Cookie

Introduction
(from Dutch koekje, diminutive of koek, “cake”), primarily in the United States,
any of various small sweet cakes, either flat or slightly raised, cut from rolled dough,
dropped from a spoon, cut into pieces after baking, or curled with a special iron. In
Scotland the term cookie denotes a small, plain bun variety of hand-held, flour-based sweet
cakes, either crisp or soft. Each country has its own word for “cookie.” We know as cookies are
called biscuits in England and Australia, in Spain they’re galletas. Germans call
them keks or Plzchen for Christmas cookies, and in Italy there are several names to identify
various forms of cookies including amaretti and biscotti, and so on. The name cookie is derived
from the Dutch word koekje, meaning “small or little cake.” Biscuit comes from the Latin
word bis coctum, which means, “twice baked.”
According to culinary historians, the first historic record of cookies was their use as test
cakes. A small amount of cake batter was baked to test the oven temperature.

Cookies are small, sweet, flat, dry cakes—single-serving finger food. They are
generally flour based, but they can be flourless—made from egg whites and/or almonds
like macaroons, for example—or made from gluten-free flour, like rice flour. Cookies can
be soft, chewy or crisp. They can be big or small, plain or fancy. They can be simple—
butter and sugar—or complex, with a multitude of ingredients, or fashioned into cookie
sandwiches, two layers and filling. But they started out long ago, not as a treat or a
comfort food, but as an oven regulator.

Different Types of Cookies

BarCookies

Somewhere in between a cookie and a cake, bar

cookies are some of the quickest and easiest
cookies to make. Dough and other ingredients
that are poured or pressed into the pan with
sides (instead of on a baking sheet), sometimes
in multiple layers. After baking and cooling, they
are cut into shapes such as squares, rectangles,
triangles, or diamonds.
Drop Cookies

Drop cookies, as the name suggests, are baked

by dropping or pushing spoonfuls of cookie
dough onto the baking sheet. During baking, the
mounds of dough flatten and spread.

Filled Cookies

Filled cookies are made from cookie dough stuffed with a fruit or confectionery
contents before baking. Some are like a tiny pocket or pouch, prepared similarly to
dumplings, in which the dough is encased around the filling and edges are crimped.
Others are prepared as tiny tarts in miniature muffin tins. Filled cookies have become
favorites because they combine a standard cookie (the dough) with a special filling,
offering two treats in one.

Fried Cookies

Fried cookies, growing in popularity,

are drop cookies or filled cookies that are
cooked in oil. Sometimes referred to as
simply “fried dough,” these types of
cookies they are often dusted with
powdered sugar after being cooked. They
are best when served immediately. In
addition to traditional fried cookies, today’s
favorite cookie recipes (like chocolate chip
cookie dough or oatmeal cookie dough) are modified by adding a bit of liquid, rolling the
dough in batter, and deep frying the dough to create a rich and crispy treat.

Molded Cookies

Molded cookies, made from stiff

dough, are formed into shapes before
baking. Cookies are shaped by hand or
in a mold. Cookies can be hand-shaped
into wreaths, crescents, canes, logs,
and balls. Some are molded into large
flattened loaves and later cut into
smaller cookies. Molded cookies can
also be created by using cookie molds,
mold pans, cookie stamps, or a specialty
rolling pin (Springerle rolling pin) – each
created with designs to be pressed into
the dough.

No-Bake Cookies

While technically not a cookie category in their

own right, no-bake cookies are hybrid between a
candy and a cookie. They are made by mixing a
filler (such as cereal or nuts) into a sticky binder.
The cookies are shaped into individual treats or
pressed into a pan and cut as bars, and then
cooled to harden. No-bake cookies are unique
among types of cookies in that they do not
require baking time in an oven.

Pressed Cookies

Pressed cookies are made from soft dough that is

placed in a cookie press (also called a cookie
gun) or pastry bag and pushed through decorative
disks at the tube’s end, forming fancy-shaped
designs.
Refrigerator Cookies

Refrigerator cookies are made from dough shaped

into cylinders, refrigerated to become stiff, and then
sliced and baked. The dough can also be prepared in
layers, as for pinwheel cookies, or rolled out flat,
sprinkled on the surface with fillings, and rolled into a
log before chilling.

Rolled Cookies

Rolled cookies are made from stiff, chilled

cookie dough which is rolled out with
a rolling pin and cut with a knife, pastry
wheel, or cookie cutter. Often cookies are
decorated and then baked – or baked,
cooled, and frosted.

Sandwich Cookies

Just as a regular sandwich is created with

two slices of bread similar in size,
a sandwich cookie is assembled with two
identically-sized cookies joined together
with a sweet filling.