Day 27: Cookie History

As I was sitting in my school cafteria today, my gaze fell upon an interesting sight. I was sitting at one of the countertop stools and had just happened to look down on the ground and there it was! A signed check with no dollar amount filled in!! I ran to the bank to deposit it, withdrew some cash, and skipped town. And I lived happily ever after! In case you didn't notice that entire scenario was fictional. At least everything following "there it was." Truth be told, I did not see a blank check, I saw a piece of cookie. (Yes I know much less exciting but hey wouldn't you have rather me seen a piece of old cookie than winning a bunch of money. Humans are naturally envious anyway)> Anyway, the cookie got me thinking about the dessert bar which included several platters of various cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, and sugar cookies. But I thought to myself how common these five types of cookies were. So needless to say I decided to determine the age of these American classics and how some of them may have come to be.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Accidentally discoverd in 1934 by Ruth Wakefield, owner of Toll House Inn. It is said she was making chocolate cookies, and, on running out of regular baker's chocolate, substituted for it broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate from Nestlé, thinking that it would melt and mix into the batter. Customers loved them and Miss Wakefiel sold the recipe to Nestle in exchange for a life-time supply of chocolate.

Sugar Cookies: In the mid-1700s, German Protestant settlers in the Nazareth area of Pennsylvania perfected a sugar cookie recipe called the Nazareth Sugar Cookie. On September 5, 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania adopted the sugar cookie as its official cookie. People of 20th century rural Idaho believed sugar cookies had magical powers and would often plant them with potatoes to ensure a good harvest.

Snickerdoodle Cookies: The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means "snail dumpling." This wouldn't surprise me as the amount of words that are the result of butchering another language is endless!

Peanut Butter Cookies trace back to the 1930's as well....and I coudn't dig up any infor on Oatmeal Raisin...I'll have to get back to you on that. It is my favorite cookie after all!!