A cookie is a sweet

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

with high sugar and fat content.

Cookie dough Cookie dough is an uncooked blend of cookie ingredients. While cookie dough is normally intended to be baked into individual cookies before eating, edible cookie dough is made to be eaten as is, and usually is made without eggs to make it safer f ...

is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

, and some type of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

. It may include other ingredients such as

raisin A raisin is a Dried fruit, dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Afri ...

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds ...

s, chocolate chips, or nuts. Cookie texture varies from crisp and crunchy to soft and chewy, depending on the exact combination of ingredients and methods used to create them. People in the United States and Canada typically refer to all sweet biscuits as "cookies". People in most other

English-speaking countries The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

call crunchy cookies "biscuits" but may use the term "cookies" for chewier biscuits and for certain types, such as

chocolate-chip cookie A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient. Chocolate chip cookies are claimed to have originated in the United States in 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield chop ...

s. Cookies are often served with

beverages A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

such as

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, or

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

and sometimes dunked, which releases more flavour by dissolving the sugars, while also softening their texture. Factory-made cookies are sold in

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s, and

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

s. Fresh-baked cookies are sold at

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

and

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

Terminology

In many English-speaking countries outside

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, including the United Kingdom, the most common word for a crisp cookie is "

". Where biscuit is the most common term, "cookie" often only refers to one type of biscuit, a chocolate chip cookie. However, in some regions both terms are used. The container used to store cookies may be called a

cookie jar Cookie jars are utilitarian or decorative ceramic or glass jars often found in American and Canadian kitchens. In the United Kingdom, they are known as biscuit barrels or biscuit jars. If they are cans made out of tinplate, they are called bis ...

. In Scotland, the term "cookie" is sometimes used to describe a plain

bun A bun is a type of bread that is round and small enough that it can generally be eaten hand-held. Whether a bun is considered sweetened or unsweetened differs between countries: it is considered sweetened in the United Kingdom, a savory bread in ...

. Cookies that are baked as a solid layer on a

sheet pan A sheet pan, also referred to as baking tray, baking sheet, or baking pan, is a flat, rectangular metal pan placed in an oven and used for baking pastry, pastries such as bread rolls, cookies, sheet cakes, Swiss rolls, and pizzas. These pans, li ...

and then cut, rather than being baked as individual pieces, are called bar cookies in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

or traybakes in

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

Etymology

The word ''cookie'' dates from at least 1701 in Scottish usage where the word meant "plain bun", rather than thin baked good, and so it is not certain whether it is the same word. From 1808, the word "cookie" is attested "...in the sense of "small, flat, sweet cake" in

. The American use is derived from Dutch "little cake", which is a diminutive of "" ("cake"), which came from the

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

word "" with an informal, dialect variant . According to the Scottish National Dictionary, its Scottish name may derive from the diminutive form (+ suffix ''-ie'') of the word ''cook'', giving the

Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtual ...

''cookie'', ''cooky'' or ''cu(c)kie''. There was much trade and cultural contact across the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

between the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

and Scotland during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, which can also be seen in the history of curling and, perhaps,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Description

Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or else for just long enough to ensure a soft interior. Other types of cookies are not baked at all, such as varieties of

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

cookies that use solidified

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

rather than set eggs and wheat gluten as a binder. Cookies are produced in a wide variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars,

spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

s, chocolate,

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, peanut butter, nuts, or dried

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s. A general theory of cookies may be formulated in the following way. Despite its 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 batter as thin as possible, the better to allow bubbles—responsible for a cake's fluffiness—to form. In the cookie the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. Oils, whether in the form of butter, vegetable oils, or lard, are much more

viscous Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for example, syrup h ...

than water and evaporate freely at a far higher temperature. Thus a cake made with butter or eggs in place of water is much denser after removal from the oven. Rather than evaporating as water does in a baking cake, oils in cookies remain. These oils saturate the cavities created during baking by bubbles of escaping gases. These gases are primarily composed of steam vaporized from the egg whites and the

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

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 render soggy the food it has soaked into.

History

Cookie-like hard wafers have existed for as long as baking has been documented, in part because they survive travel very well, but they were usually not sweet enough to be considered cookies by modern standards. Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread to Europe through the

Muslim conquest of Spain The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (; 711–720s), also known as the Arab conquest of Spain, was the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the early 8th century. The conquest resulted in the end of Christian rule in ...

. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors. The first documented instance of the figure-shaped

gingerbread man A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made from gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human being. However, other shapes, especially seasonal themes (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc.), and characters are also common. History Gin ...

was at the court of

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

in the 16th century. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests. With global travel becoming widespread at that time, cookies made a natural travel companion, a modernized equivalent of the travel cakes used throughout history. One of the most popular early cookies, which traveled especially well and became known on every continent by similar names, was the jumble, a relatively hard cookie made largely from nuts, sweetener, and water. Cookies came to America through the Dutch in New Amsterdam in the late 1620s. The Dutch word "" was Anglicized to "cookie" or cooky. The earliest reference to cookies in America is in 1703, when "The Dutch in New York provided...'in 1703...at a funeral 800 cookies... The modern form of cookies, which is based on creaming butter and sugar together, did not appear commonly until the 18th century. The

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

in Britain and the consumers it created saw cookies (biscuits) become products for the masses, and firms such as

Huntley & Palmers Huntley & Palmers is a British company of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. Formed by Joseph Huntley in 1822, the company became one of the world's first global brands (chiefly led by George Palmer (businessman), George Palme ...

(formed in 1822),

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name is derived from the original Economy of Scotland, Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Private company limited by shares, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street ...

(formed in 1830) and Carr's (formed in 1831) were all established. The decorative biscuit tin, invented by Huntley & Palmers in 1831, saw British cookies exported around the world. In 1891,

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

filed a patent for a chocolate-coated cookie. Bakarkhani cookies

Classification

Cookies are broadly classified according to how they are formed or made, including at least these categories: * ''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. In

, bar cookies are known as "tray bakes". Examples include brownies, fruit squares, and bars such as date squares. * ''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 cookie A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient. Chocolate chip cookies are claimed to have originated in the United States in 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield chop ...

s (Toll House cookies), oatmeal raisin (or other

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains ( groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel- ...

-based) cookies, and rock cakes are popular examples of drop cookies. This may also include ''thumbprint cookies'', for which a small central depression is created with a thumb or small spoon before baking to contain a filling, such as jam or a chocolate chip. In the UK, the term "cookie" often refers only to this particular type of product. * ''Filled cookies'' are made from a rolled cookie dough filled with a fruit, jam or confectionery filling before baking.

Hamantash A hamantash (: ''hamantashen''; also spelled ''hamantasch'', ''hamantaschen''; ''homentash'', : ''homentashn'', 'Haman pockets') is an Ashkenazi Jewish triangular filled-pocket pastry associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The name refer ...

en are a filled cookie. * ''Molded cookies'' are also made from a stiffer dough that is molded into balls or cookie shapes by hand before baking. Snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies are examples of molded cookies. Some cookies, such as hermits or

biscotti Biscotti are Italian almond biscuits originating in the city of Prato, Tuscany. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, and crunchy. In Italy, they are known as , or and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo. Smaller biscotti ...

, are molded into large flattened loaves that are later cut into smaller cookies. * ''No-bake cookies'' are made by mixing a filler, such as cereal or nuts, into a melted confectionery binder, shaping into cookies or bars, and allowing to cool or harden. Oatmeal clusters and rum balls are no-bake cookies. * ''Pressed cookies'' are made from a soft dough that is extruded from a cookie press into various decorative shapes before baking. Spritzgebäck is an example of a pressed cookie. * ''Refrigerator cookies'' (also known as ''icebox cookies'') are made from a stiff dough that is refrigerated to make the raw dough even stiffer before cutting and baking. The dough is typically shaped into cylinders which are sliced into round cookies before baking. Pinwheel cookies and those made by Pillsbury are representative. * ''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. * ''

Sandwich cookies A sandwich cookie (American English, US and Canadian English, Canada), also known as a sandwich biscuit (British English, UK, Irish English, Ireland, Australian English, Australia, New Zealand English, New Zealand, and South African English, Sou ...

'' are rolled or pressed cookies that are assembled as a

sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

with a sweet filling. Fillings include

marshmallow Marshmallow (, ) is a confectionery made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. This sugar confection is inspired by a medicina ...

, jam, and icing. The

Oreo Oreo (; stylized in all caps) is an American brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits with a sweet fondant filling. Oreos were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco, and the brand has been owned by Mondelez International since its me ...

cookie, made of two chocolate cookies with a

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

icing filling, is an example. Other types of cookies are classified for other reasons, such as their ingredients, size, or intended time of serving: * ''Breakfast cookies'' are typically larger, lower-sugar cookies filled with "heart-healthy nuts and fiber-rich oats" that are eaten as a quick breakfast snack. * ''Low-fat cookies'' or ''diet cookies'' typically have lower fat than regular cookies.Insel, Paul; Ross, Don; McMahon, Kimberley; Bernstein, Melissa. ''Nutrition''. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2016 p. 335 * ''Raw cookie dough'' is served in some restaurants, though the eggs may be omitted since the dough is eaten raw, which could pose a

salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...

risk if eggs were used. Cookie Dough Confections in New York City is a restaurant that has a range of raw cookie dough flavors, which are scooped into cups for customers like ice cream. * ''Skillet cookies'' are big cookies that are cooked in a cast-iron skillet and served warm, while they are still soft and chewy. They are either eaten straight from the pan or cut into wedges, often with vanilla ice cream on top. * ''Supersized cookies'' are large cookies such as the Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie. These very large cookies are sold at grocery stores, restaurants and coffeeshops. * ''Vegan cookies'' can be made with flour, sugar, nondairy milk, and nondairy

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a Spread (food), spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The ...

. Aquafaba icing can be used to decorate the cookies. *''Cookie cakes'' are made in a larger circular shape usually with writing made of frosting.

Reception

Leah Ettman from Nutrition Action has criticized the high-calorie count and fat content of supersized cookies, which are extra large cookies; she cites the Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie, a supersized chocolate chip cookie, which measures inches in diameter and has 800 calories. For busy people who eat breakfast cookies in the morning, Kate Bratskeir from the ''Huffington Post'' recommends lower-sugar cookies filled with "heart-healthy nuts and fiber-rich oats". A book on nutrition by Paul Insel et al. notes that "low-fat" or "diet cookies" may have the same number of calories as regular cookies, due to

added sugar Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates (caloric sweeteners) added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates ( monosaccharides and disaccharides), and more broadly, sugars nat ...

In popular culture

There are a number of slang usages of the term "cookie". The slang use of "cookie" to mean a person, "especially an attractive woman" is attested to in print since 1920. The catchphrase "that's the way the cookie crumbles", which means "that's just the way things happen" is attested to in print in 1955. Other slang terms include "smart cookie" and "tough cookie." According to ''The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms'', a smart cookie is "someone who is clever and good at dealing with difficult situations." The word "cookie" has been vulgar slang for "vagina" in the US since 1970.Partridge, Eric. ''The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English''. Taylor & Francis, 2009. p. 229. The word "cookies" is used to refer to the contents of the stomach, often in reference to vomiting (e.g., "pop your cookies", a 1960s expression, or "toss your cookies", a 1970s expression). The expression "cookie cutter", in addition to referring literally to a culinary device used to cut rolled cookie dough into shapes, is also used metaphorically to refer to items or things "having the same configuration or look as many others" (e.g., a "cookie cutter tract house") or to label something as "stereotyped or formulaic" (e.g., an action movie filled with "generic cookie cutter characters"). "Cookie duster" is a whimsical expression for a

mustache A moustache (; mustache, ) is a growth of facial hair grown above the upper lip and under the nose. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Itali ...

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As ...

is a Muppet on the children's television show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

.'' He is best known for his voracious appetite for cookies and his famous eating phrases, such as "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!" (or simply "COOKIE!"), and "Om nom nom nom" (said through a mouth full of food). Cookie Clicker is a game where players click a cookie to buy upgrades to make more cookies.

Notable varieties

Alfajor An ''alfajor'' or ''alajú'' (, plural ''alfajores'') is a traditional confection typically made of flour, honey, and nuts. It is found in Argentina, Chile., Paraguay, Bolivia, the Philippines, Southern Brazil, Southern France, Spain, Uruguay, ...

Angel Wings Angel wings are a traditional sweet crisp pastry made out of dough that has been shaped into thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Common to many European cuisines, angel wings have been incorporated into othe ...

(Chruściki) * Animal cracker *

Anzac biscuit The Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter (or margarine), golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water and optionally desiccated coconut. Anzac biscuits have long bee ...

* Berger cookie * Berner Haselnusslebkuchen *

Biscotti Biscotti are Italian almond biscuits originating in the city of Prato, Tuscany. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, and crunchy. In Italy, they are known as , or and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo. Smaller biscotti ...

* Biscuit rose de Reims *

Black and white cookie Black-and-white cookies, half-and-half cookies, and half-moon cookies are round cookies iced or frosted in two colors, with one half vanilla and the other chocolate. They are found in the Northeastern United States and Florida. Black-and-white ...

* Blondie * Bourbon biscuit * Brownie * Butter cookie *

* Chocolate-coated marshmallow treat * Congo bar *

Digestive biscuit A digestive biscuit, sometimes described as a sweet-meal biscuit, is a semi- sweet biscuit that originated in Scotland. The digestive was first developed in 1839 by two doctors to aid digestion. The term ''digestive'' is derived from the belief ...

* Fat rascal * Fattigmann * Flies graveyard * Florentine biscuit *

Fortune cookie A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese language, Chines ...

* Fruit squares and bars ( date, fig, lemon, raspberry, etc.) *

Ginger snap A gingersnap, ginger snap, ginger nut, or ginger biscuit is a biscuit flavoured with ginger. Ginger snaps are flavoured with powdered ginger and a variety of other spices, most commonly cinnamon, molasses and clove. There are many recipes. The b ...

* Gingerbread house *

Gingerbread man A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made from gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human being. However, other shapes, especially seasonal themes (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc.), and characters are also common. History Gin ...

Graham cracker A graham cracker (pronounced or in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the mid-19th century, with commercial development from about 1880. It is eaten as a snack food, usually h ...

* Hamentashen *

Hobnob biscuit Hobnobs (sometimes stylized as HobNobs) is a biscuit brand owned by British company McVitie's. They are made from rolled oats and are similar to a flapjack-digestive biscuit hybrid. McVitie's launched Hobnobs in 1985 and a milk chocolate var ...

* Joe Frogger * Jumble * Kifli * Koulourakia * Krumkake * Linzer cookie *

Macaroon A macaroon ( ) is a small cake or cookie, originally made from ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar, but now often with coconut or other nuts. They may also include jam, chocolate, or other flavorings. Etymology The name ''macaroon'' is ...

Meringue Meringue ( , ) is a type of dessert or candy, of French cuisine, French origin, traditionally made from Whisk, whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acid, acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or potassium bitartrate, cream of t ...

* Nice biscuit * Oatmeal raisin cookie *

Pastelito Cuban pastries (known in Spanish language, Spanish as ''pasteles'' or ''pastelitos'') are Baking, baked puff pastry–type Pastry, pastries filled with sweet or savory fillings. Traditional fillings include cream cheese ''quesitos'', guava (''p ...

* Peanut butter blossom cookie * Peanut butter cookie * Pepparkakor * Pfeffernüsse * Pizzelle * Polvorón * Qurabiya * Rainbow cookie * Ranger Cookie *

Rich tea Rich tea is a type of sweet biscuit; the ingredients generally include wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil and malt extract. Originally called Tea Biscuits, they were developed in the 19th century in Yorkshire, England for the upper classes as a ...

* Riposteria * Rosette * Rum ball *

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...

* Russian tea cake * Rock cake * Sablé * Sandbakelse * Şekerpare *

Shortbread Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part sugar, white sugar, two parts butter and three to four parts plain flour, plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain leavening, such as baking powder or bakin ...

* Snickerdoodle * Speculoos *

Springerle Springerle () is a type of South German biscuit or cookie with an embossed design made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough and allowing the impression to dry before baking. This preserves the detail of the surface pattern. While historical molds ...

* Spritzgebäck (Spritz) *

Stroopwafel A ''stroopwafel'' (; ) is a thin, round cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling.

* Sugar cookie * Tea biscuit * Toruń gingerbread *

Tuile A tuile () is a baked wafer, French in origin, generally arced in shape, that is made most often from dough (but also possibly from cheese), often served as an accompaniment of other dishes. ''Tuile'' is the French word for tile, after the shape ...

* Wafer * Windmill cookie

Gallery

File:Maple spice cookies and thumbprint cookies.jpg, A variety of Maple spice cookies and thumbprint cookies File:Cookie Cake.JPG, A cookie cake is a large cookie that can be decorated with icing or fondant like a

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

. This is made by Mrs. Fields. File:Heart shaped cookies.jpg, Hearts shaped

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

cookies adorned with icing File:McVitie's chocolate digestive biscuit.jpg, A

chocolate digestive, a popular biscuit to dunk in

in the UK File:Fortune cookie.png, A fortune cookie File:Meringue cookies.jpg, Meringue cookies File:Oreo-Two-Cookies.jpg, Commercially sold

cookies File:Cookie stack.jpg, Choc-chip cookies File:Cookies being sold.jpg, A cookie shop, filled with a wide range of cookies File:CookieCuttersAl.jpg, Cookie cutters File:Chef's Cookie Deep Dish - 27682832174.jpg, A cookie dessert, topped with

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

File:Chocolate chip cookies.jpg, A plate of chocolate chip cookies File:Algerian_cookies.jpg, Algerian cookies File:Little heart-shaped cookies in West Bengal, India.jpg, Little heart-shaped cookies from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Related pastries and confections

Acıbadem kurabiyesi Acıbadem kurabiyesi () is a traditional Turkish biscuit made of almonds, sugar and egg whites. The traditional recipes include a small amount of bitter almonds, which gives this cookie its name. However, because bitter almonds are not readily ...

* Animal crackers *

Berliner (pastry) A Berliner or Krapfen is a German jam doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in lard or cooking oil, with a jam filling, and usually covered in powdered sugar. History Sugar was very costly until the 16th century, ...

Bun A bun is a type of bread that is round and small enough that it can generally be eaten hand-held. Whether a bun is considered sweetened or unsweetened differs between countries: it is considered sweetened in the United Kingdom, a savory bread in ...

Candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

Cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

* Churro *

Cracker (food) A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before or after baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritio ...

Cupcake A cupcake ( AmE, CanE), fairy cake ( BrE), or bun ( IrE) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting, icing and various other cake decorations such as ...

Danish pastry A Danish pastry (sometimes shortened to danish; , ) is a multilayered, laminated sweet pastry in the '' viennoiserie'' tradition. Like other ''viennoiserie'' pastries, such as croissants, it is a variant of puff pastry made of laminated yeast- ...

Doughnut A doughnut or donut () is a type of pastry made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fran ...

* Funnel cake *

Galette Galette (from the Norman language, Norman word ''gale'', meaning 'flat cake') is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or freeform crusty cakes, or, in the case of a Breton galette ( ; ), a pancake made with buck ...

* Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme *

Kit Kat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar Confectionery, confection created by Rowntree's of York, England. It is produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United S ...

* Halvah *

Ladyfinger (biscuit) Ladyfingers or Naples biscuits, in British English sponge fingers, also known by the Italian name () or by the French name (), are low-density, dry, egg-based, sweet sponge cake biscuits roughly shaped like large fingers. They are a principal ...

Lebkuchen (), or () are honey-sweetened German cuisine, German cakes, moulded cookies or bar cookies that have become part of Germany's Christmas traditions. They are similar to gingerbread. Etymology The etymology of ''Leb-'' in the term is unc ...

Mille-feuille A (; ),The name is also written as and . also known by the names Napoleon in North America, vanilla slice in the United Kingdom, and custard slice, is a French dessert made of puff pastry layered with pastry cream. Its modern form was influ ...

Marzipan Marzipan is a confectionery, confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into Confectionery, sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and ...

(Napoleon) * Moon pie *

Pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

Palmier A palmier (, from French, short for ''feuille de palmier'' 'palm tree leaf'), pig's ear, palm heart, or elephant ear is a French pastry in a palm leaf shape or a butterfly shape, sometimes called ''palm leaves'', ''cœur de France'', ''French ...

* Petit four * Rum ball *

S'more A s'more (alternatively spelled smore, pronounced , or ) is a confectionary, confection consisting of toasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker, graham crackers. S'mores are popular in the United States an ...

Snack cake Snack cakes are a type of baked dessert confectionery made with cake, sugar, and icing (food), icing. Markets Canada The main manufacturer in Canada is Vachon Inc. which makes and distributes such products as May West, Jos. Louis, Passion Flakie ...

Tartlet A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with ...

Teacake A teacake in the UK is generally a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered. In the U.S. teacakes can be cookies or small cakes. In Sweden, they are soft, round, flat wheat breads made with milk ...

* Teething biscuit *

Whoopie pie Whoopee or whoopie may refer to: * Whoopee , an exclamation used as a form of cheering or to express jubilation * Whoopee or whoopie, a euphemism for sexual intercourse * ''Whoopee!'', a 1928 musical comedy ** Whoopee! (film), ''Whoopee!'' (film), ...

Manufacturers

* Arnott's Biscuits *

Bahlsen Bahlsen GmbH & Co. KG is a German food company based in Hanover. It was founded in July 1889 by Hermann Bahlsen (1859–1919) as the "Hannoversche Cakesfabrik H. Bahlsen". Bahlsen makes products such as chocolate-dipped Pick Up! snack bars. B ...

* Burton's Foods * D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Company * DeBeukelaer * Famous Amos (division of Ferrero) *

Fazer Fazer (, ) is one of the largest corporations in the Finland, Finnish food industry. The company was founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian café" in central Helsinki. Today, it employs over 6,000 people across Finland, Sweden, Lat ...

* Fox's Biscuits * Interbake Foods * Jules Destrooper * Keebler *

Lance The English term lance is derived, via Middle English '' launce'' and Old French '' lance'', from the Latin '' lancea'', a generic term meaning a wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generic term meaning a spear">wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generi ...

Lotte Confectionery Lotte Wellfood Co., Ltd. (), formerly Lotte Confectionery, is a South Korean international confectionery company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was established in 1967. Currently, it is the third-largest chewing gum manufacturer ...

(division of Lotte) * Lotus Bakeries * McKee Foods * Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd. * Mrs. Fields *

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco' ...

(division of

Mondelēz International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...

) *

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Northern Foods Northern Foods is a British food manufacturer headquartered in Wakefield, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the original FTSE 100 Index. The company is credited, together with Marks & Spencer, ...

* Otis Spunkmeyer (division of Aryzta) * Pillsbury (division of

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

) *

Pinnacle Foods Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018. History The company was foun ...

Pepperidge Farm Pepperidge Farm Incorporated is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's 123-acre farm property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which had been named for the Black Tupelo, pepperidge tree. ...

(division of

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

) * Royal Dansk (division of Kelsen Group) * Sunshine Biscuits (historical) *

United Biscuits United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In ...

* Walkers Shortbread *

Utz Brands Utz Brands, Inc. (), more commonly known as Utz, is an American snack food company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The company produces a variety of potato chips, pretzels, and other snacks, with most products sold under their family of brands ...

Product lines and brands

* Animal Crackers (Nabisco, Keebler, Cadbury, Bahlsen, others) * Anna's (Lotus) * Archway Cookies (Lance) * Barnum's Animals (Nabisco) *

Betty Crocker Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, Gener ...

(General Mills, cookie mixes) * Biscoff (Lotus) *

Chips Ahoy! Chips Ahoy! is an American chocolate chip cookie brand, baked and marketed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, that debuted in 1963. Chips Ahoy! cookies are available in different variations such as, original, reduced-fat, chunk ...

(Nabisco) * Chips Deluxe (Keebler) * Danish Butter Cookies (Royal Dansk) *

Duncan Hines Duncan Hines (March 26, 1880 – March 15, 1959) was an American author and food critic known for his restaurant ratings for travelers. He is best known today for the brand of food products that bears his name. Early life, family and education ...

(Pinnacle, cookie mixes) * Famous Amos (Kellogg) * Fig Newton (Nabisco) * Fox's Biscuits (Northern) * Fudge Shoppe (Keebler) * Girl Scout cookie (Keebler, Interbake) * Hello Panda (Meiji) * Hit (

) *

Hydrox Hydrox is a creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie currently owned and manufactured by Leaf Brands. It debuted in the United States in 1908, and was manufactured by Sunshine Biscuits for over 90 years. Hydrox was largely discontinued in 1999, th ...

(Sunshine, discontinued by Keebler) * Jaffa Cakes (McVitie) * Jammie Dodgers (United) * Koala's March (Lotte) * Leibniz-Keks (Bahlsen) * Little Debbie (McKee) *

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

(Nabisco) * Maryland Cookies (Burton's) *

(United) *

Milano Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

(Pepperidge Farm) * Nilla Wafers (Nabisco) * Nutter Butter (Nabisco) *

(Nabisco) * Pillsbury (General Mills, cookie mixes) * Pecan Sandies (Keebler) * Peek Freans (United) *

Pirouline Pirouline is a brand of creme-filled rolled wafer (cooking), wafer cookie sold in the United States by the DeBeukelaer Corporation. Piroulines were developed in 1984 by Peter DeBeukelaer, and are very similar to the Caprice Papadopoulou Wafers ...

(DeBeukelaer) * Stauffer's (Meiji) * Stella D'Oro (Lance) *

Sunshine Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically per ...

(Keebler) *

Teddy Grahams Teddy Grahams are bear-shaped graham cracker snacks created by Nabisco. Introduced in 1988, Teddy Grahams come in two distinct shapes: bear with arms up and legs closed, and bears with legs open and arms down. Along with variations with arms up, ...

(Nabisco) *

Toll House A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

(Nestle) * Tim Tam (Arnott's) * Vienna Fingers (Keebler)

Miscellaneous

Christmas cookie Christmas cookies or Christmas biscuits are traditionally sugar cookies or biscuits (though other flavours may be used based on family traditions and individual preferences) cut into various shapes related to Christmas. History Modern Christm ...

* Cookie cutter *

* Cookie exchange * Cookie Clicker *

Cookie sheet A sheet pan, also referred to as baking tray, baking sheet, or baking pan, is a flat, rectangular metal pan placed in an oven and used for baking pastry, pastries such as bread rolls, cookies, sheet cakes, Swiss rolls, and pizzas. These pans, li ...

* Cookie table * Cookies and cream * Girl Scout cookie

References

External links

* {{Authority control Desserts Iranian desserts Snack foods Types of food