Spiced Wafers, a Philly fall staple

[gfweb]

We are in Spiced Wafer season. Roughly correlating with pumpkin latte season, spiced wafer season begins in late August and hangs on through Christmas if supplies last.  Get it while you can....which is part of the joy for me. So few foods are really seasonal any more. 

 

Its part of the uniquely philly food group.  Tastykakes...scrapple.... Taylor pork roll..roast pork sandwich ...cheesesteak...pepper pot soup...tomato pie....turtle soup

 

Its a a hard cookie that is like a much more complex ginger snap. It's made to pair with coffee on a nippy morning. 

 

And i I like it with sharp cheddar.  Just tried it with goat cheese and mango chutney...not bad. 

 

Though ive never done it, I can imagine it would make a great pie crust. 

 

https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/phillys-cookie-wars/

Edited September 16, 2018 by gfweb (log)

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, gfweb said:

Its a a hard cookie that is like a much more complex ginger snap. It's made to pair with coffee on a nippy morning. 

 Thanks!  Just could not resist searching for a recipe and found this.    These sound very much like my kind of cookie.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[liuzhou]

9 hours ago, gfweb said:

spiced wafer season begins in late August and hangs on through Christmas if supplies last.

 

They sound great, but going by @Anna N's found recipe, I'm wondering why they are seasonal? It seems to me all the ingredients have year-round availability. No?

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

They sound great, but going by @Anna N's found recipe, I'm wondering why they are seasonal? It seems to me all the ingredients have year-round availability. No?

 

Seasonal in the same way that pumpkin pie only shows up around Thanksgiving and fruitcake around Christmas. Just tradition.

 

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Thanks!  Just could not resist searching for a recipe and found this.    These sound very much like my kind of cookie.

 

 

Nice write-up! I have to make that one myself. Thanks.

 

Her cookies are a little pale though. They should be a deeper brown. 

Edited September 16, 2018 by gfweb (log)

[gfweb]

Of the two, Sweetzel's wafer is the winner by a head. Nothing wrong with Ivins at all though.

 

A shame that @Holly Moore isn't around to give his thoughts.

 

Here's a link to what seems to be a really (unbelievably) fair price in the webs https://www.pageneralstore.com/product/SweetzelsSpicedWaferBox/FallFavorites?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vfcBRDJARIsAJafEnFOxKyuVOWFOQGJE7BXbk6vpnc6e1nHiMfedQRUHFS5Bhr_MTUd0sAaAv-vEALw_wcB

Edited September 16, 2018 by gfweb (log)

[cdh]

Sweetzels are back?  I though they had trouble after their factory in Bridgeport burned down back around 02... Somebody resurrected them?

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Her cookies are a little pale though. They should be a deeper brown. 

She does warn, however, that they should be baked until one hair short of burned. Perhaps for the sake of a decent photograph she didn’t take that chance.

[cdh]

Interesting article on the recent history of the things.  http://mycitypaper.com/time-wafers-no-man/

[gfweb]

7 minutes ago, cdh said:

Sweetzels are back?  I though they had trouble after their factory in Bridgeport burned down back around 02... Somebody resurrected them?

 

They are!  That was a local tragedy, wasn't it?  Now you can get them everywhere but Acme who has Ivins as a house brand.

 

Below is this year's first cookie harvest. Cookie photo is Ivins, because I ate all the Sweetzels already.

[BeeZee]

I love these with a cup of tea, these really herald the return of fall season for me. Along with caramel apples, mmmm, that would be a good idea for an apple crumble, using crushed cookies in the mix....

[lindag]

I have some of the Sweetzels in my Amazon cart, I love good molasses spice cookies.

(I'm such a pushover.)

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by lindag (log)

[ElsieD]

I checked amazon.ca and they have the Sweetzel wafers.    It comes in a 2 x 16 oz. package for $69.59!!!!!!!

[rustwood]

I never realized that they are a Philly thing.  They were always just in the grocery stores in the fall - usually great piles of of them on a huge end cap display.  I suspect it is not the same these days, but many moons ago it seemed like during October almost every other shopper dropped a box of them in their cart.  I don't recall what they cost back then (certainly not $35 a box), but my impression is that they were a very inexpensive tradition.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It's not just Philadelphia.  This afternoon I found myself with no bread for my work sandwich so in dire hunger I stopped by the local Wawa for a hoagie.  Spiced wafers were prominently on display.  I would not have given spiced wafers second thought were it not for this thread.  Our area is north Jersey, if barely, and the cultural focus is much more on New York City.

 

But sometimes you gotta have a Wawa.

 

[lindag]

Mine arrived via Amazon yesterday.  The box, miraculously,l is yet unopened.

[Anna N]

On 9/16/2018 at 5:49 AM, Anna N said:

 Thanks!  Just could not resist searching for a recipe and found this.    These sound very much like my kind of cookie.

 

I made these. You can see them here.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Anna N
To fix link. (log)

[blue_dolphin]

I also made the copycat spice wafers, thanks to @Anna N for tracking down the recipe and to @gfweb for starting the thread. 

 

Turns out, they can be made into rather nice little ice cream sandwiches:

 

[ElsieD]

4 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I also made the copycat spice wafers, thanks to @Anna N for tracking down the recipe and to @gfweb for starting the thread. 

 

Turns out, they can be made into rather nice little ice cream sandwiches:

 

 

Dumb question, maybe, but I thought those cookies are super crispy?  If so, the ice cream would have to be frozen really hard, or else the ice cream would squish out? Or are the cookies thin enough that they "snap"?  I've got my eye on making that recipe as well.  I am a sucker for all things ginger.

[blue_dolphin]

I've only sampled a few bites of one.  The cookies are fairly thin and right now, they are crisp enough to snap. I softened the ice cream enough to smoosh between the cookies and put them back in the freezer to firm up.  I just wrapped them up and expect they may soften up somewhat as they sit in the freezer.

 

I used a small scoop to make the cookies so these aren't big sandwiches, just a little over 2.5 inches in diameter.

[gfweb]

They go nicely with cream cheese too 

[gfweb]

The cookies are pretty hygroscopic. They soften with humidity. I keep them well sealed. 

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I've only sampled a few bites of one.  

 Are you kidding me? These things are like potato chips. You can’t eat just one.I should’ve sent them all home with my son last night.   

[lindag]

If the homemade wafer are better than the commercial ones I will definitely have to make some.

I opened my package of the Sweetzels last evening and tried one (or two)...they are definitely worth getting.  I love them.  

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Are you kidding me? These things are like potato chips. You can’t eat just one.I should’ve sent them all home with my son last night.   

Ah, I must explain myself.  The "few bites" was in reference to @ElsieD's query and only applied to the ice cream sandwiches.  I took a few bites when I wrapped them up and have since consumed the rest of that one, which was excellent.

I have eaten quite a few of the cookies.  Enough to determine that they pair very well with a mug of hot black coffee, a cup of cold milk, a glass of iced coffee and a Manhattan.  Even with a glass of water 

Today, I've repeated the coffee test with consistent, positive results and I think they should go well with a small pour of limoncello but will wait for later in the day. 

 

I only made 4 of the ice cream sandwiches to see how they hold up in the freezer but I'll probably make more.  

 

1 hour ago, lindag said:

If the homemade wafer are better than the commercial ones I will definitely have to make some.

I haven't tried the commercial wafers so I can't say how they compare, but this recipe is very good.  The level of spice is much better than in other commercial spice cookies (no surprise there, good spices are expensive) and the mixture is complex and interesting. I was going to add some finely diced crystalized ginger, like in Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps, but went by the recipe for the first round.  I'll try that next time. They are crisp enough that it should add a pleasant chew.