He swears he didn't swipe, heist or bribe anyone to reveal the ingredients. Yet Todd Wilbur believes his recipes are the actual formulas for their commercially mass-produced counterparts.
"Top Secret Recipes" is an irresistible collection of cloned recipes compiled by Wilbur, a self-confessed junk-food addict, a guy who spent five years in his "laboratory" (kitchen) trying to figure out the formulas for his favorite concoctions.Sara Lee Cream Cheesecake, Wendy's Chili, Ben and Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream, McDonald's Big Mac . . . they're all dissected and detailed for other fast-food fanatics to recreate at home.
There's one minor flaw in Wilbur's revelations, however.. . .When one has to bother with measuring, mixing and baking before being able to consume a gooey treat, fast food slows down, becoming, well, HOMEMADE.
Somehow, the instant gratification of drive-thru or store-bought munchies makes preservative-packed junk food taste better than it really is.
But for cooks who delight in delving into "delicate balances" of this and that in search of the "exact" taste of a beloved goodie, "Top Secret Recipes" is a kick.
AND, says Wilbur, his food replications don't have dyes, preservatives or fillers. Great, unless you crave that ersatz high found in a Hostess Pie or a Hardee's french fry. And what about store-bought Twinkies, the food storage favorite (because of their alleged 13-year shelf-life)?
Wilbur's quest for food formulas began in 1987 after a friend sent him a blurred photocopy of a recipe for the supposed "Super Secret" Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies.
You've probably heard this ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY (another half-baked urban legend) that went something like this:
A woman called the Park City offices of Mrs. Fields and asked (what nerve!) for the recipe for the Utah entrepreneur's chocolate chip cookies. An extremely helpful (and if the story were true, now unemployed) Fields staffer agreed to provide the recipe for the nominal charge of $2.50.
It gets worse, folks . . .
Smart shopper that she was, the lady charged the fee on her credit card. But quelle surprise . . . when she received her statement, there was a whopping $250 debit from Mrs. Fields Cookies!
And boy . . . was she upset! So upset about losing all that dough that she started a chain-letter campaign, sending out stacks of vengeful letters (with the "secret Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe" enclosed) to everyone she knew, encouraging them to "pass it on, no return."
Perhaps you were one of the unlucky recipients of this bogus half-baked cookie recipe . . . I was.
Like thousands of salivating sisters, I anxiously whipped up a batch of the supposed sweets, only to be shocked at the total ickiness of the finished product.
Wilbur recalls his reaction after his attempt at replicating Debbie's delights.
"People who had tried the recipe were disillusioned by the finished product - a cookie that did not taste at all like a Mrs. Fields cookie but more like the desk coaster I set my coffee on."
The worst part of the chain letter (besides the unpalatable cookies) was the inference that the company was in the business of selling its recipe - a totally false claim.
Fortunately for the company, the effects of this adverse chain letter are now only a bad memory. Any mall-walker who is frequently seduced by wafting fumes of freshly baked Mrs. Fields sweets will tell you that the cookies are heavenly . . . not a bit like the phony chain-letter version.
With this bizarre story in mind, Wilbur decided to focus on what it would take to make the awful fake recipe taste better - more like the real Mrs. Fields cookies.
He says, "What would have to change to make it taste like the original cookies that America can't seem to pass up? In time, with a little trial and error and flour in the eye, I had come up with a cookie that tasted just like Mrs. Fields' - it was delicious."
His kitchen cloning craze had begun - and his book was born, with a second, "More Top Secret Recipes," following in 1994.
We've tested some of Wilbur's "secret formula" wannabees and dispute his claims . . . they don't taste JUST LIKE the original recipes.
However, the phonies are close enough to be deviously delicious.
So, send in the clones!
*****
Recipes
TOP SECRET
A&W ROOT BEER
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup hot water
1 liter cold seltzer water
1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon root beer concentrate (McCormick is best)
Dissolve the sugar in the hot water. Add the root beer concentrate and let cool. Combine the root beer mixture with the cold seltzer water, drink immediately, or store in fridge in tightly covered container. Makes 5 cups.
- Each cup contains 100 calories, 0g fat, 32mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol, 0 percent calories from fat.
TOP SECRET'S MRS. FIELDS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 12-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. With your fingers, place golf-ball-size dough portions 2-inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9 minutes, or until edges are light brown. Makes 30 cookies.
- Each cookie contains 190 calories, 10g fat, 186mg sodium, 17mg cholesterol, 44 percent calories from fat.
- From "Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur
- Author's note: "It's very important that you not exceed the cooking time given above, even if the cookies appear to be underbaked. The finished product should be soft in the middle and crunchy around the edges."
TOP SECRET'S ALMOND ROCA
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 cup finely chopped toasted almonds
1 cup milk-chocolate chips
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring. When the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil, raise the heat and bring the mixture to 290 degrees F. on a cooking thermometer. (This is called the soft-crack stage). It will be light brown in color, and syrup will separate into threads that are not brittle when dribbled into cold water. Quickly stir in 1/2 cup chopped almonds. Immediately pour the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet. Wait two or three minutes for the candy surface to become firm, then sprinkle on the chocolate chips. In a few minutes, when the chips have softened, spread the chocolate evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the remaining almonds over the melted chocolate. When the chocolate hardens, crack the candy into pieces. Store covered. Makes 11/2 pounds.
- Each 1/4 pound contains 583 calories, 43g fat, 493mg sodium, 83mg cholesterol, 68 percent calories from fat.
- From "Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur
- Author's note: "The Heath Bar and Hershey's Skor are similar, and both composed of ingredients like those in Almond Roca. To make these candy bars, omit sprinkling remaining almonds over the melted chocolate."
TOP SECRET'S KFC BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup club soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups Bisquick biscuit mix
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine all of the ingredients. Knead the dough by hand until smooth. Flour your hands. Pat the dough flat to 3/4-inch thickness on waxed paper and punch out biscuits with a biscuit cutter. Bake on a greased baking sheet for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 18 biscuits.
- Each biscuit contains 190 calories, 10g fat, 574mg sodium, 14mg cholesterol, 45 percent calories from fat.
- From "Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur
- Author's note: "If you don't have a biscuit cutter, the lid of an aerosol can will suffice. A lid from a can of nonstick cooking spray, for example, works great. If all you have is a lid from a can of Raid bug spray, I would say that you should form the biscuits as best you can with your bare hands."
TOP SECRET WENDY'S CHILI
2 pounds ground beef
One 29-ounce can tomato sauce
One 29-ounce can kidney beans (with liquid)
One 29-ounce can pinto beans (with liquid)
1 cup diced onion (1 medium)
1/2 cup diced green chili (2 chilies)
1/4 cup diced celery (1 stalk)
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons cumin powder
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water
Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; drain off fat. Using a fork, crumble the cooked beef into pea-sized pieces. In a large pot, combine the beef plus all the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring every 15 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours. Serves 12.
- Each serving contains 360 calories, 13g fat, 1418mg sodium, 81mg cholesterol, 33 percent calories from fat.
- From "Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur
- Author's note: "Try topping it with freshly grated cheese and chopped onion."
TOP SECRET'S NABISCO OREO COOKIE
Cookie:
1 18.5-ounce Duncan Hines Dark Fudge cake mix
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons shortening
Filling:
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup shortening
3 tablespoons hot water
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Blend all the cookie ingredients with an electric mixer, then knead with your hands until it reaches the consistency of dough. Form the dough into balls about 3/4-inch in diameter and press flat 1/2-inch apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the cookies are crunchy. Let the cookies cool on the sheets. As the cookies cool, combine the filling ingredients well with an electric mixer. With your hands form the filling into balls about 1/2 to 3/4-inch in diameter. Place a filling ball in the center of the flat side of a cooled cookie and press with another cookie, flat side down, until the filling spreads to the edge. Makes 2 dozen cookies.
- Each cookie contains 196 calories, 7g fat, 218mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol, 33 percent calories from fat.
- From "More Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur
TOP SECRET'S ARBY'S SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons water
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Tabasco is best)
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to boil, five to 10 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat. Cover and allow to cool. Pour into a covered container for storage in your fridge. Keeps for a month or two. Makes 1 cup.
- Each tablespoon contains 18 calories, 1g fat, 236mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol, 3 percent calories from fat.
- From "More Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur