The History of Cookies

The cookie is described as a sweet, small, and usually thin cake. A cookie can be considered any variation of flour based cakes that have a sweet taste, and are soft and crisp. Every country is different and each country has a name for the cookie. In Spain they are called galletas, while in Germany they are called kels or keks. In Australia and England they are called biscuits. Italy calls their cookies names such as biscotti or ameretti. The actual name cookie was derived from a Dutch word such as koekje. Koekje means ‘little or small cake’. The word biscuit comes from the Latin word known as bis coctum. Bis coctum when translated means ‘twice baked’. Culinary historians have stated that the first time cookies were noticed was when they were used a little test cakes. People would put a tiny bit of cake batter in the oven and it was baked to test oven temperature.

The First Cookie

The first cookie dates all the way back to the 7^th century in Persia A.D which is now Iran. Historians have stated that sugar was cultivated there in Persian A.D for the first time and then spread to the Eastern Mediterranean. At the end of the 14^th century you could walk along the streets of Paris and buy little wafers, and Renaissance cook books began to fill with cookie recipes. Cookies grew increasingly popular over time, and the idea of the cookie spread around the world.

Current Cookie Recipes

The United States has a large amount of cookie books and recipes. There are so many recipes out there that it is impossible to have a complete book filled with every one. When the railroads were expanded in the 1800’s the cooks and chefs could reach the coconuts in the South and make cookies with coconut. Then later, oranges from the West were added to many recipes.  People then started to make cookies with cereals products such as cornflakes and rice krispies. Nowadays there are too many cookie recipes to mention, but you can always find one that you like online or in a cookbook.