...From the Cookie Jar.

I have recently been the recipient of a variety of homemade treats over the past several weeks.  An addictive cinnamon  swirl bread...great toasted and slathered with butter, a tin of spiced and salted pecans...too delicious to share, and my favorite, a bag of heavenly walnut, chocolate chip cookies baked by one of the women in my church.  I can't describe the absolute joy these little morsels have brought me, and I am sorry to admit, I hid  several away from my granddaughter so I could enjoy them on my own with a good cup of tea.

Black and White cookies

Now you can get some good commercial cookies in this town year round...the Black and White cookies from Leske's in Bay Ridge are legendary, and every fall we in the Northeast  await the both the changing color of the leaves and the arrival of the Mallomars from Canada. 




But the joys of winter include the plethora of homemade cookies from the kitchens and ovens of many folks across this city. In many congregations, schools, offices and social clubs people gather into groups for "Cookie Swaps" during which they trade dozens of their homemade cookies for a variety of others brought to the "Swap" by the other baker-participants thus expanding the scope and taste of ones personal horde of cookies.


The word "cookie" is brought to us in the New World by the Dutch who settled this part of the East Coast. It comes from the word koekie which means little cake. Wikipedia defines "cookie" as a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing flour, eggs and sugar, and either butter or cooking oil, and often including ingredients such as raisins, oats, or chocolate chips. In the British Isles and Ireland, they are called "biscuits"...something very different here in the states.  And in England, as well as here in the States, you can buy commercially made "biscuits" or "cookies" anytime you want.

Snickerdoodles

And there are all sorts of cookies.


There are rolled cookies, made from a stiff dough, rolled flat and cut with special cookie cutters into a variety of shapes.  Some of these can be made into 'sandwich" cookies like Linzer tarts or that commercial favorite the Oreo. Bar cookies are made of a poured or pressed batter that when cooled is cut into geometric shapes.  A good example is the Scottish shortbread...made famous by Robert Burns.  Chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies are what are called "drop cookies" for they are done exactly that way from a spoon onto a cookie sheet.  Snickerdoodles are an example of a "mold cookie", a stiff dough rolled by hand into a ball and placed on the cookie sheet, sometimes they are then pressed down by a fork or by a thumb.  The delicious Swedish butter cookies my Mother-in-law made were a kind of molded cookie...the stiff butter-filled dough was hand pressed into tart molds and after baking and cooling could be eaten plan or filled with jam or whipped cream.  Pressed cookies are made from a soft dough that is extruded from a cookie press into various decorative shapes before baking. Spritz cookies,using a press or pastry bag,are an example of a pressed cookie.  

So, if you have been the recipient of some homemade cookies, or have made some for yourself and your friends, how lucky are you!  You are continuing a wonderful tradition often handed down from generation to generation in your families.  Which cookie is your personal "fav"?