the new formula - Oreos are, after all, one of Nabisco's flagship products. The extent of the work that went into the Oreo project gives a good idea of how hard it is to get the same result with different oils; Kraft would hardly have devoted so many resources to the changeover if it were possible to simply stop using one oil, begin using another, and still get the same taste.

 

[sudsmaster]

Julia Child was decades ahead of her time when she warned not to use any synthetic shortening like margarine (full of trans fats at the time). She said to just use real butter and olive oil.

 

[danemodsandy]

Julia....

....Was one of the supreme food technicians of her time, wanting to know not just that recipes worked, but why. She was capable of working for months with a particular kind of food (say, eggs) for a book chapter, getting to know all about it. She would interview growers, suppliers, food scientists, whoever she had to. Most of today's foodies are heavily in her debt, and they know it.

 

[whirlcool]

And someone asked Julia Child at one time why is she using so much butter and fat in her recipes. Her response:

"well you could use low fat oils and margarine and live a long life, but what kind of life would that be?"

Perfect!

 

[foraloysius]

And another one from Julia:

"And if you don't want to use butter like a lot of people nowadays, just put in cream!". LOL

 

[gadgetgary]

Here they are

100th Anniversary Limited edition

 

[sudsmaster]

Checked my local Safeway last night. Not a sign of Hydrox there. They did have a trans-free house brand version, but I passed on that.