Nabisco SnackWell’s Banana Snack Bars

Nabisco® SnackWell’s Banana Snack Bars
In 1996, Nabisco built up its growing line of SnackWell’s baked products with the introduction of low-fat snack bars in several varieties, including fudge brownie, golden cake, apple raisin, and the chewy banana variety cloned here. The secret ingredients that help us keep the fat grams under 2 grams per serving is banana puree to help keep the cake moist while adding real banana flavor, egg whites rather than whole eggs, some molasses and just a little bit of shortening. Whip
it all up, pour it into a pan and bake. Soon you'll have 21 tasty little low-fat snack bars to get you through the week.

2 egg whites
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 cups banana puree*
3 tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla butter nut extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until they become thick. Do not use a plastic bowl for this.
3. Add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat until the mixture forms soft peaks.
4. Add the brown sugar, molasses, banana puree, shortening, milk and vanilla butter nut flavoring to the mixture, beating after each addition.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
6. While beating the wet mixture, slowly add the bowl of dry ingredients.
7. Lightly grease a 9x14-inch pan with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray. Be sure to coat the sides as well as the bottom of the pan. Dump about 3 tablespoons of sugar into the pan, then tilt and shake the pan so that a light layer of sugar coats the entire bottom of the pan, and about halfway up the sides. Pour out the excess sugar.
8. Pour the batter into the pan, and spread it evenly around the inside of the pan. Sprinkle a light coating of sugar -- about two tablespoons -- over the entire top surface of the batter. Gently
shake the pan from side-to-side to evenly distribute the sugar over the batter. Bake for 25-28 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and turn it out onto a cooling rack. When cake has cooled, place it onto a sheet of wax paper on a cutting board and slice across the cake 6 times, creating 7 even slices. Next cut the cake lengthwise twice, into thirds, creating a total of 21 snack bars. When the bars have completely cooled, store them in a resealable plastic bag or an airtight container.

*Puree whole bananas (approximately 3) in a food processor or blender until smooth and creamy

Nabisco Oreo Wafers

Nabisco® Oreo (Wafers)
When I first designed the Oreo cookie clone recipe for the second book, More Top Secret Recipes, I decided that a cake mix would suit the recipe best. However, the variety and brand I chose -- Duncan Hines Dark Dutch Fudge -- became unavailable in many parts of the country. Now, for all of my faithful readers, it is time to fix that problem with a cake mix that should be available everywhere. Many of the ingredients have changed to create an even more tender, chocolatey cookie that can be the same color as the real thing if you decide to add some brown paste food coloring. You will also note that the method has been improved to create cookies that are more uniform in size by using a spice bottle lid on the thinly rolled out dough. This will allow you to make your wafers faster, and they will all be the same size. The filling recipe remains the same, and can be found on page 68 of More Top Secret Recipes. For those of you who don't have the book (and, of course, for those who do), tune in next week for a brand-new recipe that requires these wafers. (Hint: T.M.)

1 18.25-ounce pkg. Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix
3 tablespoons shortening, melted
1/2 cup cake flour, measured then sifted
1 egg
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons brown paste food coloring (optional)*

1. Combine the cookie ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water a little bit at a time until the dough forms. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. On a lightly floured surface roll out a portion of the dough to just under one 16th of an inch thick. To cut, use a lid from a spice container with a 1 1/2-inch diameter (Schilling brand is good). Arrange the cut dough rounds on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with a light coating of non-stick spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove wafers from the oven and cool completely.
4. As the cookies bake, make the filling (recipe in More Top Secret Recipes on page 68).
5. When the cookies have cooled, roll a small portion (heaping 1/4 teaspoon) of the filling into a ball (just over 1/4-inch in diameter), and press it between two of the cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Makes 108-116 wafers; for 54-58 sandwich cookies.
*This is an optional step to help recreate the color of the original cookie. If you do not use the paste food coloring be sure to change the amount of water added to the wafer cookies from 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. The food coloring gives the cookies the dark brown, almost black color. The coloring can be found with cake decorating supplies at art supply and craft stores.

Tidbits
If the dough seems too tacky, you can work in as much as 1/4 cup of flour as you pat out and roll the dough. Use just enough flour to make the dough workable, but not tough.

Nabisco Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps

Nabisco® Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps
Nabisco's version of this old favorite cookie may not be as big a seller as its much-cloned Oreo. Heck, it's not even close. But if you're a ginger snap fanatic, this recipe will give you a killer clone of the cookie giant's store-bought version that you can whip up in a...uh...snap. And if you're watching the fat, four of these cookies check in with a total of around 2.5 grams of fat.

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup shortening
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together the sugars, molasses, shortening, butter, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. In another large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.
4. Pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture and beat while adding the water. Continue to mix until ingredients are incorporated.
5. Measure a heaping teaspoon of dough at time. Roll the dough into a sphere between the palms of your hands then press the dough onto the cookie. Flatten to about 1/8-inch thick.
6. Bake cookies for 10-14 minutes or until edges begin to brown and cookies are crispy when cool.
Makes 120 (10 dozen) cookies.

Nabisco Nilla Wafers

Nabisco® Nilla® Wafers
No one knows the exact origin of the vanilla wafer but it's guessed that the recipe was developed in the south. The wafers were being whipped up from scratch at home long before Nabisco
introduced the lightweight, poker chip-like packaged cookies in 1945. Back then they were called Vanilla Wafers. But in the 60s Nabisco slapped the trade name Nilla Wafers on the box. Today the real things come about 100 to a box and really fly when whipped into the air with a little flick of the wrist. Here now, you can relive the days of old with a homemade version fresh out of the oven. This clone recipe makes about half a box's worth and they fly just as far. For just a slight variation on this recipe - with similar aerodynamics - check out the clone for Sunshine Lemon Coolers.

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream together sugars, shortening, egg, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add the flour and baking powder. Add 1 tablespoon of water and continue mixing until dough forms a ball.
4. Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and flatten slightly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until cookies are light brown.
Makes 50 to 56 cookies.

Nabisco Cheese Nips

Nabisco® Cheese Nips®
Here's a clone recipe that gets one very important ingredient from another packaged product. The powdered cheese included in the Kraft instant macaroni & cheese kits flavors this homegrown version of the popular bright orange crackers. You'll need a can of Kraft Macaroni &
Cheese Cheese Topping or two boxes of the most inexpensive instant variety of macaroni & cheese; you know, the kind with the cheese powder. Two boxes will give you enough cheese to make 300 crackers. As for the macaroni left over in the box, just use that for another recipe requiring elbow macaroni.

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour (plus 1/2 cup divided and reserved for kneading and rolling)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Cheese Topping powder (or 2 packages dry cheese powder from 2 boxes Kraft macaroni & cheese)
3 tablespoons shortening
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt (for tops, optional)

1. Sift together 1 cup flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cheese powder in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the shortening with a fork and knife with a crosswise motion until dough is broken down into rice-size pieces. Mixture will still be very dry.
3. Stir in buttermilk with a fork until dough becomes very moist and sticky.
4. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the reserved flour over the dough and work it in until the dough can be handled without sticking, then turn it out onto a floured board, being sure to keep
1/4 cup of the reserve flour for later. Knead the dough well for 60 to 90 seconds, until the flour is well incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a light coating of cooking spray on a baking sheet.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and use the remaining reserve flour to dust a rolling surface. Roll about one-third of the dough to just under 1/16th of inch thick. Trim the edges square (a pizza cutter or wheel works great for this), then transfer the dough to a lightly greased baking sheet. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough. Simply pick up one end of the dough onto a rolling pin, and roll the dough around the rolling pin. Reverse the process onto the baking sheet to transfer the dough. 7. Use a pizza cutter to cut across and down the dough, creating 1-inch square pieces. Use the blunt end of a skewer or broken toothpick to poke a hole in the center of each piece.
8. Sprinkle a very light coating of salt over the top of the crackers (crackers will already be quite salty) and bake for 8 to 10 minutes mix the crackers around (so those on the edge don’t burn) and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until some are just barely turning a light brown. Repeat the rolling and baking process with the remaining dough.
Makes approximately 300 crackers.

Nabisco Snack Well's Banana Snack Bars

Nabisco Snack Well's Banana Snack Bars
Servings: 21 Snack Bars

INGREDIENTS:
2 egg whites, 1 cup plus 5 tablespoons sugar,
2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons molasses,
1 1/2 cups banana puree* , 3 tablespoons shortening,
1/4 cup whole milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla butter nut extract,
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt,
1/4 teaspoon baking soda.
*********
Preparation Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until they become thick. Do not use a plastic bowl for this.
3. Add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat until the mixture forms soft peaks.
4. Add the brown sugar, molasses, banana puree, shortening, milk and vanilla butter nut flavoring to the mixture, beating after each addition.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
6. While beating the wet mixture, slowly add the bowl of dry ingredients.
7. Lightly grease a 9x14-inch pan with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray. Be sure to
coat the sides as well as the bottom of the pan. Dump about 3 tablespoons of sugar into the pan, then tilt and shake the pan so that a light layer of sugar coats the entire bottom of the pan,
and about halfway up the sides. Pour out the excess sugar.
8.Pour the batter into the pan, and spread it evenly around the inside of the pan. Sprinkle a light coating of sugar -- about two tablespoons -- over the entire top surface of the batter. Gently shake the pan from side-to-side to evenly distribute the sugar over the batter. Bake for 25-28 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and turn it out onto a cooling rack. When cake has cooled, place it onto a sheet of wax paper on a cutting board and slice across the cake 6 times, creating 7 even slices. Next cut the cake lengthwise twice, into thirds, creating a total of 21 snack bars. When the bars have completely cooled, store them in a resealable plastic bag or an airtight container. *Puree whole bananas (approximately 3) in a food processor or blender until
smooth and creamy.