Sorry I don’t have a homemade cookie today. The fact is I’ve been craving sugar wafers all week and finally broke down and bought a pack.
It was difficult. I kept asking myself why I was spending money on packaged junk when there were a million recipes to try.
Well, number one I can’t make sugar wafers, and number 2, Todd and I had an interesting discussion on how coveted an item these were during childhood. Our moms hardly ever bought them. Despite their enormous disparity in shopping habits (guess whose mom bought sweets and guess whose didn’t?), sugar wafers were only purchased for very special occasions or if life was in some kind of transitional period. For instance, my mom bought them once when we’d moved into a new house. That was it. And I guess the other times I tried them were at Sunday schools or maybe preschool.
That’s a long excuse for my sugar wafer craving, which is about to end in 5 minutes. And I’ve already begun looking for ways to use the rest. Interestingly, in my search for what to do with sugar wafers (which hasn’t amounted to much, btw), I found a fun article by Michael Stern who went on a quest to find the best brand of sugar wafers ever. Check his article to see what the brand is. It may surprise you. Plus I wish I’d thought of that quest.
Shannon says
Everyone must get cravings for packaged cookies now and then, even when you know you can bake better ones at home. I find that I'm usually disappointed though. I don't buy Oreos very often, and last time I was craving some I got a small package and then thought they didn't taste as good as I imagined. I guess it's the nostalgia more than the taste that we crave.
Anna says
Rum balls? Interesting! Thanks for the tip.
Also, I am almost embarrassed to mention this but I tried serving these to Fuzz. She said she didn't like them and asked to exchange her serving for an OREO. Oh well. More for me.
Sherri says
Best idea for sugar wafers = rum balls
Chewthefat says
It seems like everyone has that one 'weird candy' that they like. My vegan yoga teacher confessed to loving orange slice candy, recently. As a kid, I guess my 'weird thing' would be massive gumdrops and jelly beans--the cheap kind, not the Jelly Belly variety. I also like Spearmint Leaves.
Katrina says
My dad loves those sugar wafers AND those circus peanuts and many a times growing up, he would not even share them. Doesn't bother me now, I don't like either, but having tasted both at my house, my boys like them--they call them "those cookies/or candy that grandpa likes".
Anna says
Martha, yes! My mom loved circus peanut candy too. She'd hide them in a drawer and keep them all to herself.
Martha in KS says
We have them in bulk bins at the grocery store here too. The thing I remember about them is if you drank cold milk with them, the shortening left a film on the roof of your mouth - ick. Another childhood memory junk food is chewy, orange circus peanuts candy. My Mom loved them. Did you ever have them?
Paula says
Just last week I had to buy some myself, but living in TN I was unable to buy what I was truly craving. My favorite is Voortman vanilla flavor but not the prepackaged variety. In the midwest they are sold from bulk bins. It's like eating pure vanilla sugar! Yumm. Going to MI tomorrow and I will be able to buy the real thing.
Sue says
We rarely had them growing up. They were sometimes served with ice cream sundaes at restaurants. A real treat since we almost never got to eat at restaurants. Off to look at your link,
KAnn says
Oh, I loved these....haven't had one for years! It's really a texture thing for me and I really preferred the vanilla or chocolate. I used to give in to my cravings when I could buy them in bulk at Safeway (that way I just bought enought o satisfy my craving!)
lynn @ the actor's diet says
haven't had one in forever! i used to eat so many of them…but i don't remember where? my folks never had them in the house, and i can't picture myself buying them if i had access to things like hostess cupcakes and oreos...
Linda says
My grandparents always had Nabisco sugar wafers, right along with Lorna Doones. I still get a craving for them once in a while. But note - if you're making and decorating a gingerbread house, sugar wafers make great architectural accents such as doors, shutters, porch roofs, columns, a bench next to the pond you made out of melted blue candy because the whole gingerbread house decorating thing has gotten way out of control, and on and on...
Chewthefat says
I find it so bizarre the types of sweets our parents considered 'okay' and 'healthy' versus the ones they did not, because in retrospect their guidelines seem so arbitrary . For example, my mother considered Entenmann's doughnuts acceptable to buy, but not Dunkin' Donuts (and guess what I ate every day for weeks once I got to go to college in New England). Like many of the above posters, I do remember having the wafers, but because they weren't forbidden, I wasn't as taken with them. They were often served with ice cream, because they crumble so well. I've always had a fondness for any cookie (usually off-market brands) that come in multiple flavors in the same package, though.
Anna says
Hi Heather,
Truth be told, the chocolate/vanilla/strawberry wafers are super fun, but the vanilla ones probably have a better flavor. You didn't miss anything....well, visually maybe. But flavor-wise, no. I think I prefer the vanilla. Can't wait to get some of the Michael Stern recommended Goya ones.
Heather says
I recently had a sugar wafer craving too - and try as I might, I couldn't find the multiflavor pack anywhere. I was heartbroken, but consoled myself by eating a bunch of the vanilla ones. 🙂
Sheila says
I LOVED those growing up as well...and we too used to eat a stack of three...one in each color! We also liked the fudge dipped ones...and yes, I do still like them as well-one of the few store bought cookies I do like!
Mitch says
I love wafers, probably for the same reason as you. Hardly ever got them as a child, but when I did..watch out!
Cheryl says
Thanks Anna for bringing back fond memories. I used to eat a whole waxed paper pack of the Biscos. The comparison article by Michael Stern was great and I will look for the Goya brand next time I'm trolling the cookie aisle.
Anna says
Interesting! Maybe if I do a search for "ice cream cookies" I'll find more ways to use them. Actually, you've given me an idea. I think I'm going to hide them in the freezer and serve them *only* with ice cream. That is, the family won't know we have them until they get one or two with their usual low fat ice cream.
Meredith says
As I was growing up, in our house, we always called these ice cream cookies. And you were only allowed to eat them in multiples/stacks of three; I guess that's because that's how they were packaged.