the name used in N. America for a small, flat, sweet confection, which approximates to a sweet biscuit as eaten in England, although cookies tend to be richer and have a softer, chewy texture. The name first appeared in print as long ago as 1703.
Generations of immigrants from all over Europe have contributed to the American tradition of cookies. Early Dutch settlers introduced their recipes for various types of koekje, Dutch for ‘little cake’ (see banketbakkerij), the name which needed only slight adaptation to become cookie. English, Scandinavian, German, and E. European settlers introduced numerous types of biscuit, including many which could be classed as cookies, and maintained their connection with feast days. Cookies were originally associated, in the USA, with New Year's Day; references cited by Craigie and Hulbert (1938) from the early part of the 19th century show that cookies and cherry bounce (a cherry cordial) were the correct fare with which to greet visitors on that occasion, although already threatened ‘by plum-cake and outlandish liqueurs’, as one author put it.
The American habit of making up rolls of cookie dough and keeping them in the refrigerator or freezer may have come from Germany; the doughs for some German biscuits such as Heidesand are made into rolls and chilled before slicing. Pieces are sliced off and baked as required. These are often known as ‘icebox’ cookies, and usually made from a rich creamed mixture. A type of icebox cookie has spread to the Chinese community; made from an almond-flavoured creamed mixture, it is known as hsing jen ping. Fortune cookies, twists of plain dough which enclose slips of paper carrying prophecies, are a commercial invention of the Chinese community in N. America.
An alternative to recipes based on creamed doughs is provided by soft mixtures of a dropping consistency, used to make ‘drop cookies’.
Of the numerous recipes which have evolved in America, one of the best known is that for the chocolate chip, or Toll House cookie, which according to Mariani (1994) did not appear in recipe books until the 1930s; it was created by Mrs Ruth Wakefield who owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts.
In Scotland the term ‘cookie’ has been in use since around 1700, but the original meaning is uncertain. It now refers to a lightly enriched bread bun, which may be split and filled with cream, or ornamented with icing.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Craigie, Sir William A., and Hulbert, James R. (1938–44), A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, vols i–iv, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mariani, John (1994), The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, 2nd rev edn, New York: Hearst.
