I Love Cookies

Cookies were originally created by accident. Cooks used a small amount of cake batter to test their oven temperature before baking a cake. These small test cakes were called "koekje", meaning "little cake" in Dutch.
Cookies were appreciated in their own right, in Europe, before the end of the 14th century and were being sold.
By the end of the 17th century cookies were being baked and eaten on both sides of the Atlantic and cooks had begun to emellish them with nuts and spices.
In the early southern colonial household, cookies were mostly called "tea cakes". These "tea cakes" were often flavored with nothing more than the finest butter, sometimes with the addition of a few drops of rose water.
Cookies were called by such names as "Jumbles", "Plunkets" and "Cry Babies" in early American cookbooks.
I have to include the history of the chocolate chip cookie here, just because the chocolate chip cookie revolutionized the way that we think about cookies.
Ruth Wakefield [June17, 1903-January 10, 1977], Whitman, Mass., is credited for inventing chocolate chip cookies at her resturaunt in the early 1930's. According to the story, Ruth used a Nestle candy bar for her chips because she had run out of nuts. We don't know for sure if Ruth was the first person to put chocolate pieces in her cookies or not, but she is certainly the one who made them famous. Nestle began marketing Ruth's chocolate chip cookies to the public in 1940.

Cookie trivia-The word "biscuit", which is what cookies are called in some countries, came from the Latin phrase "bis coctum", which means "twice baked".

In July of 1997, Governor Weld signed legislation that declared chocolate chip cookies to be the *official cookie of the Commonwealth* in honor of Ruth Wakefield.

Annimal Crackers were first made available in 1883.

According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Oreo brand cookies were introduced to the American public by the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) on March 6, 1912.

The criss-cross pattern on peanut butter cookies is thought to help make the cookies crisper.

Do you have any cookie trivia you would like to add? We would love to hear it.
You can post it to the comments, or you can send it to ilovecookiescg@gmail.com put Cookie Trivia as the subject.

Here is one of my all time favorite no-bake cookie recipes.

CHOCOLATE NO-BAKE COOKIES:

2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of milk
1 stick of margarine
2 1/2 cups of quick oats
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa powder, milk, and butter in a saucepan. Boil for 1 minute (I would suggest boiling it for a little longer, maybe 2 minutes). Remove from heat and add oats, peanut butter and vanilla. Stir thouroughly and drop with a teaspoon onto waxed paper; let set until cool.

Diabetic Recipe: Cinnamon Cookies

2 eggs
2 tbls water
5 tsp granulated sugar replacement
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 375° F. and grease cookie sheets. Beat eggs and water until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar replacement and cinnamon. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in sifter; sift half of dry ingredients over egg mixture. Fold to completely blend. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, 2 to 3 inches (1 cm)
apart. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 C) for 10 to 12 minutes.

Exchange 1 cookie: 1/2 bread
Calories 1 cookie: 41

About the Author - unknown
From: www.amazing-cookies.com

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup Margarine, (2 sticks)
1 1/3 cup Sugar
1 tsp Peppermint, flavoring
1/2 cup Egg, whites at room temperatur
3 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 cup Cocoa
2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Preparation:
Cream margarine and sugar together at medium speed untill light and
fluffy. Add flavorings and egg whites, and mix at medium speed for 1
minute, scraping down bowl before and after adding flavorings and egg
whites. Stir flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together to blend
well; add to creamy mixture. Mix at medium speed to blend well.
Cover and refrigerate from 3 hours to overnight.
Return dought to room temperture. Roll our on a lightly floured
board to 1/4 thick. Cut with a 2 1/2 round cutter or an equivalent
cutter. Place on cookie sheets that have been sprayed with pan spray
or lined with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes, or
until cookies are almost firm. Remove cookies to a wire rack and cool
to room temperature.

NOTE: Cookies will be soft if kept in an airtight container. If you
want them crisp, freeze them or keep them in a container that isn't
airtight.

Food exchanges per servings: 1 STARCH/BREAD EXCHANGE + 1 FAT EXCHANGE

Calories: 115, FAT: 5g, CHO: 16g, Na: 98mg, PRO: 2g, Cholesterol: 0
Source: Desserts for Diabetics by Mabel Cavaiani, R. D.

From:
www.informationaboutdiabetes.com

Gluten Free

Home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies

Contains NO: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish or shellfish.

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups Food Allergy Gourmet Basic Flour Mix or other gluten-free baking mix
3/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. dry egg replacer
11 tbsp. shortening, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light, dark or mixed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
7 tbsp flax mixture (see below)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. artificial butter flavor (optional)
3/4 cup Enjoy Life ® semi-sweet chocolate chips

directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Whisk together the Basic Flour Mix, salt, baking soda and egg replacer in a bowl.

Use a heavy duty mixer to blend the melted shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and artificial butter flavor (if using). Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop up the dough by tablespoons and roll into a ball. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

Bake for 15-17 minutes. Reverse the cookie sheets' positions halfway through baking, top to bottom and front to back. Cookies are done when they are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden and centers are still soft and puffy. Cool cookies on cookie sheets for two minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.

Note - To make Flax Mixture, pour 1 part ground flax seed and 3 parts very hot water in a lidded jar. Shake vigorously. Let cool and use as directed.

Note - Dough can be frozen up to one month. Form the cookies into flattened balls and place them onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Freeze the cookie dough balls until frozen solid and store them in an airtight zipper bag or container. Cookies can be baked from the frozen state. Just add an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.

Optional Additions - If your diet allows, try adding nuts, raisins or shredded coconut.

Jody Hall, author of "Let's Bake!"