100 years of sweetness

Thanks to a tip off from Gen this morning, I discovered that today is the 100th birthday of the Oreo cookie!  This is no small event.  Eclipsing even the La-Z-Boy and the Twinkie, the Oreo is the number one reason I moved to the USA.  No food stuff is finer than this dense, dark sandwich filled with luxuriant white cream.  It's a biscuit that is, in many ways, a metaphor for life itself.

Created by the National Biscuit Company bakery in Manhattan on 6th March 1912, 95 million Oreo cookies are consumed each and every day!  My own habit accounts for an embarrassingly small percentage of that total.  Oreos now come in multiple varieties, including Double Stuff, Peanut Butter, Golden, Heads or Tails (a golden Oreo on top and regular in the bottom), but for this special anniversary a new Birthday Cake flavour has been released.  It actually tastes amazingly like cake, and is at least 2.5 times sweeter than a normal Oreo.  Mmmm mmm!

I have in the past demonstrated my love for all things Oreo, and the Oreo Cheesecake Factory cheesecake remains one of my top choices there.  This love was somewhat tested today by having to visit three shops to find one of the limited edition birthday packs, even though Gen offered to post some up from her private stash, but it was all worth it in the end.  Some of them even survived long enough to make it back into our apartment!

I leave you to celebrate this fantastic day for humankind with a tasty, healthy recipe that I found online:

Triple-chocolate cookie balls 
This no-bake treat that looks much more complicated than it really is. 

• 1 pkg. Oreo cookies
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 package JELL-O chocolate instant pudding
• 12 to 16 Baker's semi-sweet chocolate squares
• 4 to 8 Bakers white chocolate squares

In a small bowl, make a paste out of the pudding and the milk. Put 36 of the Oreos into a gallon-size zip-top bag and crush them (with a rolling pin or a mallet). Add the crushed cookies to the pudding mixture and stir will. Form the mixture into small balls and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet; freeze them for about 10 minutes. 

While they're in the freezer, place the semi-sweet chocolate squares in a microwave-safe bowl and heat, stirring often, until melted. Dip the chilled oreo balls into the melted chocolate, place them on a fresh wax-paper lined cookie sheet, and refrigerate or freeze for another 10 minutes. 

Melt the white chocolate squares, and drizzle the melted white chocolate over the cookie balls using a fork or a spoon. Return them to the refrigerator to harden briefly before serving. 

Makes 40 to 45 cookie balls 

Happy birthday, old friend.  Now I'm going to eat you.

It's a cookie and a cake!

A snack before bed.