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Chocolate Chip Cookies :
The chocolate chip cookie is also known as the Toll House Cookie. It was developed by Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn near Whitman, Massachusetts, in 1930.
Wakefield was making chocolate cookies but ran out of regular baker's chocolate and substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate, assuming it would melt and mix into the batter. It did not, and the cookie with chips of chocolate was born.
Ginger Snap Cookies :
Ginger Snap biscuits are a type of cookie made with dried powdered ginger root, anise and other spices. The biscuits are very hard. They are sold worldwide.
Oreo:
An Oreo is a type of cookie manufactured by Nabisco Corporation, introduced in 1912. It consists of two circular chocolate wafers with a sugary white filling (commonly referred to as "cream," although it is technically not) sandwiched between them. The design of the Oreo allows it to be eaten in several ways. Many people twist apart the wafers and eat the filling first; others eat the cookie without taking it apart.
The Oreo is commonly used as an ingredient or adornment for other foods. Milkshakes containing Oreos are popular. Deep-fried Oreos, which are batter-dipped, Oreos fried like funnel cakes, are sometimes sold at carnivals and fairs.
Shortbread:
Though it's a year-round favorite, this tender crisp, butter-rich cookie is mainly associated with Christmas. The traditional round shape comes from the ancient Yule Bannock, which was notched around the edges to signify the sun's rays. The classic way of making shortbread is to press the dough into a shallow earthenware mold that is decoratively carved. After baking, the large round cookie is turned out of the mold and cut into wedges. Today, more often than not, shortbread cookies are formed into simple squares or rounds.
Wafer:
A wafer can be referred as a crisp, sweet, very thin flat dry cake which is often used to decorate ice creams. Wafers can also be made into biscuits with cream flavoring sandwiched between them.
The word also refers to the special wafers made for Catholic or Anglican Holy Communion services. These holy wafers often have an image of the crucified Christ imprinted on them.
Fortune cookie :
The fortune cookie is a cookie with a piece of paper inside with words of supposed wisdom and/or prophecy, commonly found at Chinese restaurants. The idea of fortune cookies was introduced by Makoto Hagiwara at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, as a refreshment to be taken while strolling the tea garden.
The novel idea of receiving a fortune in a light senbei cookie is not widely known in Japan. The tsujiura senbei contains a tsujiura (a writing that tells one's fortunes) inside a senbei (Japanese crackers). This senbei is traditionally found in Kyoto. While the fortunes used to be poetry about business, fortunes these days commonly are love fortunes written in modern Japanese to attract young tourist couples.
Fortune cookies nowadays are very popular, served as a dessert after every meal at many restaurants. In addition to a fortune, fortune cookies may also contain lucky numbers (used by some as lottery numbers) and a Chinese phrase with translation.
Gingerbread:
This cookie dates back to the Middle Ages, when fair ladies presented the rather hard, honey-spice bread as a favor to dashing knights going into tournament battle. In those days, gingerbread was intricately shaped and decorated, sometimes with gold leaf. Today, gingerbread generally refers to one of two desserts. It can be a dense, ginger-spiced cookie flavored with molasses or honey and cut into fanciful shapes (such as the popular gingerbread man). Or, particularly in the United States, it can describe a dark, moist cake flavored with molasses, ginger and other spices. This gingerbread cake is usually baked in a square pan and often topped with lemon sauce or whipped cream.
Biscotti:
Biscotti are crisp Italian cookies traditionally flavored with anise. Traditionally, biscotti are made by baking cookie dough in two long slabs, cutting them into half inch thick pieces, and reheating them to dry them out. A basic recipe is a mix two parts flour for one part sugar with enough eggs to create a batter. To the mixture baking powder and flavorings such as anise, chocolate, or nuts, are added. The slabs are baked once for some twenty-five minutes. They are then cut up into individual cookies and cooked a second time for a shorter period of time. Longer the second period, harder are the cookies. Originally the cookies were twice baked so they could be stored for long periods of time.
Biscotti come in many variants; in different regions of Italy, biscotti are prepared or flavored differently. In Italy they are often eaten with vin santo, though in other parts of the world (particularly the United States) biscotti are considered a canonical part of the espresso bar experience. The generally hard texture of biscotti makes the cookie ideal for dipping in coffee or wine.
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