In many English-speaking countries outsideNorth America, including the United Kingdom, the most common word for a crisp cookie is "biscuit".[3] Where biscuit is the most common term, "cookie" often only refers to one type of biscuit, a chocolate chip cookie.[5] However, in some regions both terms are used. The container used to store cookies may be called acookie jar.
In Scotland, the term "cookie" is sometimes used to describe a plainbun.[6]
Cookies that are baked as a solid layer on asheet pan and then cut, rather than being baked as individual pieces, are calledbar cookies inAmerican English ortraybakes inBritish English.[3]
Etymology
The wordcookie dates from at least 1701 in Scottish usage where the word meant "plain bun", rather than thin baked good, and so it is not certain whether it is the same word. From 1808, the word "cookie" is attested "...in the sense of "small, flat, sweet cake" inAmerican English. The American use is derived fromDutchkoekje "little cake", which is a diminutive of "koek" ("cake"), which came from theMiddle Dutch word "koke"[7] with an informal, dialect variantkoekie.[8] According to theScottish National Dictionary, its Scottish name may derive from thediminutive form (+ suffix-ie) of the wordcook, giving theMiddle Scotscookie,cooky orcu(c)kie.[9] There was much trade and cultural contact across theNorth Sea between theLow Countries and Scotland during theMiddle Ages, which can also be seen in thehistory of curling and, perhaps,golf.[citation needed]
Description
A dish of assorted cookies, includingsandwich cookies filled withjamCookies baking in anoven
Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or else for just long enough to ensure a soft interior. Other types of cookies are not baked at all, such as varieties ofpeanut butter cookies that use solidifiedchocolate rather than set eggs and wheat gluten as a binder.[10] Cookies are produced in a wide variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars,spices, chocolate,butter, peanut butter,nuts, or driedfruits.
A general theory of cookies may be formulated in the following way. Despite its descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. Water in cakes serves to make the batter as thin as possible, the better to allow bubbles—responsible for a cake's fluffiness—to form. In the cookie the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. Oils, whether in the form of butter, vegetable oils, or lard, are much moreviscous than water and evaporate freely at a far higher temperature. Thus a cake made with butter or eggs in place of water is much denser after removal from the oven.[citation needed]
Rather than evaporating as water does in a baking cake, oils in cookies remain. These oils saturate the cavities created during baking by bubbles of escaping gases. These gases are primarily composed of steam vaporized from the egg whites and thecarbon dioxide released by heating the baking powder. This saturation produces the most texturally attractive feature of the cookie, and indeed all fried foods: crispness saturated with a moisture (namely oil) that does not render soggy the food it has soaked into.[citation needed]
History
Thumbprint cookies
Cookie-like hard wafers have existed for as long as baking has been documented, in part because they survive travel very well, but they were usually not sweet enough to be considered cookies by modern standards.[11]
Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century ADPersia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region.[2][1] They spread to Europe through theMuslim conquest of Spain.[12][dubious –discuss] By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.[12] The first documented instance of the figure-shapedgingerbread man was at the court ofElizabeth I of England in the 16th century. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests.[13]
With global travel becoming widespread at that time, cookies made a natural travel companion, a modernized equivalent of the travel cakes used throughout history. One of the most popular early cookies, which traveled especially well and became known on every continent by similar names, was thejumble, a relatively hard cookie made largely from nuts, sweetener, and water.
Cookies came to America through the Dutch in New Amsterdam in the late 1620s. TheDutch word "koekje" was Anglicized to "cookie" or cooky. The earliest reference to cookies in America is in 1703, when "The Dutch in New York provided...'in 1703...at a funeral 800 cookies...'"[14]
The modern form of cookies, which is based on creaming butter and sugar together, did not appear commonly until the 18th century.[15] TheIndustrial Revolution in Britain and the consumers it created saw cookies (biscuits) become products for the masses, and firms such asHuntley & Palmers (formed in 1822),McVitie's (formed in 1830) andCarr's (formed in 1831) were all established.[16] The decorativebiscuit tin, invented by Huntley & Palmers in 1831, saw British cookies exported around the world.[16] In 1891,Cadbury filed a patent for achocolate-coated cookie.[16]
Cookies are broadly classified according to how they are formed or made, including at least these categories:
Bar cookies consist of batter or other ingredients that are poured or pressed into a pan (sometimes in multiple layers) and cut into cookie-sized pieces after baking. InBritish English, bar cookies are known as "tray bakes".[3] Examples includebrownies, fruit squares, and bars such asdate squares.
Drop cookies are made from a relatively soft dough that is dropped by spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. During baking, the mounds of dough spread and flatten.Chocolate chip cookies (Toll House cookies),oatmeal raisin (or otheroatmeal-based) cookies, androck cakes are popular examples of drop cookies. This may also includethumbprint cookies, for which a small central depression is created with a thumb or small spoon before baking to contain a filling, such asjam or achocolate chip.[17] In the UK, the term "cookie" often refers only to this particular type of product.
Filled cookies are made from a rolled cookie dough filled with a fruit, jam or confectionery filling before baking.Hamantashen are a filled cookie.
Molded cookies are also made from a stiffer dough that is molded into balls or cookie shapes by hand before baking.Snickerdoodles andpeanut butter cookies are examples of molded cookies. Some cookies, such as hermits orbiscotti, are molded into large flattened loaves that are later cut into smaller cookies.
No-bake cookies are made by mixing a filler, such as cereal or nuts, into a melted confectionery binder, shaping into cookies or bars, and allowing to cool or harden. Oatmeal clusters andrum balls are no-bake cookies.
Pressed cookies are made from a soft dough that is extruded from acookie press into various decorative shapes before baking.Spritzgebäck is an example of a pressed cookie.
Refrigerator cookies (also known asicebox cookies) are made from a stiff dough that is refrigerated to make the raw dough even stiffer before cutting and baking. The dough is typically shaped into cylinders which are sliced into round cookies before baking. Pinwheel cookies and those made byPillsbury are representative.
Rolled cookies are made from a stiffer dough that is rolled out and cut into shapes with acookie cutter.Gingerbread men are an example.
Sandwich cookies are rolled or pressed cookies that are assembled as asandwich with a sweet filling. Fillings includemarshmallow, jam, andicing. TheOreo cookie, made of two chocolate cookies with avanilla icing filling, is an example.
Other types of cookies are classified for other reasons, such as their ingredients, size, or intended time of serving:
Breakfast cookies are typically larger, lower-sugar cookies filled with "heart-healthy nuts and fiber-rich oats" that are eaten as a quick breakfast snack.[18]
Low-fat cookies ordiet cookies typically have lower fat than regular cookies.[19]
Raw cookie dough is served in some restaurants, though the eggs may be omitted since the dough is eaten raw, which could pose asalmonella risk if eggs were used. Cookie Dough Confections in New York City is a restaurant that has a range of raw cookie dough flavors, which are scooped into cups for customers like ice cream.[20]
Skillet cookies are big cookies that are cooked in a cast-iron skillet and served warm, while they are still soft and chewy. They are either eaten straight from the pan or cut into wedges, often with vanilla ice cream on top.[21]
Supersized cookies are large cookies such as the Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie.[22] These very large cookies are sold at grocery stores, restaurants and coffeeshops.
Vegan cookies can be made with flour, sugar, nondairy milk, and nondairymargarine.Aquafaba icing can be used to decorate the cookies.
Cookie cakes are made in a larger circular shape usually with writing made of frosting.
Reception
Leah Ettman from Nutrition Action has criticized the high-calorie count and fat content of supersized cookies, which are extra large cookies; she cites the Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie, a supersized chocolate chip cookie, which measures5+1⁄2 inches in diameter and has 800 calories.[22] For busy people who eat breakfast cookies in the morning, Kate Bratskeir from theHuffington Post recommends lower-sugar cookies filled with "heart-healthy nuts and fiber-rich oats".[18] A book on nutrition by Paul Insel et al. notes that "low-fat" or "diet cookies" may have the same number of calories as regular cookies, due toadded sugar.[19]
In popular culture
There are a number of slang usages of the term "cookie". The slang use of "cookie" to mean a person, "especially an attractive woman" is attested to in print since 1920.[7] The catchphrase "that's the way the cookie crumbles", which means "that's just the way things happen" is attested to in print in 1955.[7] Other slang terms include "smart cookie" and "tough cookie." According toThe Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, a smart cookie is "someone who is clever and good at dealing with difficult situations."[23] The word "cookie" has been vulgar slang for "vagina" in the US since 1970.[24] The word "cookies" is used to refer to the contents of the stomach, often in reference to vomiting (e.g., "pop your cookies", a 1960s expression, or "toss your cookies", a 1970s expression).[24] The expression "cookie cutter", in addition to referring literally to a culinary device used to cutrolled cookie dough into shapes, is also used metaphorically to refer to items or things "having the same configuration or look as many others" (e.g., a "cookie cuttertract house") or to label something as "stereotyped or formulaic" (e.g., an action movie filled with "generic cookie cutter characters").[25]"Cookie duster" is a whimsical expression for amustache.
Cookie Monster is aMuppet on thechildren's television showSesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite for cookies and his famous eating phrases, such as "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!" (or simply "COOKIE!"), and "Om nom nom nom" (said through a mouth full of food).[26][27][28][29]
Cookie Clicker is a game where players click a cookie to buy upgrades to make more cookies.
^Sesame Street - "The First Time Me Eat Cookie". 7 April 2004. Event occurs at 0:30.Archived from the original on 31 October 2018.Me was just a mild-mannered little kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid. Yeah, yeah.
^"Cookie Monster: Me wasn't ..."Sesame Street (sesamestreet) on Twitter. 10 August 2010.Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved1 September 2019.Me wasn't born with name "Cookie Monster." It just nickname dat stuck. Me don't remember me real name… maybe it was Sidney?
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