This is sad: one of the greatest packaged cookie bars ever made died without leaving a visible trace.
So I can't find an image of Nabisco's Hey Day bar, but just imagine: vanilla wafers covered with caramel until the gooey flavor of it seeped into the cookie itself, topped with chocolate and crumbled peanuts. It was everything that is good about dessert in one package.
Hey Days were a pantry mainstay in the 1970s, at least in homes with more adventurous kids. The bars, you see, existed in an uncertain market space. They were not quite cookie, not at all candy bar. And because nuts covered the top of each bar, Hey Days almost looked too mature, too sophisticated for youths bent on instant gratification.
Damn, these things were good--crunchy, chewy, rich, mellow, sweet, teetering between vanilla and chocolate, with caramel always in the mix. They were almost ethereal...although it's unlikely any kid ever used that word to describe them.
Unfortunately, this neither-nor bar didn't lend itself to mass sales. Nabisco discontinued the product and they quickly disappeared from shelves and warehouses. I last saw a package sometime in the late 70s.
Nabisco has no plans to bring them back. And, as far as I can tell, none of those retro candy stores carry Hey Days.
The closest thing to their flavor I can think of available today are Samoas, a Girl Scout cookie. But they build Samoas around a hard cookie, to start with. It's just not the same. They Hey Day is over.
