Every great speech starts with a "hook". This was mine.
I gave a speech this week on the origin of cookies, how cookies arrived in the United States, and some history about American-made cookies. I thought I'd share some of my research with you.
- Cookies are thought to have originated in Persia, in present-day Iran, during the 7th century A.D. The Persians were one of the first to cultivate sugar.
- Early bakers would test their ovens by putting a dollop of cake batter on a pan and putting it in the oven. When the little cakes were done, the oven was hot enough to bake the full-sized cakes.
- By the 14th century, cookies were commonplace throughout most of Europe.
- Cookie recipes were first brought to America in the 1600's by Dutch immigrants.
- The word "cookie" is derived from the Dutch word koekje, which means "little cake." Apparently, the little cakes were popular enough that bakers started making a whole panful of them.
- Although cookies remained popular with home bakers through the 1800's, due to the high cost of sugar they were typically reserved only for special occasions.
- In the late 1800's, commerically manufactured cookies became quite popular. Below are a few that you might recognize from grocery shelves today:
Graham crackers were introduced in 1898. They are named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham who advocated a diet that included vegitarianism and eating only whole wheat flour. Apparently, he felt the white processed flour wasn't healthy. Many followed his health plan so Nabisco marketed these crackers following his guidelines.
Barnum's Animal Crackers were first manufactured in 1902. They were named after circus showman P.T. Barnum. He and his circus made a tour of England, where people were enthralled by his animal show. English home bakers began to make animal-shaped "biscuits" to go with their tea. Nabisco decided to follow suit. The crackers were first sold in little boxes with strings so they could be hung on Christmas trees. The boxes still have strings on them today. There are currently 17 different animal shapes available. Can you name them all?
Hydrox chocolate sandwich cookies were manufactured in 1910 by Sunshine Biscuit Company. They were so popular that Nabisco created a similar cookie two years later.
Oreo cookies were an instant hit. They have been the best-selling cookie on the market ever since they were introduced in 1912. Ironically, Hydrox was always considered an Oreo knock-off, when really it was the other way around.
Girl Scout cookies were originally homebaked cookies sold by local troops to earn money. The national organization decided that it was a great idea and commerically manufactured cookies were first sold in 1934. In the following year, they introduced the boxes with the Girl Scout logo with which we are all familiar.
Despite all these yummy cookies on store shelves, most people still agree that homebaked cookies are the best. Of homes where people bake, 90% report baking cookies....and more than half of the cookies baked in American homes are chocolate chip cookies. These popular cookies were created quite by accident in the 1930's by Ruth Graves Wakefield at the Toll House Inn Restaurant in Whitman, MA, while making a batch of cookies that called for baking chocolate. Legend has it that partway through mixing up the dough she realized she was out of baking chocolate so she chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar. She thought the chocolate would melt and spread throughout the cookie dough. Instead, the chocolate retained its shape so chocolate chunks were in every bite.
Her customers loved the new cookies and their fame spread. Before long, her recipe was published in a New York newspaper. Several years later Nestle began marketing chocolate chips. Ruth sold Nestle her recipe in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Her recipe has always been printed on the Nestle chocolate chip packaging. Because of the name of her restaurant, the recipe is called Toll House Cookies.
I actually just set out to find a quote or two about cookies to include in my speech, but I ended up speaking only about the history of cookies. While I typed my speech, my niece baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which I handed out after my speech. After all, “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
Despite all these yummy cookies on store shelves, most people still agree that homebaked cookies are the best. Of homes where people bake, 90% report baking cookies....and more than half of the cookies baked in American homes are chocolate chip cookies. These popular cookies were created quite by accident in the 1930's by Ruth Graves Wakefield at the Toll House Inn Restaurant in Whitman, MA, while making a batch of cookies that called for baking chocolate. Legend has it that partway through mixing up the dough she realized she was out of baking chocolate so she chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar. She thought the chocolate would melt and spread throughout the cookie dough. Instead, the chocolate retained its shape so chocolate chunks were in every bite.
Her customers loved the new cookies and their fame spread. Before long, her recipe was published in a New York newspaper. Several years later Nestle began marketing chocolate chips. Ruth sold Nestle her recipe in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Her recipe has always been printed on the Nestle chocolate chip packaging. Because of the name of her restaurant, the recipe is called Toll House Cookies.
I actually just set out to find a quote or two about cookies to include in my speech, but I ended up speaking only about the history of cookies. While I typed my speech, my niece baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which I handed out after my speech. After all, “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
No comments:
Post a Comment