I made two cookie discoveries in the Target today. This is a bit odd. You don’t expect to go to the Target to find out stuff about cookies.
My first discovery is that Target is the last local outlet around here that gets the good Carr’s crackers. I like the thick wheat crackers, especially with blue cheese (mmmm, Stilton). For some reason every local purveyor of overpriced yuppie food in town has stopped carrying them. Even the normally reliable Penn Mac did not have them the last time I was there except in the sampler pack. I hate sampler packs.
So I was in the Target picking up Fig Newtons for the trip home, and lo and behold there was a whole shelf of Carr’s crackers. When did Target become a local purveyor of overpriced foofy food?
While standing there and hoarding the crackers, I noticed something else interesting on the next shelf. “Key Lime” cookies. This stirred memories of cookies from my childhood, when I used to eat these round cookeis out of a green box that had fake lemon powder all over them. I now want these cookies. Happily, the “Key Lime” cookies were almost identical to what I remember eating as a child, except they are stick shaped instead of round.
So the mystery remains, what are these round cookies that I remember?
Twenty minutes in Google digs them up: Lemon Coolers.
Who else remembers these cookies? Apparently, they have been discontinued. Another casualty of the cut-hroat competition in pre-packaged artificially flavored cookies.
At least Target has the same thing now. I think I will now buy all my cookies at Target.
in the car tonight, my husband was telling me that he thought i would like your blog because you talk about food a bit and he was telling me about the cookie post. he began telling me about some lemon cookies that you used to love as a kid but couldn’t find anymore, but now target has similar ones and before he could finish i said, “lemon coolers. i loved those and have looked for them for ages.” you are not alone. i remember lemon coolers. i love them. i will be making a trip to target tomorrow.
p.s. i think i found a martha stewart recipe for something similar but i haven’t tried them yet. http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe2240&contentGroup=MSL&site=living
I loved Lemon Coolers! Thanks for the memory, and thanks for a great blog!
mmm, lemon coolers.
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/desserts/cookies/30/rec3012.html
Apparently Girl Scouts are selling Lemon Coolers now. No clue if they’re the same.
I didn’t realize there was a specific brand of lemon-dusted cookies to be nostalgic for. I get mine at Trader Joe’s during the months when the girl scouts aren’t selling theirs. Of course, I can’t tell the difference between Oreo and Hydrox if they’re not side by side, so what do I know.
You can no longer tell the difference between Oreos and Hydrox because they’re both made with vegetable shortening now. Oreos used to be made with lard, so it used to be you could distinguish them: the ones that tasted good were the Oreos.
But now they both taste terrible. Another thing to blame vegetarians for.
What you really want with your stilton (or some great cheddar) is McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits. Kind of like a graham cracker on steriods. Giant Evil even carries them now. I used to have to order Cyrus a supply, along with his marmalade.
The Carr’s wheat crackers are also graham-cracker like. I will try these digestive thingies too though.
Carr’s are knock-offs. Good, but still knock-offs. McVitie’s are the real deal.
I was in PennMac today and they had a whole shelving unit full of various Carr’s crackers.
Target is moving (i.e. overextending) into the “Super-center” world following Wally World. Therefore, you will see more and more “Archer Farm” and other grocery products in standard Targets.
There is a Trader Joe’s in Cleveland. Not sure if they have Lemon Coolers. TJ sells “fair trade” cocoa, if you still feel the need to assault your taste buds.
Just ran across this post in my fervent search to find a recipe for the Lemon Coolers. I, too, get excited to find any resemblence to these cookies. TJs had some during the Christmas season 2004, but did not appear to stock them this past year. Here’s a link to a recipe for the Sunshine Lemon Coolers: http://topsecretrecipes.recipecottage.com/sunshine_lemon_coolers.html
I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope it is what my taste buds have been craving.
Ah, and here I am, too looking for Lemon Coolers. I just put in a request at Kroger because it’s not been that long (I thought) since I last had them. Crap. Google also revealed that the Girl Scouts are selling them…which means I’ll try the recipe above before I succumb to any little green cookie pushers.
I also put in a request for Lemon Jumbles. I KNOW it’s not been that long since I had those. *fingers crossed.*