Smart Cookies

Who doesn't like cookies? They're our passion from childhood to old age. We go mad for Oreos dipped in milk. Our first baking experience involves a batch of chocolate chips. Cookies see us through a broken heart or a denied job promotion. They really are our BFFs for life.

We have the Dutch to thank for this amazing invention. First called keokje or little cakes the cookie was really a tester for larger cakes. Dutch bakers put a small rounded heap of batter in oil and fried it. It then became a staple in the city of New Amsterdam when early Dutch settlers made keokjes by the dozen. The English soon picked up on their goodness and called them tea biscuits. The Scots soon followed rechristening them tea buns. There has always been a cookie in some shape or form. The Italians make biscotti(meaning twice baked )which the French took for their biscuit. The Germans called theirkeis and took cookie baking to a high art. Early Yanks redubbed the cookie cry babies (I'm guessing for the reaction that happened when you took it away from a kid) and snickerdoodles. The last is really a mix of flour cinnamon and sugar along with butter and eggs. A form of it goes back to Roman times.

America has so many different kinds of cookies. The most famous , the chocolate chip was invented by Massachusetts inn owner. Ruth Wakefield, in the early 1930's . She was either clumsy or crafty, dumping in a chopped chocolate bar into her batch of vanilla cookie dough. It was said she had run out of nuts and was looking for a substitute. Others say her elbow bumped into a candy bar,and shattered it. It then fell into the batter and history was made. That was the birth of the first modern cookie and soon became the object of desire for many. Other cookie s such as the buttery Scottish shortbread have had a longer run. That came from a medieval Scottish biscuit bread that was baked twice. Other cookies such as gingerbread was an offshoot of the Bavarian gingerbread cake, while the oatmeal raisin was a nod to Scottish bakers.

What's your favorite cookie? Are you big on Vienna Fingers or just in love with your local bakery's monster sugar cookies?Write to me and I'll put it in a future blog. You can reach me at Foodie Pantry or LIZRWRITER@aol.com. I'd love to hear from all my fellow cookie monsters out there!!!