The Bottom Line: Delicious facts about cookies!
The Full Story:
- Early American tinsmiths began making cookie cutters by hand back in the 1700s.
- Christmas cookies date back to Medieval Europe.
- American cookie jars evolved from British biscuit jars and first appeared on the scene during the Depression in the 1930s when housewives began making more cookies at home, rather than buying them at the bakery, and needed containers for them.
- The Oreo, the best-selling cookie of the 20th century, was developed and introduced by the American company Nabisco, in 1912.
- There are a number of cookie holidays: July 9th is National Sugar Cookie Day, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is August 4th, December 4th is National Cookie Day
- The U.S. leads the world as the biggest cookie bakers and eaters, spending more than $550 million annually on Oreos alone.
- The Girl Scouts first began selling cookies In the 1920s.
- In 1989, New Mexico named the ‘bizcochito’ its official state cookie. Bizcochito, derived from the spanish word ‘bizcocho’ which means biscuit, is a delicious shortbread cookie flavored with anise and topped with cinnamon sugar.
- The U.S. has a National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum located within the Joplin Museum Complex in Joplin, Missouri.
- The official state cookie of both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania is the chocolate chip cookie.