Nabisco started advertising their SnackWell's cookie cakes in 1992. In the commercials, hordes of women were going crazy over these devil's food cookie cakes.
SnackWell's were supposed to be a healthier alternative to traditional store-bought cookies, and consumers were encouraged to go wild with them--although the suggested serving was one cookie cake, which contained 50 calories.
They looked good, so I bought a box and tried them. I thought they were okay, but they weren't something I just had to have--unlike the hordes of women in their commercials.
A few years later, though, I noticed two new varieties: black forest and chocolate mint. Something told me I'd like them much better than the original, and I was right. They were soooooooo good. I couldn't decide which one I preferred. I think it was whichever one I was eating at the time.
I bought both new flavors regularly, and no, I didn't eat an entire box in once sitting; I actually stopped after a cookie or two. Then one day, the inevitable happened: they were gone from the shelves. Nabisco had discontinued both the black forest and the chocolate mint flavors. Both of them? Seriously? The original devil's food cookie cakes were still available.
The devil's food cookie cakes were discontinued at some point but eventually came back, possibly with a different recipe. This time around, they contain HFCS. It's possible that the devil's food always did, but the black forest and chocolate mint contained maltitol instead.
I found this compilation of all 23 of the classic SnackWell's commercials.
SnackWell's Black Forest and Chocolate Mint Cookie Cakes
Aunt Jemima Buckwheat Pancake Mix
If I'm going to eat pancakes, I much prefer buckwheats. Aunt Jemima Buckwheat Pancake Mix was a great product to have around for those days when I really wanted some buckwheats.
The loss of this product was inevitable. It's one of many hard-to-find products that I always looked for when traveling. Now I'll have to update my list again.
While doing a bit of research, I found a comment on Amazon.com that provides a way to make the mix yourself. According to the commenter, the recipe is from the Quaker Oats Company, the company that made--and discontinued--Aunt Jemima Buckwheat Pancake Mix. It makes me wonder whether this is the actual recipe Quaker used for their mix. It's possible.
3/4 cup Aunt Jemima Original pancake mix
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Stir dry ingredients together. Add milk and egg according to the instructions on the box of pancake mix.
I haven't tried this, but I'm thinking about it.
Choco' Lite
Choco' Lite candy bars were around in the 1970s and possibly the '80s. The "whipped" chocolate contained air holes to make it seem light and airy. Nestle discontinued this product long ago, but many people think they've found the modern equivalent. I'm not one of them.
For years, I've noticed that some people say the Aero bar is identical to Choco' Lite, so when I saw one at a specialty store one day, I decided to buy one.
It is absolutely not the same.
Other people say it's the same as Cadbury's Wispa. I haven't tried that one, but I'm already skeptical. I can't forget the Aero bar experience--not that the bar was bad, mind you. It just wasn't the same as Choco' Lite.
This photo of a Choco' Lite wrapper confirms something I knew all along: there was something crispy in the chocolate. More than once, I let the chocolate melt in my mouth so that I could try to figure out what was so crispy. I thought they were itty bitty pieces of crisped rice, but I was wrong; nothing like that is mentioned in the ingredients list. It does contain honey and corn syrup (not HFCS!), so maybe the "crispy chips," as the wrapper called them, were hardened pieces of honey or corn syrup.
Aero bars don't contain anything crispy. If I had to guess, I'd say that neither do Wispa bars.
A lot of people like both of those other bars. In fact, Wispa was discontinued and then brought back by popular demand. This shows that people do like this airy type of chocolate.
Nestle really should bring back Choco' Lite bars.
Pitter Patter Cookies
Pitter Patter cookies used to be one of my favorite after-school snacks. Here is a photo of a package of these cookies, which were made by Keebler.
Pitter Patter cookies were sandwich cookies filled with peanut butter creme. The cookies themselves were crunchy and made with oats. I liked to take them apart, eat one of the hard cookies, and then eat the remaining one with the peanut butter creme.
These were similar to Do-Si-Dos, the Girl Scout version of a peanut butter sandwich cookie. The main difference was that Pitter Patters were much harder and crunchier, whereas Do-Si-Dos tend to be crumbly and somewhat easier on the teeth.
Prontos Chips
In the mid-1970s, Frito Lay mailed out samples of Prontos chips in little boxes, and they were really good. I found a reference to the commercial from 1976.
Prontos were similar to the Sun Chips that are available now; they had the same shape, and I'm pretty sure they were also multigrain chips. They were very salty, and if I remember correctly, they were thicker and crunchier than Sun Chips. When looking up this product, I found that some people say they tasted like bacon. I never noticed that, so I can't say one way or the other, although I doubt I would have liked them if they had. I do like bacon but tend not to like meat-flavored products.
I like Sun Chips but would really like to see Prontos being manufactured again.
Tropicana Juice Sparklers
Tropicana Juice Sparklers were juice blends that also contained carbonated water to make them fizzy. My favorite was a blend of orange and passionfruit juices called Tropical Orange. I also liked the Wild Berries. I never noticed any other flavors, but this article says that there were two more: cranberry and grapefruit.
These drinks were sold in multi-packs of four 10-ounce glass bottles as well as in larger bottles. Check out this photo or this video to see if you remember them.
Tropicana Juice Sparklers were manufactured back in the early '90s. I used to buy them all the time until they went away.
Softsoap Lavender & Chamomile Moisturizing Body Wash
Softsoap Lavender & Chamomile Moisturizing Body Wash was a shower gel that was available for several years. From the moment I discovered this product, it was the only shower gel I bought--until it was discontinued.
I'm very sensitive to perfumes, but this didn't bother me at all. I think it's because it was lavender, and I can usually handle that. In fact, lavender is one of my favorite scents. Just as it was supposed to be, this product was very calming.
The first two shower gels made by Softsoap were also discontinued long ago, before this variety was introduced. I also liked them, but the lavender and chamomile version was my favorite.
I believe that this scent is still available in a liquid hand soap, but I can't use it due to sensitive skin.
Rubicon
Rubicon was an original series presented by American Movie Classics (AMC) last season. It was a conspiracy show with a gripping premiere, and I watched every episode. Unfortunately, a lot of people apparently lost interest at some point, because the ratings went down.
I thought Rubicon was a compelling series with very interesting characters. I was disappointed to hear that it would not be renewed for a second season.
