Cookie



A cookie is a sweet, portable, flour-based cake. The term cookie originated from koekeje—the Dutch word for little cake. It is believed that the earliest cookies date back to 7th century Persia.

There are six basic types of cookies:


 * Drop cookies - made from spoonfuls of dough which are dropped onto a baking sheet
 * Bar cookies - soft dough spooned into a shallow pan which is then baked, cooled and cut into bars
 * Molded cookies - hand-shaped dough in the form of small balls, logs, crescents or other shaped
 * Pressed cookies - cookies with fancy shapes and designs made by pressing dough through a cookie press (or pastry bag)
 * Refrigerator cookies - made by shaping dough into a log, refrigerating the dough until firm and then slicing and baking it
 * Rolled cookies - roller-pin flattened dough cut into shapes with cookie cutters or a knife

Most cookies are sweet dessert or snack food in individual servings (usually 1-3 cookies in a serving).

There are other types of cookies, like German springerle which are made by imprint designs on dough either with a special rolling pin or by pressing the dough through a carved cookie mold.

Cookies are eaten on their own as a snack or dessert. When crushed, mixed with melted margarine or butter, and pressed into a pan, they make flavorful crusts for pies. Spicy gingersnaps, rich chocolate wafers, classic vanilla wafers, and whole-grain graham crackers, the varieties most frequently used for crusts, are sold in packages in grocery stores.

Name Variations

 * biscuits (England)
 * galletas (Spain)
 * keks (Germany)
 * biscotti (Italy)