Cookies

Also known as biscuits in English-speaking countries outside North America, cookies are small, round, flat baked desserts common in the United States and Canada.

The word "cookie" derives from the Dutch word koekje or koekie, which means little cake, and arrived in the English language through the Dutch in North America. It spread from American English to British English where biscuit is still the more general term.

Types of Cookies

Cookies are broadly categorized according to how they are formed:

•     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 (Tollhouse cookies), peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal cookies are popular examples 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. Spritzgebäck are an example of a pressed cookie.
•     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, perhaps similar to a cereal bar. In British English, bar cookies are known as "tray bakes".
•     Sandwich cookies are rolled or pressed cookies that are assembled as a sandwich with a sweet filling. Fillings may be with marshmallow, jam, or icing. The Oreo cookie, made of two chocolate cookies with a vanilla icing filling is an example.
•     Fried cookies including traditional cookies such as the krusczyki, rosettes and fattigmann as well as a newer American trend of deep-frying ordinary drop cookie dough..

Cookie Tips                                                    

1. When cutting slice & bake cookies, slice with dentalfloss and keep rotating the roll so that you don't have a flat side.

2. Avoid over-mixing cookie dough. Over-mixing will result in a tough textured cookie.

3. Bake cookies only until they are done. Over-baking creates a dry cookie. Underbaking creates a "doughy" cookie. Use the time given [in the recipe] as a guide for doneness. Cookies are done if they retain a slight imprint when pressed lightly with a finger.

4. When a cookie recipe calls for quick-cooking rolled oats, use quick-cooking or old fashioned regular but not the instant breakfast kind.

from Granny's Taste of Christmas

Recipes

• Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies
• Rudolph's Peanut Butter Cookies
• Almond Bonbons