Origin of a cookie.

After I made cookies last night I was curious about why cookies are named cookies and where they originated from. I have been out of school for 5 months now and I decided to stimulate my brain and share it with you.  I love learning random facts and being able to share the few bits of knowledge that is stored in my brain.  This information comes from http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CookieHistory.htm.

In America, a cookie is described as a thin, sweet, usually small cake. By definition, a cookie can be any of a variety of hand-held, flour-based sweet cakes, either crisp or soft. Each country has its own word for "cookie." What we know as cookies are called biscuits in England and Australia, in Spain they're galletas, Germans call themkeks or Plätzchen for Christmas cookies, and in Italy there are several names to identify various forms of cookies including amaretti andbiscotti, and so on. The name cookie is derived from the Dutch wordkoekje, 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. 

Chocolate Crinkle cookies

I work with a girl who first told me about these chocolate crinkle cookies. I am so glad I was able to finally make them.

 This year was a little hard for me because Dennis and I had our first Christmas away from home. It was nice to start our life together with our own Christmas, but at the same time it was a little bit lonely.  I don't know if you have ever been to a college town during a holiday, but there is almost no one here to the point there were only 12 couples in our ward yesterday.  I did not feel the desire to make Christmas goodies when there was not any one here to give them to. Thank goodness for the LDS Church because it was there that Dennis and I found there were actually several couples in town who felt the same way we did, so with my nature to throw parties we had two couples over for games last night. It was a blast and I was able to have an excuse to make these yummy cookies! I am so glad this Christmas turned out so great and we were able to make some new friends.

Unsalted butter, melted & cooled	4 Tbsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder	½ cup
Sugar	1 cup
Eggs	2 large
Vanilla extract	1 Tbsp
All purpose flour	2 cups
Baking powder	1 tsp
Baking Soda	1 tsp
Salt	½ tsp
Confectioners’ sugar for rolling Mix melted and cooled butter with cocoa powder using an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and mix until it’s mostly dissolved. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and finally vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a spatula, mix until just combined. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Roll dough into 1½-inch balls and generously dust them with confectioners’ sugar before placing them on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes until your chocolate crinkle cookies are buffed and cracked on top.  Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.