Cookie

This page is about edible cookies. For other uses, see Cookie (disambiguation)

In the United States of America and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat baked cake (British English biscuit). Its name comes from the Dutch word koekje which means "little cake". Cookies were first made from little pieces of cake batter that were cooked separately in order to test oven temperature. The ancestor of the cookie is said to have come from Persia according to many sources. (example) 2

They can be baked until crisp or only long enough that they stay soft, depending on the type of cookie. Cookies are made in a vast variety of styles, using an array of possible ingredients including sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts or dried fruits.

Cookies are broadly classified according to how they are formed, including at least these categories:

• 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 are an example of drop cookies.

• Refrigerator cookies are made from a stiff dough that is refrigerated to become even stiffer. The dough is typically shaped into cylinders which are sliced into round cookies before baking.

• Molded cookies are also made from a stiffer dough that is molded into balls or cookie shapes by hand before baking. Snickerdoodles are an example of molded cookies.

• Rolled cookies are made from a stiffer dough that is rolled out and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Gingerbread men are an example.

• Pressed cookies are made from a soft dough that is extruded from a cookie press into various decorative shapes before baking.

• 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. Brownies are an example of a batter-type bar cookie, while Rice krispie treats are a bar cookie that doesn't require baking.

Commercially-produced cookies include many varieties of sandwich cookies filled with marshmallow, jam, or icing, as well as cookies covered with chocolate which may more closely resemble a type of confectionery.

Some specific types of cookies are:

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Newtons fruit chewy cookies
• Ginger snaps
• Oreo sandwich cookies
• Snickerdoodles are soft cinammon-dusted cookies of New English origin.
• Peanut butter cookies
• shortbread
• Anzac biscuit
• sugar cookie
• wafer
• fortune cookie
• biscotti
• Spritzgeback
• Oatmeal Raisin
• Gingerbread

At the beginning of the year, Girl Scouts in the United States sell Girl Scout cookies. The types of cookie vary from council to council.

See also Cookie Monster, cookie cutter.