mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
From the Dutch koekje (diminutive of koek, “cake”) we have what we know so fondly as the cookie. Whether you like them chewy or crunchy, dense or like air, here are some facts about famous cookies to whet your sugary appetite.
• The first “cookies” were used in simple oven tests. Eventually it was discovered these little balls of batter were delicious to eat as well. According to this site, “Early American cookbooks show that the earlier versions were called ‘Tea Cakes.’ Our simple ‘butter cookies’ strongly resemble the English tea cakes and the Scotch shortbread. The English also call them biscuits, the Spanish call them galletas, the Germans call them kels and in Italy there are several names to identify various forms of cookies, including Amaretti and Biscotti.”
• In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, who with her husband owned and operated the Toll House (yes, that Toll House) Inn near Whitman, MA, added crumbles of semi-sweet chocolate to her dough to make a “chocolate cookie” … voila! The chocolate-chip cookie was born. She sold the recipe to Nestle and as part of the deal she received all the chocolate she’d ever need. To this day, the chocolate-chip cookie is still the preferred cookie of choice in the United States.
• Around the office here, we just got our deliveries of Girl Scout cookies. As a young lass I too hounded my parents’ friends and co-workers to buy from me, continuing a tradition that was started by the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, which baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project in December 1917. Girl Scout cookies were not sold during WWII because of food shortages, but I would venture to say that their over-all popularity hasn’t been hurt by this sabbatical. Today, the best sellers are the Thin Mints (25%), followed by Samoas (19%) (no real surprise there!)
• Has anyone heard of the “super-secret Neiman Marcus cookie recipe”? I remember my grandmother procuring it many years ago by way of a friend of hers who said she paid some ungodly amount of money for it (or not). Anyway … the recipe isn’t a secret at all, and can be found here. Try it out for yourself — I remember thinking it was OK, but how can something NOT be good when it includes a whole stick of butter?
• One of the greatest purveyors of cookie-mania is, of course, the Cookie Monster. Originally created as a fierce monster for commercials (that sadly never aired), Jim Henson eventually allowed the Cookie Monster to join the cast of Sesame Street, to great success. Besides cookies, the monster eats plenty of other food, especially since concerns for obesity have restricted his appetite. Also, there are rumors the Monster has entered rehab for his cookie obsession.
• I really enjoyed all of the recipe suggestions for sweet potatoes that were sent in a few weeks ago, so this week I’ll ask: what is your favorite cookie recipe? Classics are welcome, but does anyone have a recipe with a twist? Also, does anyone have a good vegan recipe I can whip up for a friend?
[Previous Dietribes: Strawberries, Macaroni & Cheese, McIntosh Apples, Smoothies, Coffee, The Sweet Potato and Eggs]
‘Dietribes’ appears every Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach. You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (35)
Comment
Snopes has the real “Neiman-Marcus cookie” story, your grandmother’s friend didn’t pay anything for it.
posted by dcfullest on 3-19-2008 at 8:02 am
It’s barely 9am, and now I’m jonesing for a cookie. Thanks, thanks a lot.
posted by Rae Rae on 3-19-2008 at 8:08 am
It’s barely 9am, and now I’m jonesing for a cookie. Thanks, thanks a lot.
posted by Rae Rae on 3-19-2008 at 8:08 am
This may be a silly question…but I’ve always wondered what the difference in the batter is to make a cake versus a cookie. I just haven’t sat down and looked at the recipes side by side. Are there any guiding principles for baking these things?
posted by Austin on 3-19-2008 at 8:10 am
Wasn’t cookie monster on sesame street, not the muppet show?
posted by gussie on 3-19-2008 at 8:26 am
Why make cookieS, when you could make 1 cookie? Ok, one really BIG cookie.
This goes over great for birthdays - use cake decorations to write your own message!
2 eggs
1 cup butter
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 C flour (I use cake & pastry flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 C chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 F
1. Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla.
2. Add eggs, beat some more.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking soda
4. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Using your hands, gently spread the batter on a pizza pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, let cool before eating!
Tips:
1. I’ve found hands work better than a rolling pin!
2. You could grease the pizza pan, but I found that a sheet of Parchment Paper works best
posted by Al on 3-19-2008 at 8:33 am
Easy peanut butter cookies (I don’t know much about vegans, but this may be able to be made veganable)
1 egg,
1 C. peanut butter
1 tsp. baking powder
1 C sugar (or splenda)
Mix all ingredients, bake at 325F for 20 minutes
posted by Al on 3-19-2008 at 8:38 am
My favorite cookie recipe is just like any other chocolate chip cookie recipe, except I add a package of instant vanilla pudding mix to it. The pudding gives it the perfect texture and consistency and makes it taste even better. And now mouth is watering…
posted by Pam on 3-19-2008 at 9:20 am
I don’t have the exact recipe, but my favorite has long been Monster Cookies. My mom got the recipe from my baby-sitter way back. The cookie combines oatmeal, chocolate chips and M&M’s in a giant, sometimes gooey, cookie. Heaven!
posted by Lindsey on 3-19-2008 at 9:25 am
This recipe sounds too simple to be very interesting, but I swear they’re the best cookies ever. I feel like I’m giving up part of my soul just sharing the recipe. Buttery sweet-salty flavor, crispy outside, chewy inside. Everything a cookie should be. Make sure to use brand name oats, or the batter gets too dry.
Awesome Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen
1 cup butter-flavor Crisco shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups Quaker oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Cream shortening and sugars together, add eggs and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add oatmeal. Add oatmeal and flour mixture to shortening mixture. Mix well. (Dough will be fairly stiff and a little dry.) Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet and bake in 375° oven for 10-12 minutes.
posted by bre on 3-19-2008 at 9:30 am
Correction: The German word for cookie is “Keks” not “kels”
posted by Amanda on 3-19-2008 at 9:30 am
I’ve always had a little problem with cookies mostly because I’m allergic to eggs, chocolate and nuts; main components of cookies for some people… In fact I had never had a homemade cookie until one of my vegetarian friends found out that you can use applesauce as an egg replacer (I can’t have a lot of premade egg replacers because they have tapioca… random, I know)…
Now we make the most amazing sugar cookies… I don’t have the recipe with me because I’m typing this from my bio lecture, but if anyone wants it I would be more than happy to share!
posted by Christine on 3-19-2008 at 10:19 am
My favorite cookies are Pfeffernüsse (german for pepper nuts). We make ‘em every holiday season. They’re supposed to be small and crunchy… you can eat ‘em by the handful (kinda like nuts). Here’s my favorite recipe (it’s metric!):
Pfeffernüsse
2 eggs
250 grams sugar
250 grams all purpose flour
50 grams cornstarch
Level tsp of baking powder
1 Tbs rum
1/2 grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp each clove, allspice, nutmeg, pepper
Level tsp of cinnamon
(optional) 2-3 drops anise oil
Beat eggs & sugar till fluffy, gradually sift in everything else. Let rest. Take dough and roll out into a long snake about 1cm thick. Cut into small disks and bake on lightly gresed sheet for 10-15 min at 375 deg F.
posted by Jason! on 3-19-2008 at 10:37 am
Short of making them yourself, Trader Joe’s has the best Vegan cookies out there, in my opinion.
posted by ArtF on 3-19-2008 at 10:40 am
Of all things I miss since going gluten-free (for my health-who knew I was gluten-intolerant?!), I miss cookies the most. Rice flour just doesn’t give the chewy texture that wheat flour does. Unless I’m doing something wrong? Any suggestions?
posted by Jules on 3-19-2008 at 10:40 am
@ Jules:
Have you tried a blend instead of straight rice flour? We made cookies for a gluten intolerant friend once, and the first blend on the below page worked out well:
www.allrecipes.com/HowTo/Using-Alternative-Flours/Detail.aspx
posted by Jason! on 3-19-2008 at 11:23 am
The only vegan cookie recipe I know is for Pecan Crescents. Sugar, pecans, margarine and flour basically. Epicurious has a few good ones.
posted by punkinsmom on 3-19-2008 at 11:29 am
I found a recipe for bacon cookies online. They were surprisingly WONDERFUL. I referred to them as a “Breakfast Cookie”
posted by Wendy on 3-19-2008 at 11:30 am
Am I the only one that noticed that the Cookie Monster never actually SWALLOWED any of the cookies that he ate? That he rather just crumbled them up and spread the shrapnel around the place? He doesn’t even have a THROAT! Maybe that’s why he’s kept his figure for three decades. . .
posted by Firebrand on 3-19-2008 at 11:36 am
Is it really true that there were no chocolate chip cookies before the 1930s? That seems totally impossible to me! Those flappers didn’t know what they were missing!
posted by Anne on 3-19-2008 at 12:04 pm
I can’t remember this recipe exactly… however it’s something like what you see below- they’re the EASIEST cookies around! If anyone has the exacts, thanks for posting!
They’re called Brownie Cookies- you start with a box of brownie mix, the simplest one you can find, and FAMILY SIZE (13×9 pan sized, not 8×8 or 9×9). You mix in 1 cup Reese’s PB chips, oil, an egg or two, and voila. They cook for 8 minutes or so, so not long at all. I wish I had the exacts of the recipe written down… they’re so good!
posted by Kelly J on 3-19-2008 at 12:18 pm
Just kidding, my mom emailed me back immediately, and she had it!!!
Ingredients:
-1 box brownie mix “family size” (for a 13×9 pan, not 8×8 or 9×9)
-½ cup oil or Crisco
-2 eggs
-1 cup Reeses Peanut Butter chips
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
-Grease the cookie sheets VERY WELL.
-Mix together the brownie mix, oil, and eggs until smooth and no dry clumps remain.
-Add in chips (extra to taste!)
-Drop in small spoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheets.
-Cook for 8-9 minutes. Cookies will be soft in the middle when removed from the oven.
-Let cool on the sheets for 2-4 minutes. Remove with a spatula and place on a rack to cool. (If you do not cool them before stacking or transporting, they do not hold their shape well.)
-ENJOY!
posted by Kelly J on 3-19-2008 at 12:23 pm
Al, thanks for the peanutbutter cookie recipe! I was going to ask if anybody had an EASY one — I’ve been looking for ages! They go too fast to spend a lot of time making them.
posted by Jen on 3-19-2008 at 12:30 pm
Does anyone else think Girl Scout cookies suck? Its not like I don’t buy them (it almost seems if purchase of them is required), but, as far as I’m concerned, they’re just crappy mass-produced cookies.
posted by Florida on 3-19-2008 at 1:33 pm
In my single days, I made a mean batch of chocolate chip cookies. Trouble was, I rarely baked more than half the batch. Raw cookie dough is just way too good to let it dry out in the oven. Nowadays I indulge a little, but my metabolism doesn’t let me get away with anything anymore.
My wife will make double-batches of cookies, then use a cookie scooper to make doughballs that are put in containers then frozen so we can bake a fresh batch most any time. My kids (which include two teenage boys) figured out that they’re better straight out of the freezer, so my wife is regularly disappointed when she wants to bake some on a whim. Guess the apples didn’t fall far from the tree!
posted by Dave on 3-19-2008 at 2:33 pm
I don’t really think Girl Scout cookies suck, but I can see how someone would. They’re certainly not the best cookies out there; I think much of their mystique comes from the fact that they’re only available once a year.
Now, as far as cookies that are worthy of deification, has anyone tried Newman’s Own Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies? Those are SERIOUS.
posted by Mikey on 3-19-2008 at 2:37 pm
I wouldn’t think it would be too hard to convert some of these recipes to vegan… you’d just have to identify the animal ingredients and replace them with non-animal substitutions.
For example:
Honey => Corn syrup
Butter => Margerine
Chocolate => Carob or vegan friendly chocolate from a health food joint
Eggs => Hmm that’s harder…
Eggs usually are a binder, a moistener, or both. You’d have to know what it’s role in the recipe is. If it’s just a moistener you could use water or applesauce. If it’s a binder you’d need something that would bind like an egg substitute or pureed tofu. I think the rule of thumb is 1/4 cup per egg.
posted by Jason! on 3-19-2008 at 2:41 pm
Jason!:
I posted above about using applesauce instead of eggs… I recommend it to anyone who can’t/doesn’t want to use eggs!
And I’ve heard about using carob instead of chocolate… I’m very curious about it seeing as I’ve never had a chocolate chip cookie… Anyone else ever try it?
posted by Christine on 3-19-2008 at 4:37 pm
@ Christine:
Sorry, I missed you’re above email. I’d be interested in seeing your sugar cookie recipe!
I’ve never had carob chip cookies… I’ve had carob cake, which tasted just like chocolate to me. Also my coworker, who is allergic to chocolate too (just being near it makes her itch), can eat carob with no reaction. However, that’s something you should probably ask your allergist about.
posted by Jason! on 3-19-2008 at 5:07 pm
ground flax seed can also be used as an egg replacer - it works well where the eggs are used as a binder
posted by zale on 3-19-2008 at 6:59 pm
My yummy cookie recipe (that I suppose could be messed with to make vegan, but I don’t know how well it would turn out.)
-”S’s OMGWTFINEEDTOIMPROVISENAO! Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies”-
(based on the original Toll House CC cookie recipe, and modified to what I had in the house the day I decided making cookies would be a great idea)
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
* 1 3/8 cups granulated sugar
* 1/8 cup cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup (half a package) of chocolate chips of your choice
Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine ingredients so everything is wet and thouroly mixed, then spoon onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until you’re pretty sure they’re done.
NOTE: People have told me that the cinnamon taste may be a little strong and/or the cookies were a little light on the chocolate chips, so I’d recommend making a half a batch just for yourself/people you don’t plan to impress, taste them and alter the recipe to your/your family’s tastes.
posted by S on 3-19-2008 at 9:07 pm
I use yoghurt in place of eggs in a lot of baking. Doesn’t really help for vegans, sorry, but it’s good for cholesteral reasons or egg allergies. It works as a leavening agent and keeps cookies/cake moist.
Also… has anyone noticed we get fewer and fewer Girl Scout cookies in a box? I think their evil plan is to sell one samoa or tagalong at a time.
posted by Meg on 3-20-2008 at 7:05 am
Ok, my complaint about girl scout cookies is that they changed bakers and changed the names of the cookies.
Do-Si-Do’s are now Peanut Butter Patties
Samoa’s are now Caramel Delights
The cookies are a bit different too….similar, but you can tell the difference. Oh, and $3.50 a box?? Holy crapola!!
posted by Jamie on 3-20-2008 at 10:21 am
Jamie,
Girl Scout cookies are made by 2 different companies, so depending on where you live, the cookies might have different names. And I agree, they are similar, but not the same. I prefer Samoas to Caramel Delights. Also, I was a Girl Scout for many, many years, and I’ve always HATED Thin Mints. I realize that I’m in the minority, but really, I can’t stand them. I love Samoas, though!
posted by greenstrawberries on 3-25-2008 at 4:41 am
Bananas are THE BEST egg substitues! I went vegan not to long ago and don’t miss out on much of the wonderful delights of baking because of a wonderful website-www.theppk.com-it rocks!
posted by LeeLee on 3-26-2008 at 2:31 pm