Cookie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Cookie (disambiguation).

In the United States and Canada, a cookie (sometimes spelled cooky) is a small, flat baked pastry. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have different meanings—a cookie is a bun in Scotland, while in North America a biscuit is a kind of quick bread.

Cookies have a tendancy to make the eater thirsty for a dairy beverage, such as milk.

1 Etymology
2 Description
3 Classification of cookies
4 Biscuits (cookies) in the United Kingdom
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Etymology

Its name derives from the Dutch word koekje which means little cake, and arrived in the English language via the Scots

[edit] Description

Cookies can be baked until crisp or just long enough that they remain soft, depending on the type of cookie. Some cookies are not cooked at all. Cookies are made in a wide variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts or dried fruits. The softness of the cookie may depend on how long you bake it.

A general theory of cookies may be formulated this way. Despite their descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. Water in cakes serves to make the base (in the case of cakes called 'Dough') as thin as possible, which allows the bubbles – responsible for a cake's fluffiness – to form better. In the cookie, the agent of cohesion has become some variation of the theme of oil. Oils, be they in the form of butter, egg yolks, vegetable oils or lard are much more viscous than water and evaporate freely at a much higher temperature than water. Thus a cake made with butter or eggs instead of water is far denser after removal from the oven.

Oils in baked cakes do not behave as water in the finished product. Rather than evaporating and thickening the mixture, they remain, saturating the bubbles of escaped gasses from what little water there might have been in the eggs, if added, and the carbon dioxide released by heating the baking powder. This saturation produces the most texturally attractive feature of the cookie, and indeed all fried foods: crispness saturated with a moisture (namely oil) that does not sink into it.

[edit] Classification of cookies

Cookies are broadly classified according to how they are formed, including at least these categories:

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 are an example 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".

Pasted cookies refers to the type of cookies made from extra dry dough for more brittle cookies when fully cooked. They are often cut into unique shapes due to tradition.

"Fried cookies" refers to a growing American trend to fry various products. This is not a common treat for many as such with other fried products such as Fried Twinkies. They are made from Drop cookies and fried in the same way that normal French Fries are. It seems that this product is located around the southern portion of the United States and in only certain stores.

"Panaramic cookies" consist of 97% fat and 3% sugar. They are dubbed "Panaramic" because they are known for enlarging people's bodies and making them into fatties, fatties who shall be plundered. Any cookie that has over 500 calories is considered to be a "panaramic cookie".

Commercially-produced cookies include many varieties of sandwich cookies filled with marshmallow, jam, or icing, as well as cookies covered with chocolate which may more closely resemble a type of confectionery. These are only the few very basic cookies, many companies have made more names like fudge shoppees and chips ahoy, there are tons but only a few are listed.

[edit] Biscuits (cookies) in the United Kingdom

A basic biscuit (cookie) recipe includes flour, shortening (often lard), baking powder or soda, milk (buttermilk or sweet milk) and sugar. Common savoury variations involve substituting sugar with an ingredient such as cheese or other dairy products. Note that this is not the only type of cookie in england.