"The art of making cookies and crackers is that of turning simple ingredients into wonderful things....Like cakes and pastries, cookies and crackers are the descendants of the earliest food cooked by man-- -grain-water-paste baked on hot stones by Neolithic farmers 10,000 years ago. The development of cookies and crackers from these primitive beginnings is a history of refinements inspired by two different impulses--one plan and practical, the other luxurious and pleasure-loving. Savory crackers represent the practical and may well have been the first convenience foods: A flour paste, cooked once, then cooked again to dry it thoroughly, becomes a hard, portable victual with an extraordinarily long storage life--perfect for traveling....For centuries, no ship left port without enough bone-hard, twice-cooked ship's biscuit--the word biscuit comes from the Old French biscoit, meaning twice cooked---to last for months, or even years. While sailors and other travelers chewed their way through unyielding biscuits, cooks of the ancient civilizations of the Middle East explored the culinary possibilities of sweetness and richness. These cooks lightened and enriched the paste mixtures with eggs, butter and cream and sweetened them with fruit, honey and finally--when the food became widely available in the late Middle Ages--with sugar... Luxurious cakes and pastries in large and small versions were well known in the Persian empire of the Seventh Century A.D. With the Muslim invasion of Spain, then the Crusades and the developing spice trade, the cooking techniques and ingredients of Arabia spread into Northern Europe. There the word cookies, distinguishing small confections, appeared: The word comes from the Dutch Koeptje [koekje], meaning small cake. By the end of the 14th Century, one could buy little filled wafers on the streets of Paris...Renaissance cookbooks were rich in cookie recipes, and by the 17th Century, cookies were common-place."
"The term [cookie] first appeared in print as long ago as 1703."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
(page 212).
"Early English and Dutch immigrants first introduced the cookie to America in the 1600s. While
the English primarily referred to cookies as small cakes, seed biscuits, or tea cakes, or by specific
names, such as jumbal or macaroon, the Dutch called the koekjes, a diminutive of koek
(cake)...Etymologists note that by the early 1700s, koekje had been Anglicized into "cookie" or
"cookey," and the word clearly had become part of the American vernacular. Following the
American Revolution, people from other parts of the country became familiar with the cookie
when visiting New York City, the nation's first capitol, a factor that resulted in widespread use of
the term...During the seventeeth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries most cookies were made in
home kitchens. They were baked as special treats because the cost of sweeteners and the amount
of time and labor required for preparation. The most popular of these early cookies still retain
their prize status. Recipes for jumbles, a spiced butter cookie, and for macaroons, based on beaten
egg whites and almonds, were common in the earliest American cookbooks...Because it was
relatively inexpensive and easy to make, gingergbread was one of the most popular early
cookies...As kitchen technology improved in the early 1900s, most notably in the ability to
regulate oven temperature, America's repertoire of cookie recipes grew."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 317-8)
If you are doing a "cookies around the world" project ask your librarian to help you find The International Cookie Jar Cookbook, Anita Borghese.
Ammonia cookies
According to the food history reference books, "Ammonia" cookies are not one specific
cookie recipe but a whole host of edible treats employing ammonium bicarbonate, an old-fashioned
(probably now hard to get?) leavening agent. Ammonium carbonate is a byproduct of hartshorn,
a substance extracted from deer antlers [harts horn]. Hartshorn is most commonly referenced in
old cookbooks in jelly recipes. It was also known a source for ammonia, which could be used as
a leavener.
"Hartshorn...1. The horn or antler of a hart [male deer, esp. Red deer] the substance obtained by
rasping, slicing or calcining the horns of harts, formerly the chief sources of ammonia. 2. Spirit of
hartshorn, also simply hartshoren; the aqueous solution of ammonia (whether obtained from harts'
horns or otherwise). Salt of hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia; smelling salt."
"Hartshorn was formerly the main source of ammonia, and its principal use was in the production
of smelling salts. But hartshorn shavings were used to produce a special, edible jelly used in
English cookery in the 17th and 18th centuries."
"Ammonium bicarbonate...This leavener is the precursor of today's baking powder and baking
soda. It's still called for in some European baking recipes, mainly for cookies. It can be
purchased in drugstores but must be ground to a powder before using. Also known as
hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia and powdered baking ammonia."
"Ammonia cookies...Any variety of cookies made with a leavening agent called ammonium
carbonate, or baking ammonia. They are most commonly found in Scandinavian-American
communities In their book Farm Recipes and Food Secrets from the Norske Nook (1993), Helen
Myhre and Mona Vold wrote, "Talk about Old Faithful, this was one of those basic stanbys every
farm lady made."
"Ammonia, is a gas and its ordinary form of Spirits of Ammonia, or Hartshorn, is water saturated
with the gas. Ammonia is sometimes used in Baking Powders, but being extremely volatile must
soon lose its strength."
Recipes:
Historic American (search ingredient
ammonia)
&
Contemporary (search ammonia).
Animal crackers
Food historians generally agree the art of crafting small baked goods into fancy shapes
began as a Christmas tradition in Medieval Germany. Lebkuchen (gingerbread) was a highly
sophisticated art. The legal right to make these products was carefully protected by Guilds. They
were sometimes used as Christmas decorations.
By the middle of the 19th century the industrial revolution made it possible for biscuits, cookies
and crackers to be manufactured in factories. Crisp biscuits (what we Americans now call
cookies) baked in fancy shapes were very popular in Victorian
England. Some of these biscuits were shaped like animals. "Zoologicals" (animal crackers)
were sold at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia [1876]. They were made by Philadelphia
baker Walter G. Wilson.
According to a recent Washington Post
article, in 1889 when P.T. Barnum's circus travelled to England, animal cookies proliferated.
Food companies were most likely capitalizing on Barnum's popular entertainment. Animal
Crackers
manufactured at that time were probably designed as a marketing promotions.
The earliest mention of animal crackers we have in print is this recipe from
1883:
National Biscuit Company's (now Nabisco) classic Animal Crackers were introduced to the
American public in 1902. According to Nabisco sources, the first Animal Crackers were marketed
as a seasonal item. The brighly-colored box (not the cookies) was promoted as a Christmas tree
ornament, thus explaining the string attached to the top. About Animal Crackers, from Nabisco's
Web site.
Although Animal biscuits/crackers are a very simple cookie we find no evidence they were
created/promoted as health foods. 19th century cookie-type health products often contained
arrowroot and Graham's flour (whole wheat). They were not generally marketed in fancy shapes.
This is what the food historians have to say on the subject:
"During the 19th century supplies of cheap sugar and flour, plus chemical raising agents such as
bicarbonate of soda, led to the development of many sweet biscuit recipes. In Britain several
entrepreneurs laid the foundations of the modern biscuit industry. The firms of Carrs, Huntley &
Palmer, and Crawfords were all established by 1850. Since the mid 19th century the range of
commercially baked biscuits based on creamed and pastry type mixtures has expanded to meet the
demand..."
"Animal Crackers are actually a cookie, first produced as Christmas tree ornaments in 1902 by the
National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco). They are formed in the shapes of various circus
animals and packed in a box decorated like a circus train. Nabisco currently produces about 7
million Animal Cracker cookies per day."
"Animal crackers were created and achieved fame many years before the advent ot NBC (National
Biscuit Company). In the beginning they were just called "Animals," They were imported from
England when "fancy" baked goods first began to be in demand here. In the latter part of the
nineteenth century they were manufactured domestically by Hetfield & Ducker in Brooklyn as
well as Vandeveer & Holmes Biscuit Company in New York. Both firms eventually became part
of the New York Biscuit Company and "Animals" were one of their staples. When "Animals"
were adopted by NBC, their name was changed to "Barnum's Animal Crackers," named after
P.T. Barnum, showman and circus owner who was so famous during this era. Barnum's Animal
Crackers provided the nation with a new type of animal cracker, produced in a small square box
resembling a circus cage with a tape at the top for easy carrying. Barnum's Animals appeared
during Christmas season just three years after the Uneeda Biscuit. What was originally a seasonal
novelty proved so popular that it became a steady seller. Soon Animal (the 's' was dropped)
Crackers became part of the American scene and of almost every American household."
"P.T. Barnum, the greatest self-promoter in history, had absolutely nothing to do with the box
that bears his name. And never got a cent for it. That's according to our man Fisher of the Barnum
Museum. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus still doesn't get a cut, or a licensing fee.
This is what happened: In 1889, Barnum decided to do something truly nutty, a tour of England
with his circus. So after his buddy Bailey figured out how, exactly, you get a circus that normally
takes up 10 rail cars onto a boat and across an ocean, Barnum's animals made their European
debut. The English, meanwhile, had already invented something called animal biscuits. Sensing a
marketing moment, several companies started manufacturing animal biscuits with circus
packaging and called them Barnum's. Soon the product migrated across the ocean, where
Nabisco's forerunner, the National Biscuit Co., put them on U.S. store shelves in 1902. Originally
called "Barnum's Animals,'' they became Barnum's "Animal Crackers'' in 1948."
---"Circus
food," Jennifer Frey, Washington Post, March 20, 2002
There are several theories regarding the origin of the name "A.P." for a particular cookie popular
in the
Philadelphia/Pennsylvania Dutch country. These food historians sums them up nicely:
"Apee. Also "apea" and, in the plural "eepies." A spiced butter cookie or form of gingerbread.
Legend has it
that the word derives from the name of Ann Page, a Philadelphia cook who carved her initials into
the tops
of the confection. This was first noted in print in J.F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia
(1830) to the
effect that Ann Page, then still alive, "first made [the cookies] many years ago, under the common
name of
cakes.'"
"Apeas are a cookie once popular in Philadelphia. The origin of the name is a bit confusing.
Essentially,
they were a form of Anis Platchen (anise cookies) and stamped A.P. to distinguish them from
cookies with
carraway, which were known as "seed cakes." A great many bakers hawked Apeas to children on
the
streets. One of those bakers in Philadelphia was Ann Page. The A.P. became associated with her
name, if
only because Anis Platchen were extremely popular. In any event, A.P. cookies are of German
origin.
Philadelphians called them Apeas, hence the peculiar name, but to call them anything else--such as
Chocolate Apeas, only further muddles the issue."
A survey of historic American recipes
[1849]
[1871]
[1886]
[1905]
Fig Newtons were first produced in 1891 by the National Biscuit Company, now known
as Nabisco. They have a long and interesting history.
There seems to be some confusion as to which the year Fig Newtons were created. The company
that manufactures these cookies (Nabisco) and the town of Newton state the year is 1891. Most
food history sources say 1892.
The town of Newton celebrated the 100th anniversary of Fig Newtons April 10th, 1991:
"The 100th anniversary of a cookie may not be considered a milestone for the history books, but
residents of Newton believe the Fig Newton's first century is something to celebrate. Newton is
an all-American city, and the Fig Newton is an all-American cookie," said Linda Plaut, the city's
director of cultural affairs. "We're all proud of that." ...The Newton, as it was originally called,
was created in 1891 at the Kennedy Biscuit Works in Cambridgeport, now known as Cambridge,
said Mark Gutsche, a Nabisco spokesman."
This is what the food history books say:
"Fig Newtons were first produced in 1891, when baker James Henry Mitchell invented a machine
that would allow a cake-like cookie, filled with fig jam, to be made. The machine was actually a
funnel within a funnel, so handy and effective that Kennedy Biscuit Works snatched it up and
started to produce the famous cookie, which became an immediate success. The name of the
cookie originally was "Newtons," taken from the town of Newton, a suburb of Boston...The
Kennedy Biscuit Works later became a part of the National Biscuit Company [now
Nabisco]....Neither the taste, shape, or size of Fig Newtons has been changed in over one hundred
years."
"Fig...A sweet multiseeded fruit of the fig tree or shrub, usually eaten dried. It originated in
northern Asia Minor. The word is from the Latin 'ficus.' Figs were introduced into America on the
island of Hispanola in 1520 by the Spaniards...Most of the fig crop goes into making a sweet
filling for Fig Newtons...The cookie was first produced after Philadelphian James Henry Mitchell
developed a machine in 1892 to combine a hollow cookie crust with a jam filling. This machine
was brought to the Kennedy Biscuit works, which tried it out in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts,
and the resulting cookie was christened "Newton's cakes," after the nearby Boston suburb of
Newton..."
"In 1892 Mitchell applied for a patent for his new machine, which was granted. Although he had
no name for his 'pie,' he thought the idea might be of value in commercial baking. So in 1892 he
persuaded officials of the Kennedy Biscuit Works, which had recently become affiliated with the
New York Biscuit Company, to try out his new machine, which he shipped to Cambridgeport.
Mitchell personally installed the machine and supervised its functioning...The professional bakers
tasted the final result, found it good and went away impressed....But promotion could not start
until a name was selected...The exciting new product of the Mitchell machine needed some such
name. Later an assistant to James Hazen, manager of the Cambridgeport bakery, recalled, "The
name was taken from the name of the town Newton-a suburb of Boston." When the name was
selected for this new product, it reflected a practice--by Mr. Hazen, who was manager of this
plant--of using the names of towns and cities in the vicinity of Boston."
"In 1892 the Kennedy Biscuit Works...purchased a machine designed to extrude a thick filling
material and enclose it in cookie dough, and decided to produce a cookie filled with fig jam."
It seems that the cookie itself was first created in 1891, but not marketed under the name Fig
Newton until 1892.
U.S.Patent & Trademark Registration:
Need information on market strategy?
Ask your librarian how to access article databases (EBSCO's Business Source,
Dialog's Business & Industry, Proquest's Newspapers Nine & New York Times Historic,
General Business File). These will provide information on market campaigns, consumer
trends, market share, sales, spin-offs (different flavor fillings & cookie sizes).
Biscotti date to Ancient times. The term literally means "twice baked." These hard biscuits fueled
armies and fed travelers. Flavor variations and culinary techniques evolved according to time and
place. German zweiback, Jewish mandelbrot, British ship's biscuit, and American hardtack are similar in purpose
and method. About biscuits.
ABOUT BISCOTTI
"Biscuit. A small, dry, flat cake, traditionally with good keeping qualities, eaten as a snack or
accompaniment to a drink, and sweet or savory. Sweet biscuits are eaten as an accompaniment
to coffee, tea or milk--and mid-morning wine in Italy--and partner desserts of ice cream. They are
used to make desserts--charlottes in particular--and macaroon crumbs are often added to custards
or creams...In France biscuits are simply regarded as one aspect of petits fours, with their own
wide repertoire...Their English and
French name comes from the Latin bis meaning twice and coctus meaning cooked, for biscuits
should be in theory be cooked twice , which gives them a long storage life...This very
hard, barely risen biscuit was for centuries the staple food of soldiers and sailors. Roman legions
were familiar with it and Pliny claimed that "Parthian bread" would keep for centuries...Soldiers
biscuits or army biscuits were known under Louis XIV as "stone bread." In 1894, army biscuits
were replaced by war bread made of starch, sugar, water, nitrogenous matter, ash, and cellulose,
but the name "army biscuit" stuck...Biscuits were also a staple item in explorers' provisions.
Traveller's biscuits, in the 19th century, were hard pastries or cakes wrapped in tin foil which kept
well."
"Biscotto. "Twice baked." Dry cookie. Often containing nuts, biscotti are usually slices from a
twice-baked flattened cookie loaf. In Tuscany, biscotti or cantucci are almond cookies. In Sicily,
biscotti a rombo are diamond-shaped cookies and b. Regina (queen's biscuits) are sesame seed
biscuits. B. Tipo pavesini are almond biscuits of Pavia. B. De la bricia are flavoured with fennel
seeds, a specialty of La Spezia. B. Aviglianese (Avigliano stype) are made with unleavened
bread."
"Biscuit, a cereal product that has been baked twice. The result is relatively light (because little
water remains), easy to store and transport (therefore a useful food for travellers and soldiers),
sometimes hard to eat without adding water or olive oil."
Recipe variations
Related food? Langue de chat
ABOUT MANDEL (ALMOND) BRODT (BREAD):
The answer to questions regarding the origin of this recipe depends upon whether you are
seeking a culinary history or linguistic study of mandelbrodt. Historians confirm that almonds
were known to ancient middle eastern cooks, and were incorprated into many recipes.
Biscuits/biscotti, twice-baked hard breads, were popular in Ancient Rome and generally spread
with the Romans to other parts of the continent. The term mandelbrot is of Germanic heritage and
this particular food is traditionally associated with Eastern European Jews. Perhaps this suggests
(although the recipe may be ancient) the genesis of the food with this name may be linguistically
placed in Medieval Eastern Europe.
"Mandelbrot, kamishbrot, and biscotti: three twice-baked cookies. One is Italian. The others are
Eastern European Jewish. Is there a connection? Perhaps. "We've thought about the connection,"
said Peter Pastan, chef-owner of Obelisk, a tiny pix fixe Italian restaurant in Washington D.C.
"Mandelbrot is all over Eastern Europe and in Italy everybody has a different recipe for
biscotti--some with fennel, some are crunchy; the ones around Siena are ugly but good." Mr.
Pastan, who comes form an American-Jewish family, studied cooking in Italy before opening his
mostly Italian restaurant. With a large Jewish population in Piedmont, Italy may have been the
place where Jews first tasted biscotti and later brought them to Eastern Europe where they called
the mandelbrot,
which means literally almond bread. In the Ukraine, a similar cookies not necessarily with almonds
by made at home, thuskamish, was served. In Italy they are often eaten as a dessert dipped into
wine or grappa. In Eastern Europe Jews dipped them into a glass of tea, and because they include
no butter and are easily kept they became a good Sabbath dessert."
Ruth Wakefield [June 17,
1903-January 10, 1977],
Whitman Mass., is credited for inventing chocolate chip cookies at her Toll
House Restaurant in the early 1930s. According to the story, Ruth used a Nestle candy
bar for her
chips. We will probably never know if Ruth was the very first person to put chocolate pieces in
cookies, but she is certainly the one who made them famous. Nestle began marketing Ruth's
chocolate chip cookies to the general public in 1941. The caption under the photograph printed by
the New York Times (January 2, 1985 I 12:5) describing the fire that destroyed Ruth
Wakefield's kitchen the reads "Wreckage of Toll House Restaurant in Whitman, Mass. It was
where the chocolate chip cookie was invented." In the July, 1997 Governor Weld signed
legislation that declared chocolate chip cookies to be the *official cookie of the
Commonwealth* in honor or Ruth Wakefield (much to the dismay of the Fig Newton
faction).
Mrs. Wakefield's original recipe
The Hershey's 1934 Cookbook contains a recipe for "Chocolatetown chip cookies" (p. 75) that
includes a 12 ounce package of Hershey's Baking Chips.
Ms. Wakefield's cookbook collection is currently located at the Henry Whittemore
Library of Framingham State College (MA).
The confusion regarding "petit four" is that it is not a recipe. It is a term denoting a wide variety
of small, fancy cakes
and cookie. Some people today think of petits fours as defined by mail-order food companies:
bite-sized seasonally-decorated chocolate-covered muli-layered cake-like confections.
What is a *real* petit four and why the name?
"Petit four. A small fancy biscuit (cookie), cake or item of confectionery. The name, according to
Careme, dates from the
18th century, when ovens were made of brick and small items had to be cooked a petit four (at a
very low temperature),
after large cakes had been take out and the temperature had dropped. After the bonbons, dragees,
marzipans, pralines
and crystallized (candied) fruits that were in vogue during the Renaissance and in the reign of
Louis XIV, other tidbits
were created. They required imagination an flair by the pastry cooks to reproduce the large-scale
decorations in
miniature. Careme himself attached great importance to the petits fours known as
colifichets..."
"Petit four. A petit four is a small fancy cake, biscuit, or sweet-such as a piece of marzipan or a
crystallized or chocolate
covered fruit--typically severed nowadays with coffee at the end of a meal. The term is French in
origin. It means literally
small oven', and may have come from the practice of cooking tiny cakes and biscuits a petit four,
that is in low oven, at
low temperature'. It was adopted into English in the late nineteenth century."
The Oxford English Dictionary does non include references to this term.
The oldest reference we find for this term appears in Jules Gouffre's The Royal Cookery
Book [1869] "Remarks
on Dessert. Under this heading I have given a limited number of recipes of Petits-Fours, of
Bonbons and Ices, without
attempting an elaborate treatise of confectionery,-a course which would have required far more
space than I have left."
(p. 545). Gouffre lists these items under the heading "Petits fours": filbert macaroons, pistachio
macaroons, chocolate
macaroons, macaroons souffles, lemon massepains (marzipan), almond paste loaves flavoured
with orange, almond
paste loaves with apricot jam, almond paste crescents, almond paste cakes, almond paste rings,
almond paste tartlets
with pine-apple, ice wafers, dutch wafers, Raspberry bouchees de Dames, coffee glaces,
marascsino glaces, small
meringues with cherries, etc.
The first mention of "petits fours" in The New York Times was a menu for a dinner given
by Mr. Randolph
Guggenheim (lawyer), January 28, 1894 (p. 17).
ABOUT MIGNARDISE
General French definitions
"Mignardise. Preciousness, ornateness, daintiness, affectation."
"Mignardise. Daintiness, delicacy."
Culinary definitions
"Mignardises. Small, dainty confections."
"Mignardise. (i) Decorative pastry puff, (ii) Small dainty dish."
"At a sophisticated meal in France, an assortment of petits fours (sometimes known as
mignardises) may
be served either with or after the dessert."
Escoffier (1903/Le Guide Culinaire) does not not have a separate entry for mignardise.
Sour cream cookery is a Central European tradition with ancient Middle Eastern roots. Cookies,
pastries and cakes combining this ingredient with fruits, jams, nuts and spices are specialties of
this part of the world. According to the food historians, contemporary Jewish-American rugelach
(typically made with cream cheese) descends from this tradition. George Lang's The Cuisine
of Hungary [New York:Atheneum 1982] contains several examples: Dios szelet (walnut pie),
Edes okorszem (Sweet Bull's Eye) and Gyumolcskosarkak (Little Fruit Crescents) among them.
These cookies are known by different names in different countries: Kipfel (Germany), kifli
(Yugolsavia) and cream cheese cookies (United States). Presumably, the first recipes for
rugelach-type foods were introduced to America by immigrants from Hungary, Yugoslavia and
neighboring countries. Some of these immigrants were Jewish.
Mildred Bellin's Jewish Cookbook [Tudor Publishing:New York, 1958] offers two recipes
for rugelach. One is a traditional yeast based product, the other is discreetly tucked under
"Hungarian cream cheese cookies,Variation II," containing unsalted butter, cream cheese, sugar,
flour and salt. Ms. Bellin observes:
"The variety of cookies and confections which may be found in a Jewish home reflects the long
history and international background of its inhabitants. There are for the holidays traditional
sweets, some of which like Hamantaschen, are a historic part of the festival. Others originated in
the many lands in which the Jewish people lived, but through the generations became part of their
own tradition. The cookies popular in the United States today are eagerly tried by Jewish cooks,
and are served as frequently as the older ones." (p. 262)
"There is no other Jewish sweet that has gone more mainstream than rugelach. Basically a
crescent-shaped cookies that comes from the Yiddish "rugel" (royal), it is also called kipfel,
cheese bagelach, and cream-cheese horns of plenty in this country. The yeast-based and often
butter or sour cream-based dough in Europe was usually rolled out into circles, cut into pie
shapes, covered with nuts, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon and then rolled up like pinwheels. It can
also be rolled out into a rectangle, covered with filling, rolled up, and cut into circles...The
American addition to rugelach was cream cheese and the myriad fillings used today. The
cream-cheese dough may have been developed by the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Company
because the
dough is often called Philadelphia cream-cheese dough. One of the the early cream-cheese doughs
appeared in The Perfect Hostess, written in 1950 by Mildred Knopf. Mrs. Knopf, the
sister-in-law of Alfred Knopf the publisher, mentioned that the recipe came from Nela Rubenstein,
the wife of the famous pianist Arthur Rubenstein. It was Mrs. Knopf's friend Maida Heatter who
put rugelah on the culinary map with Mrs. Heatter's grandmother's recipe. It is the most sought
after of all Mrs. Heatter's recipes and is the rugelach most often found in upscale bakeries
nationwide."
SELECTED RECIPES
[2004]
According to the food historians, manufactured marshmallow cake and cookie treats were first
marketed to the American public in the early decades of the 20th century. These most likely
descended from Victoria
sandwich cakes. Advances in technology made marshmallow
products of all kinds readily available to the American public. Products proliferated.
Moon pies, Mallomars, Marshmallow Sandwiches,
Marshmallow Fluff, s'mores and dozens of other marshmallow-based concoctions were
immediate hits.
Scooter Pies were "second generation" so to speak. They were "born" in 1959.
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office,
Scooter Pies were introduced December 17, 1959 (Registration #0834843) by Burry's, then a
division of Quaker Oats. How much did they cost 40 years ago? Thirty-nine cents for a 14 oz
package, according to a Waldbaum's [grocery store] ad that ran in the New York Times
September 9, 1964 (p. 39). Like Mallomars, these marshmallow chocolate treats are promoted in
the fall.
Vintage pictures of the Scooter Pie boxes:
Langue de chat
Many food history books mention Langue-de-chat, a small, dry, finger-shaped biscuit whose name
translates literally as "cat's tongue," but none provide much in the way of definative history. We
can surmise from the ingredients/method of cooking, the earliest cookies of this type might
possibly date to the 17th century. At that time refined white sugar and piping bags (capable of
extruding shapes) were popular with the wealthy classes of Northern Europe. Shaped sugar
cookies and sweet biscuits (gemels, gimmows, sugar cakes etc.) date to Medieval times. Mexican
wedding cakes, Russian tea cakes, Spanish polvorones, melindros and biscochos are all related.
Our notes on these biscuits here.
"A langue de chat, literally a 'cat's tongue', is a flat thin finger-shaped sweet biscuit with rounded
ends, typically served with desserts and sweet wines. Its name no doubt comes from its
shape."
"Langue de chat...In the view of some experts, this biscuit derives its name from its shape--thin,
flat and narrow, somewhat like a cat's tongue in appearance. Langes de chat, which are crisp, dry
biscuits can be made, or rather flavored, in various ways. Only biscuits made according to the recipe
given below, however, can properly be called langues de chat. These biscuits keep for quite a long
time and are usually served with certain liqueurs and sparkling wines. They are also served with
iced sweets (desserts) and used as an ingredients of various puddings."
The earliest recipe we have for Langue de chat was published in The Hotel St. Francis Cook
Book, 1919. The Hotel St. Francis (San Francisco, California) was a leader in early 20th
century American cuisine.
Langue de chat, II. One-quarter pound of sugar, one-quarter pound of butter,
one-quarter pound of flour, the whites of three eggs, and a little vanilla flavor. Mix the sugar and
butter until creamy; add the whites of eggs that have been well whipped to snow; add the flour
and flavoring, and mix lightly. Dress on buttered pan like lady fingers, but smaller. Bake and
remove from pan while hot."
[1927]
[1938]
Picasso's Still Life With Biscuits may very well have featured langes de chat.
The piped ridges might very well have intrigued Picasso's eye.
Still Life with Biscuits (langues de chat on plate on
right)
Lemon bars
The term "bar cookies" or "squares" originated in the 20th century. The earliest examples we find
in
American cookbooks are from the 1930s [Date bars]. A survey of cookbooks suggests these
recipes gained
popularity as decades progressed. Food historians do not credit a specific person/place with the
invention of
"bar cookies." Presumably the practice evolved from earlier recipes, most notably brownies and
fudge.
About lemon bars
"Buttery lemon bars. The two components of these luscious bars--shortbread and lemon curd--are
old English favorites.
But layering the two in a bar cookie is, I believe, a twentieth century innovation. My friend and
colleague Joanne Hayes,
food editor of County Living magazine, remembers lemon bars being tested while she was
at McCall's magazine
back in the '60s. Yet the McCall's Cook Book (1963) doesn't include them. Nor do other
magazine cookbooks of
that time. My hunch is that dessert specialist Maida Hatter popularized lemon bars. Two of her
books offer variations on
the theme. The more classic-Sour Lemon Squares...appears in Maida Heatter's New Book of
Great Desserts
(1982). Maida attributes the recipe to a friend in Scottsdale, Arizona. I wonder if that friend might
have added her own
touches to the 1970 Sunset magazine recipe..."
"Lemon bars.
Here is that recipe from 1963:
Mallomars
If you have to ask "what is a Mallomar?" you didn't grow up in the greater New York area.
These chocolate enrobed
marshmallow treats are in a class by themselves. According to the record of the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, they were introduced to
the American public
November 20, 1913 by the National Biscuit Company (registration number 0096171). They have
been a fall tradition
ever since. Why New York and why fall? Nabisco claims its because the product doesn't travel
well and chocolate
doesn't sell in the warmer months. Whatever. Those of us who still live around the city know it's
fall when the
Mallomars come back. Sort of like when the swallows return to Capistrano.
This is what the food historians have to say on the subject:
"On November 13, 1913, another famous cookie was born. Mallomar was described as "a
delightful combination of
marshmallow, jelly and layers of cake covered with chocolate icing." For several years before
Mallomar, the company
made a product called "Marshmallow Cream Sandwich," It was also convered with chocolate by
only sold in bulk. When
the formula for Mallomars was perfected, it was decided to make them a specialty and to pack
them in the In-er-seal
package. Later it, too, was made available in bulk."
"In a few weeks, a small but fiercely loyal group of consumers will breathe a collective sigh of
relief as they again are
able to buy their favorite cookie. Following a traditional warm weather hiatus, the first batch of
Mallomars cakes have
rolled out of the ovens and will soon be on store shelves. Mallomars, for those who have never
tried one, consist of a
vanilla base cookie topped with a marshmallow dome and coated in dark chocolate. It is the
chocolate that accounts for
the seasonal nature of the cookie. ''I wish we could produce and sell them year round but the
chocolate melts during the
summer,'' said Henry Havemeyer, plant manager of the Philadelphia bakery of Nabisco Brands
Inc. Havemeyer's facility
is the world's only source of Mallomars.
So each year, Nabisco halts Mallomars production, usually in late April and generally starts in
again in late September.
And each year, consumers follow what has become a ritual among Mallomars fans.
In a recent letter to Nabisco, a man representing the ''Mallomars Fan Club of South Connecticut''
explained, ''Early in the
spring, our members stockpile Mallomars, in their freezers, for the summer months. Sixteen or 18
packages per person
seem to be adequate to stave off Mallomars withdrawal until the product reappears in
September...''
Mark Kapsky, category business director for the Biscuit Division of Nabisco Brands, said the
cookie has achieved
almost a cult status among many people. ''Mallomars basically sells itself. We do little advertising
or promotion and still
sell every cookie,'' Kapsky said. The loyalty consumers have toward the chocolate encased cookie
was described by a
Florida man in a letter this spring, ''I'm a bit past 40 now and I guess I've been eating Mallomars
since I was about 8
years old. At approximately two boxes a week, 18 cakes per, well, that computes to 29,952
already consumed, give or
take a couple...''
The majority of Mallomars sales are tallied in the New York metropolitan area and Miami,
according to Kapsky.
Although available in some additional pockets of the
country, since its introduction in 1913 the cookie has been a big seller in places like Brooklyn,
N.Y., northern New Jersy
and Long Island. The regional nature of the brand accounts for many of the letters the company
receives from consumers
regarding Mallomars. The author typically is a person who moved from the New York area and
cannot find the cookie in
his or her new city....
This past spring, however, Kapsky said the company received hundreds of unexpected complaints.
A sales surge in
March and April meant that when people went to buy their summer stash, there were few bright
yellow boxes of
Mallomars to be had. And when they're gone in April, they're gone until production resumes in
September..."
Of course, there is ALWAYS the "other" side of the story:
According to several food history sources and cookbooks, Mexican wedding cakes and Russian
tea cakes (aka Biscochitos/Mexico, Tea cakes/Sweden, Mandulas
kiflik/Bulgaria,
Biscochos/Cuba,
Kourabi‚des/Greece, Polvorones/Italy & Spain, Rohlichky/Ukraine and
Sand Tarts, Sandies, Butterballs & Moldy Mice/United States) are a universal holiday
cookie-type treat. This means this recipe is not necessarily connected to any one specific country.
It IS
connected with the tradition of saving rich and expensive food (the richest butter,
finest sugar, choicest nuts) for special occasions.
Food historians trace the history of these cookies and cakes to Medieval Arab cuisine, which was
rich in sugar. Small sugar cakes with nuts (most often almonds) and spices were known to these
cooks and quickly adopted by the Europeans. This sweet culinary tradition was
imported by the Moors to Spain, diffused and assimilated throughout Europe, then introduced to
the New World by 16th century explorers. Sugar cookies, as we
know them today, made their appearance in th 17th century. About sugar. Recipes called Mexican wedding cakes descend from this tradition.
They first appear in American cookbooks in the 1950s.
ABOUT THE DIFFUSION OF MEDIEVAL ARAB CUISINE
"...the Spanish sweet tooth is gratified by a range of dessert wines and liqueurs and
special-occasion candies, some of almost Oriental sugariness. Almonds and honey are included in
many of them Turron, or nougat, white or dark, soft or brittle, is exceedingly more-ish and is now
a big industry in Jijona. The Arabic influences in candy-making are pronounced and candies such
as
amarguillos date from Moorish times...In the Spanish kitchen, milk and cream are commandeered
for desserts, particularly in the north...The national dessert...is caramel custard, called flan."
Moorish
Heritage in the Cusines Of Spain and Portugal, Teresa de Castro
"Polvorones Sevillanos
"Sevillian sweetmeats are the most popular in all of Spain. The art of Sevillian baking has enjoyed
great fame ever since Renaissance times, although in fact it goes back to the Arabs, whose passion
for honey, almonds and pine kernels is still very evident in today's sweets. Sevillian master bakers
produce a wide range of delicacies, including tortas de aceite (very flat, round, flaky cakes), which
originated in nearby Castilleja de la Cuesta, and polvorones (sweet, crumbly, almond cakes),
which are first recorded as being made in Estepa."
Polvorones translated into biscochitos once they settled in Mexico. The traditional Seville orange
flavor eventually subsided.
"Biscochitos (Spanish cookies)
Biscochitos are made from rich pie pastry dough. Add baking powder, 1 tsp. Cleaned anize seed,
& sugar to sweeten. Roll on bread board 1/3 inch thick. Cut into long strips about 1 2/3 inches
wide, and then across into 2 inch lengths. Cut little narrow strips about an inch long on sides, pull
long, and roll back each strip into a curlicue; dip in sugar and bake."
Did you know? The bizcochito is the official cookie of New Mexico!
12-3-4. J. The bizcochito is adopted as the official cookie of New Mexico.
1989, ch. 154, 1; . Recipe here.
MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES
The cookie is old, the name is new. Food historians place the first recipes named
"Mexican
wedding cakes" in the 1950s. Why the name? Our books and databases
offer no
explanations. Perhaps timing is everything? Culinary evidence confirms Mexican
wedding cakes
are almost identical to Russian Tea Cakes. During the 1950s and 1960s relations
between Russia
and the United States were strained. It is possible the Cold War provided the
impetus for
renaming this popular cookie. Coincidentally? This period saw the mainstreaming
of TexMex
cuisine into American culture.
"Mexican wedding cake. A buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that's usually
ball-shaped and
generally contains finely chopped almonds, pecans or hazelnuts. It's usually rolled
in confectioners'
sugar while still hot, then again after the cookie has cooled. Many countries have
their own
rendition of this rich cookie. Two versions are Russian tea cakes and Spain's
polvornes."
"Mexican wedding cakes. These cookies masquerade under several
names--Butterballs, Russian
Tea Cakes, Swedish Tea Cakes, Moldy Mice. "Butterballs" is easy enough to
explain--these little
balls are buttery--but I have no idea how they came by their other
pseudonyms. The are
also known sometimes as Pecan Sandies, although true sandies are nearer
shortbread. Mexican
Wedding Cakes were a community cookbook staple throughout the 50s and
60s..."
The oldest recipe we have for Mexican wedding cookies was published in 1951.
[1955]
Nut Butter Balls
Mexican Wedding Cakes: With bottom of tumber dipped into flour,
flatten each 1" ball.
Bake at 325 degrees F. 12 minutes. While cookies are warm, sprinkle with
confectioners'
sugar."
A survey of historic American recipes indicates sand tarts, as we know them today,
may have
descended from simple sugar cookies. Food
historians do not offer
definative information regarding the genesis of the recipe's name. Perhaps it was
inspired by the
color of the finished product?
[1896]
[1931]
Russian tea cakes
The typical Russian Tea Cake recipe calls for butter, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, nuts
(walnuts,
almonds, pecans, hazelnuts) and confectioner's sugar. This particular combination
of ingredients
essentially dates back to the Jumbles baked in
Medieval Europe
(minus the vanilla).
Noble Russian cuisine (along with every other facet of noble life) was influenced
by prevailing
French customs during the 18th century. Tea was first introduced to Russia in
1618, but the
Russian tea ceremony of samovars and sweet cakes was a legacy of Francophile
Catherine the
Great in the 18th century. It is interesting to note that A Gift to Young
Housewives, Elena
Molokhovet [1870s popular Russian cookbook] contains plenty of recipes for a
variety of small
baked goods, none specifically entitled Russian tea cakes. There are, however,
several recipes
which use similar ingredients. If you want to examine these recipes you are in
luck. Gift fo a
Young Housewife has recently been reprinted [in English with extensive notes
provided by
Joyce Toomre] by Indiana University Press (1992). Your librarian can borrow a
copy for you.
If you want to contribute sweet treats for a traditional Russian tea
ask your librarian to help you find The Art of Russian Cuisine, Anne
Volokh. If you need
something right now
check out these
recipes.
Food historians tell us unbaked confections composed of nuts, dried fruit, seeds and sweeteners were made by ancient Middle
eastern cooks. "No bake" candies, as we Americans know them today, surfaced in cookbooks published during the Great Depression.
Like their ancient counterparts, contemporary "No Bakes" contain dried/desiccated fruit, nuts, and/or seeds glued together
with a sugar (honey, Karo) or fat (peanut butter, butter, margarine). No bake cookies (generally pressed into a pan and cut in
squares/bars) descend from the same tradition. These recipes appear in the 1950s. The primary difference between bake and no bake'
recipes (besides the obvious oven time, of course!) is the "no bakes" do not contain eggs or flour. They are not intended to rise.
A brief survey of American "no bake" recipes through time
"Persian Balls.
[1942]
[1952]
"Raisin Peanut Balls
[1962]
[1963]
Oatmeal cookies, as we Americans know them today, descend from ancient bannocks and
oatcakes known to peoples of the British Isles. The raisins, nuts, and spices commonly found in
today's oatmeal cookies date to the Middle Ages. Oats, and their recipes, were introduced to the
New World by European explorers in the 17th century. In 19th century America, oats were
considered health foods. They were recommended to invalids and served as hearty breakfast fare
(mush/porridge). Culinary evidence confirms the crossover from "health food" to confection
occured around the turn of the 20th century. Several other popular American foods made the
same leap at this juncture (thanks to corporate America): breakfast cereal and chocolate pudding
among them.
About oats, oatmeal, oatcakes & bannocks
"Oats...The first traces of cultivation...date from about 1000 BC in Central Europe. However, the
Greeks
and Romans of classical times were unimpressed, regarding oats as coarse, barbarian fare; and the
Romans used them mainly as animal fodder, but did foster the growing of oats in Britain, where
they were
to become important as a food for human beings. Indeed, they became the principal cereal in
Wales and,
even more markedly, in Scotland...There seems to be an affinity between oats and people of Celtic
origin."
"The cereal grass which produces the seeds called oats originated as a weed in wheat and barley
fields, which was accidentally harvested with the main crop. In due course it came to be cultivated
in its own right in northern Europe, and was introduced to Britain in the Iron Age. The Romans
knew of it (their word for it was avena...), but only as a weed, or as a fodder plant--although
Pliny, anticipating Dr. Johnson, mentions that the Germanic peoples made porridge with it. The
word oat, which is a descendant of Old English ate, is a pure English term, with no known
relatives in other languages. The remaining Germanic languaves have interrelated names for the
plant...Oatmeal, the term for flour made from oats, was coined in the fifteenth century."
"Oatcakes made from oats (in the form of oatmeal), salt, and water, sometimes with a little fat
added, were
the staple food of the inhabitants of the Pennines and the Lake District in England and of the
Scottish
Highlands for centuries. In these upland regions oats are the only cereal which will ripen in the
cold wet
climate. Oatcakes...were also of some importance in Wales and Ireland. They remain popular, and
are now
generally regarded as a Scottish specialty...Oatcakes had some importance as festive foods,
especially at
Beltane (1 May, and ancient Celtic festival) and Christmas."
"There is evidence that oats were quite qidely grown in Anglo-Saxon England, on athylle (on oat hill) is recorded in 779...The bishop
of Worcester's oat land is mentioned in a boundary charter of 984. However, oats do not feature in dues and rents as wheat
and barley do...oats may have been used for human consumption: while Pliny was not complimentary about oats he noted they were made
into porridge in Germany. Giraldus was perhaps sensationalising matters when he commented that the whole population of
Wales lived almost entirely on oats. In times of dearth they may have been utilized quite generally, but they could have been a staple
crop in aras with damp, acid soils."
"The word 'bannock' covers several different kinds of foods: generally it refers to griddle or girdle
cakes
made with oatmeal, barley meal, pease-meal or with flour, but there is the Selkirk Bannock...and
the
Pithcaithly Bannock...which are sweetened tea-breads or cakes. From the earliest years special
kinds of
bannocks were made for every Highland quarter day: on 1 February, the Bonnack Bride (St.
Bride's
bannock) was cooked to celebrate the first day of Spring; the Bonnach Bealtain (Beltane
bannock) for the
first day of summer, Bonnach Lunastain (Lammas bannock) for the first day of autumn and the
Bonnach
Samhtain (Hallomas bannock) for the first day of winter. Bannocks were baked for a child's birth
(Cryin'
Bannock), and there was a Teethin' Bannock baked with a ring in it which was later used as a
teething ring,
and when the bannock broke each person present got a small piece of it. There were special
bannocks
fired for St. Columba's Eve, for marriage and for Christmas. Each one was a variety of
oatcake...some
made with eggs, butter, cream and sugar. Today many of these customs have died out but the
bannock
remains in several forms. If using a griddle then it must be warmed up before starting to
cook."
"Myths of oats have much in common with myths of wheat, barley, rye, corn, and other cereal
grains.
Grains generally were associated with fertility of the earth and soil, and served as symbols of the
earth's
renewal."
About oats in America
"Oats were introduced to North America by early European explorers including Captain
Bartholomew Gosnold, who planted them on Elizabeth Island off the Massachusetts coast. The
Dutch grew oats in New Netherlands by 1626, and they were cultivated in Virginia prior to 1648.
Oats were generally grown throughout colonial America, mainly for animal feed, but Scottish,
Dutch, and other immigrants used them in their traditional porridges, puddings, and baked goods.
Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747 and subsequent editions)...includes
oats in recipes for haggis, flummery, and hasty and other puddings, as well as for cake. Similar
recipes were published in America throught the nineteenth century. Other oat recipes published in
the United States included Scotch burgoo, an oatmeal hasty pudding in which the rolled oats were
stirred into boiling water until the mixture thickened; gruel, which was a thinner porridge
frequently identified as invalid food; and oatmeal blancmange. Baked goods included Scottish and
English oaten cakes baked on a griddle, muffins made from cold cooked oatmeal, and bread and
biscuits, for which the oatmeal was usually mixed with flour, because on its own, oatmeal or oat
flour does not develop enough gluten to support rising bread. By the nineteenth century, grocer
stores sold oat products in bulk...In 1877, rolled oats were developed and trademarked by Henry
D. Seymour and William Heston, who had established the Quaker Mill Company. The product
was baked in cardboard boxes...In 1901, the Quaker Mill Company merged with other mills, and
became the Quaker Oats Company. Directions for cooking oatmeal were printed on the outside of
the Quaker box. These recipes, in turn, were reprinted in community and other cookbooks, and
oatmeal became more popular as a cooking ingredient. During the twentieth century many new
oatmeal recipes were published, including ones for soup, cakes, cookies, wafers, drops,
maracroons, quick breads and yeast breads, muffins, scones, and pancakes. Oatmeal was also used
as a filler and binder in meatloaf..."
"Rolled otats, or Oatflakes were developed in America by the Quaker Oat Company in 1877 and are made by steaming and rolling
pinhead oatmeal."
Oats as American health food
Dani Shaneyfelt, historical interpreter at Stuhr Museum [Grand Island, NE], sent us two additional period recipes. Both employ substantial
amounts of oatmeal.
[1898]
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark
Office. Oreo
brand cookies were introduced to the American public by the National Biscuit
Company (now
Nabisco) on March 6, 1912. It is registration #0093009. Nabisco is now owned by
Kraft Foods.
"On April 2, 1912, the company's [National Biscuit Company] operations
department announced
to its managers and sales agents that it was preparing "to offer to the trade...three
entirely new
varieties of the highest class biscuit in a new style...The three varieties of
biscuit...will be known
as the Trio. "The varieties comprising the Trio' are as follows, namely: Oreo
Biscuit--two
beautifully embossed chocolate-flavored wafers with a rich cream fillling at 30
cents per pound.
Mother Goose Biscuit--a rich, high class biscuit bearing impressions of the Mother
Goose legends
at 20 cents per pound. Veronese Biscuit--delicious, hard sweet biscuit of beautiful
design and high
quality at 20 cents per pound. This Trio is an exciting innovation, and we are quite
sure it will
immediately appeal to public favor...
...two members of the trio most lavishy promoted in the inital announcement have
since
disappeared. But the third, Oreo, was evidently just the kind of cookie the
American consuming
public wanted. Somewnat similar to a previous product named "Bouquet," the
Oreo consisted of
two firm chocolate cookies with rich vanilla frosting in the middle. The first Oreos
were slightly
larger than today's product, but always round. Within a short time Oreo, which
resembled an
English biscuit, became a fantastically good seller among NBC sweet goods...The
origin of the
name is not really known, although one possibility is that it came from the Greek
oreo, meaning
hill or mountain. Supposedly, either in testing or when the product was first
produced, it was
shaped like a baseball mound or hill-hence, an oreo. This has a certain validity in
view of A.W.
Green's [company executive] tendency toward classical names. Oreo was officially
registered in
1913 as "Oreo Biscuit." By 1921 it had become "Oreo Sandwich" and by 1948
"Oreo Creme
Sandwich."
Variations have been tried--a vanilla Oreo, a single-cracker Oreo, and in the
1920s a
lemon-filled Oreo was introduced. The size has undergone changes, too. Today's is
about midway
between the largest and the smallest. Through all shifts in public preferences, Oreo
has remained
one of the nation's most consistent favorites.
As frequently happens with popular products, there are people who fancy that
they contributed
to is creation. An Oreo admirer once wrote to the company "During the early
1920's you have a
contest offering a cash reward for a suitable name for this particular cookie. I
entered this contest
and submitted the name Oreo. Time passed, I learned or heard nothing concerning
the matter, so
gave it no further thought until this past Sunday night....If you will kindly check
your records
concerning the said contest, I am sure that in them you will find I am the one who
submitted the
trade name, Oreo." The company answered, "We think that you must be confused
about the
origin of the trademark Oreo. It was not originated as the result of a contest in the
early 1920's or
at any other time. It was originated by our advertising department, and first used
on March 6,
1912."
"Oreo. A trademark name...for a cookie composed of two thin chocolate cookies
enclosing a white
creme filling. The name...was apparently made up by the company. It has been
suggested that the
name may derive from the French word for gold "or" because the original package
had the
product name in gold. Another guess is that the word is from the Greek for
'mountain'...The first
Oreos were sold to a grocer named S. C. Thuesen on March 6, 1912...Oreos were
not, however,
the first cookie of this type: "Hydrox Cookies" had been on the market since
January 1, 1910, but
Oreos have been far more successful."
Oreo brand
evolution,
courtesy
of Kraft Foods. Includes pictures of old boxes.
Recommended reading:
What about vanilla Oreos?
Word Mark SWISS CREME Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 030. US 046. G & S: cookies. FIRST USE: 19580000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19580000 Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING Design Search Code Serial Number 74088585 Filing Date August 16, 1990 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1A Published for Opposition December 10, 1991 Registration Number 1720509 Registration Date September 29, 1992 Owner (REGISTRANT) Nabisco, Inc. CORPORATION NEW JERSEY 100 DeForest Avenue East Hanover NEW JERSEY 07936
(LAST LISTED OWNER) Nabisco Brands Company CORPORATION Assignee of DELAWARE 1105 North Market Street, Suite 803 Wilmington DELAWARE 19801
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "CREME" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR). Live/Dead Indicator DEAD Cancellation Date July 5, 2003
Here is a picture of this product. We also found this
description, circa 1974 (see:"Oreo Cookie Dessert #4")
According to the records of the US Patent & Trademark Office, Nabisco's Golden Oreo product was introduced to the American
public April 19, 2004:
If you want to track current Oreo product trends (minis, double stuff, Halloween
orange creme),
marketing strategies and sales numbers, we recommend:
Small cakes composed of nuts, dried fruits, and spices were prepared by ancient
cooks. These
early cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more
bread-like and
sweetened with honey. The Romans are usually credited with spreading such
recipes throughout
Europe. Medieval bakers prefered white sugar and perfected gingerbread, fruitcake
and a host of
related sweetly spiced recipes, many with nuts. Northern European bakers
specialized in cookies.
When the Dutch arrived in the New World in the 17th century, they brought their
cookie recipes
with them. Peanuts are a "New World" food. About peanuts & peanut butter.
We checked dozens of early 20th century American cookbooks and found peanut
cookies recipes
were quite common. These, however, called for crushed/chopped peanuts as an
ingredient. It is
not until the early 1930s that we find peanut butter listed as an ingredient in
cookies. The 1933
edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes contains a recipe for Peanut Butter
Balls which
instructs the cook to roll the dough into balls and press them down with the tines
of a
fork. This practice is still common in America today. Recipe here:
1. Sift flour, salt and soda together.
Related food? peanut butter & jelly
sandwiches.
Why the classic criss-cross pattern?
"It has been pointed out, on occasion, that you never can tell what on earth interests readers of
this column and to what degree. With tongue in cheek, we stated recently that we had a file of
letters marked Unanswered and Unanswerable. We quoted one of those letters, not fictional, in
which
someone aked if we could explain why peanut butter cookies were creased with a fork before
baking. We didn't really expect an answer to that, but replies we got. One reader wrote as follows:
The cookies are creased with a fork, she informed us, to make them crisper. "One of my sons,"
she continued, "once answered this technique and baked one pan of cookies plain, the other with
the tradtional fork creases on top. The plain peanut butter cookies did not taste as good and
seemed a bit soggy in the center. "Since the peanut butter cookie dough is quite rich, I think the
fork creases expose just enough dough to add a bit more crispy crust for better results. Another
reader offered this conjecture: "Most cookies dropped by rounded teaspoonsful will flatten in the
oven and bake evenly. Is there something in peanut butter cookie dough that prevents it from
flattening out by itself? The peanut butter, for example? Pressing the dollop with the tines of a
fork would assure the dough flattens properly and, therefore, bakes evenly." But the explanation
about pressing those cookies that we like best came from Sylvia Lavietes of New Haven, Conn.:
"Your column today contained an inquiry regarding peanut butter cookies. Well, a stupid question
calls for a stupid answer. Peanut butter cookies are crisscrossed in order to make it possible to
distinguish them from chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar."
Pizzelle
Food historians confirm crisp waffle-type cookies have ancient roots. These fancy holiday batter recipes were
embraced by many cultures and cuisines: Italian pizzelles, Dutch wafres (waffles), French gaufrettes,
Norwegian krumkake, etc. The primary difference between recipes is thickness of the batter and design of
product. Who made the first food of this type? We will probably never know. History does not typically record
the "invention" of simple foods. We do know, however, that pizzelles and their fancy European cousins were
very popular in the Middle Ages and played significant roles in the Christian calendar, most notably Lent.
Some of these foods later evolved into street fare.
Fancy shapes, different sizes, decorative patterns, and thickness variations are achieved by special cooking
apparatus called wafer (waffle, gauffre) irons. About waffles.
About pizzelle
"Pizzelle. A large round cookie made from a rich batter of eggs, sugar, butter, flour, and vanilla, baked on a
specially designed pizzelle iron, which looks like a waffle iron. The intricately carved sufaces of the pizzelle
iron imprint designs onto the cookie as it cooks. Pizzelle become crisp as they cool. While still warm, they can
be rolled into a cone shape, then filled with whipped cream when cool...The Scandinavian version of pizzelle
is krumkake, baed on a similar iron that has the traditional engraved scroll designs."
"Pizzelles, a centuries-old specialty of the Tuscan town of Montecatini, are a standard at most
Italian-American bakeries and espresso shops."
"One of the many delicacies we continue to enjoy preparing are pizzelle, crisp embossed cookies
from Italy that are baked one at a time in a patterned cookie iron. The word pizzelle, a derivative of
"pizza," means "small cakes." If your grandmother was Scandinavian or French, you may know this
cookie by such names as krumkake or gaufrette. These sweet, lacy cookies are made from a
wafflelike batter that is spooned into an iron mold with two long handles. The resulting cookie is
similar to waffle ice cream cones before they are rolled into shape. In fact, pizzelle come out of the
iron soft and flexible, and you can roll them into decorative cones or cannoli shells. Pizzelle are
usually flavored with anise or lemon, but you can add ground cinnammon, orange rind or almond
extract. Pizzelle offer a good flavor and textured contrast to fruit sorbets, ice creams and custards.
Pizzelle are perfect with afternoon tea or as a light dessert, spread with creamed honey. Although
pizzelle are popular all over Italy, in the south, pizzelle irons are traditional wedding gifts from
village blacksmiths. They come inscribed with the wedding date and the newlyweds' initials.
Subsequent celebrations call for bringing out the pizzelle iron."
Related food?
Ice cream cones!
Scottish shortbread
The history of Scottish shortbread is interconnected with the history of dairy
farming and butter
making in the British Isles during the Medieval Ages:
"As Jean-Louis Flandrin points out, butter consumption is a natural development in
regions
suitable for cattle-breeding. In such places, popular taste and the local economy
had gone right
over to butter as a cooking fat within 400 years....Flandrin is speaking about the
butter-eating
areas of Europe in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries..."
"Butter was the other principal milk dish [cheese being the other]. The manner of
making is had
changed little since Pliny's day...In other branches of cookery butter was an
enricher, the
accompaniment of cheese in herbolaces or with macaroni; of eggs, milk and sugar
in the filling for
a flathon; of plain or fancy breads in pain perdu or rastons. For short pastry and
cakes, it was at
first an alternative to fresh cream, but eventually superseded it, for butter had a
more highly
concentrated fat content, and was more easily stored...Nevertheless butter
appeared in a relatively
small proportion of the dishes in medieval recipe books, which were written mainly
for and by the
cooks of the nobility. It was only in Tudor times that an emerging middle class,
which did not
despise butter as the food of the poor, began to use it liberally in every possible
sphere of
cookery, setting a trend that was to last for some two hundred years."
This explains why the first shortbread recipes date only back as far as Elizabethan
times. This food
historian confirms:
"Shortbread...a biscuit whose origin lies in the short cakes made in the 16th
century...There are
many variations. The thick Pitcaithly bannock has peel and almonds in the
mixture..."
According to these sources, if you want to make Medieval/Elizabethan type
shortbread you might
want to add some finely ground oats to your recipe. This makes sense given the
fact that oats and
butter were staple foods of the poorer classes.
"Shortbread...A biscuit (cookie) rich in butter, which is served with tea and its
traditionally eaten
at Christmas and New Year. Originating from Scotland and traditionally made with
oatmeal, it is
now made with wheat flour...Shortbread is usually baked in a large round and
served cut from the
centre into triangles; it is a relic of the ancient New Year cakes that were symbols
of the
sun."
"Eaten all the year round but especially at Christmas and the New Year, this
delicious cake, which
is quite unlike any other, is made from only the finest materials...Originally made
with fine
oatmeal, it is now made with sifted flour, sometimes with a small proportion of
rice flour. On
festive occasions it can be decorated with fine strips of orange or lemon peel and
small sugared
almonds. In the Shetland and Orkney Islands it is call the Bride's Bonn, and has a
small
proportion...of caraway seeds added. The edges are traditionally "notched" by
pinching with the
finger and thumb, and this is thought to symbolize the sun's rays, from the early
days of
sun-worship."
What about the origin of the name "shortbread?" According to the Oxford
English
Dictionary,
"Short" (definition 20): Of edible substances: Friable, easily crumbled. This
describes the process
of making shortbread. This is also where the English term "shortening" comes
from. According to
John Ayto, the term "shortbread" dates back only as far as the early nineteenth
century. [An
A-Z of Food and Drink, Oxford University Press:Oxford 2002 (p. 310).] If
you want
more details, ask your librarian to help you find this article:
"Folklore; The Short Story," The Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1998 (p,
2).
RECIPES
[20th century]
Cream the butter and sugar together very well. Mix the flours and salt, sift them,
then incorporate
them gradually but thoroughly until the dough is like a shortcrust pastry texture.
Do not knead or
roll out as this only toughens it. Press with the and into 2 round cakes and if you
don't have a
wooden shortbread mould, then put on to an ungreased baking sheet covered with
baking-paper.
The usual thickness is about 3/4 inch (1.9 cm.) for an 8-inch (20.3 cm.) shortbread.
Pinch the
edges regularly with the finger and thumb and prick all over, lightly with fork.
Cook in a
pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F. (190 degrees C.) or gas mark 5 for about 1
hour, and after 20
minutes reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. (180 degrees C.) or gas mark 4 to let it
crsip up and get
a pale fawn colour. Leave to cool before putting on to a rack. NOTE: if rice flour
is not available
then all wheat flour can be used, but reduce to 1 lb. (450 g. ) in all."
If you camp, you know all about s'mores. These warm satisfying energy-packed
chocolate treats
are ubiquitious. Who invented the first s'more? No one knows. We do know the
three primary
ingredients
(graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars) were readily available to the
American
public by the
late 19th century and very popular in the early 20th. American cookbooks, food
history sources,
and
newspaper/magazine articles confirm these ingredients were used on a regular
basis, but fail to
provide us
with a definative person, place, and date for the invention of the s'more. Why?
Until very recently,
camping
recipes [with the exception of military foods] were typically passed on by personal
journals and
word of
mouth.
The best we can do on the history of s'mores is start with the oldest documented
"proof" and
hopefully, in
time, work our way backwards.
Where did the idea come from? Victorian-era cookbooks contain recipes for
"sandwich cookies,"
soft sponge-cakes filled with jam or cream fillings. American cookbooks published
in the early
decades of the 20th century contain recipes for chocolate sandwiches (cool) and
marshmallow
sandwiches (warm). American food companies were combining marhsmallows,
graham crackers
and chocolate in the 1910s. These were wildly popular. About Moon
Pies, Scooter pies & Mallomars.
"S'mores. A confection made from graham crackers, marshmallow, and chocolate
heated until the
contents melt. The word "s'mores"--always used in the plural--is short for "some
mores," referring
to one's
appetite for more than just one. It is a cookie said to be particularly popular at Girl
Scout's
campfire
cookouts."
The director of the National Historic Preservation Center, Girl Scouts of the USA
kindly provided
this information:
We don't really have a history of how or when some-mores (or S'mores) were
invented. Our
records show
only that they appeared first in our 1927 book Tramping and Trailing with the
Girl Scouts.
The 1927
recipe for "Some More" calls for "16 graham crackers, 8 bars plain chocolate (any
of the good
plain brands
broken in two), and 16 marshmallows."
The 1940 Girl Scout Handbook has a recipe for one "Some Mores" that
calls for "4
squares plain
chocolate (thin), 2 graham crackers, and one marshmallow. This recipe may be
varied by using
slices of
apple (cut cross-wise) in place of the graham crackers; by using pineapple slices or
peanut butter
in place
of chocolate."
Our 1947 GSA Handbook confirms this recipe adds these instructions:
We do not really know that the Girl Scouts were the first to make and enjoy
S'mores, but we also
don't
know of any earlier claims to this special treat. We also do not know when the
name of this treat
got
shortened. Recipes for "Some Mores" are in various Girl Scout publications until
at least 1971.
The story behind the snickerdoodle is and excellent lesson in food lore. What little
is written on
this tasty treat is hard to substantiate [prove] with primary documents [old
cookbooks] and
reference books. Some books say snickerdoodles were popular in colonial
America. Were they
really?
Food historians tell us the history of small cakes/cookies/biscuits with
snickerdoodle-type
ingredients dates back to ancient Roman times. Small cakes of this sort were quite
popular in
Medieval Europe. In Medieval and Renaissance England, similar cookies were
called jumbles.
Germans often added more spices and dried fruits, in the gingerbread tradition.
When Europeans
settled in the New World they brought with them their culinary heritage and their
recipes. We find
plenty of recipes printed in 18th-19th century American cookbooks that would
produce
something quite like snickerdoodles, but they are called other names (jumbles,
ginger
cookies).
Is it possible the recipe for snickerdoodles is very old but the name
snickerdoodle was invented
recently? Perhaps. The word does not show up in
the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of Americanisms, and
other word origin
books. The U.S. Patent & Trademark
Office points us to
several products with this name, most notably, Snickerdoodle.com (1989). A
popular children's
book suggests the word "snicker" may have come from a Dutch word "snekrad,"
or the German
word "Schnecke, " both describing a snail-like shape. This is possible. This book
offers no
explanation for the "doodle."
This is what the the food historians have to say about the snickerdoodles:
"Snickerdoodle. A New England cookie made with flour, nuts, and dried fruits.
The name is
simply a nineteenth-century nonsense word for a quickly made confection."
"Snickerdoodle. Originating in 19th century New England, this whimsically named
cookie has a
charactaristically crackly surface and can be either crisp or soft...The name appears
to have no
particular meaning or purpose."
"I do not know the origin of the name, but it has been proposed that it is of
German origin and
derived from the word "schnecken", i.e. sticky buns."
"Snickerdoodle, a biscuit made from a creamed mixture enlivened with nutmeg,
nuts, and raisins.
It is a specialty of the Pennsylvania Dutch, a community with many sweet biscuit
and cookie
recipes."
What makes the history of Snickerdoodles so interesting?
Some authentic recipes [of English heritage] that would make small cakes &
cookies very
similar to snickerdoodles:
The oldest Snickerdoodle recipe we have was submitted by Nancy Baggett, author of Great American Dessert Book
Compare with this recipe published in a church cookbook
(probably) printed
in the 1920s:
Snickerdoodles
---Oxford English Dictionary
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] (p. 372)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd edition [Barrons:New York] 2001
(p. 14)
---Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 6)
---Grocers' Hand-Book and Directory for 1886, compiled by Artemas Ward, published
by The Philadelphia Grocer Publishing Co. (p. 13)
Animals or Menagerie
1 bbl flour, 40 lbs sugar, 16 lard, 12 oz soda, 8 ozs ammonia, 6 3/4 gals milk."
---Secrets of the Bakers and Confectioners' Trade, J. D. Hounihan
[self-published:Staunton VA] April 1, 1883 (p. 96)
[NOTE: this is professional cooking text. It does not offer any instructions regarding the shaping
of these cookies. The author offers this interesting preface note on p. 89: "The following recipes
are from threee of the best workmen in the business. One of them is at New York, another at
Philadelphia and the third at Cambridge, Mass. They are all employed in the best bakeries in their
respective localities, and I have their sworn affidavit that they are the recipes they are now
working with, and the best known to them...I am not at liberty to give the names of the parties I
have the recipes from, for reasons best known to myself and the parties"]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
76)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 104)
---Out of the Cracker Barrel:From Animal Crackers to ZuZus, William Cahn [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 106-7)
Apees
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999
(p. 6-7)
---The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yuletide Sweets, William Woys
Weaver
[Harper Perennial:New York] 1990 (p. 143)
[NOTE: this book includes a recipe from Maria Parloa's Choice Recipes, 1904 which does not
list anise as
one of the ingredients.]
[1828]
"Apees.
A pound of flour, sifted.
Half a pound of butter.
A glass of wine, and a tablespoonful of rose-water, mixed.
Half a pound of powdered white sugar.
A nutmeg, grated.
A tea-spoonful of beaten cinnamon and mace.
Three table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.
Sift the flour into a broad pan, and cut up the butter in it. Add the carraways, sugar, and spice,
and pour in
the liquor by degrees, mixing it well with a knife. If the liquor is not sufficient to wet it
thoroughly, add
enough of cold water to make it a stiff dough. Spread some flour on your paste-board, take out
the dough,
and knead it very well with your hands. Put it into small pieces, and knead each separately, then
put them
all together, and knead the whole in one lump. Roll it out in a sheet about a quarter if an inch
thick. Cut it
out in round cakes, with the edge of a tumbler, or a tin of that size. Butter an iron pan, and lay the
cakes in
it, not too close together. Bake them a few minutes in a moderate oven, till they are very slightly
coloured,
but not brown. If too much baked, they will entirely lose their flavor. Do not roll them out too
thin."
---Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, by a Lady of Philadelphia
[Eliza
Leslie], facsimile reprint of 1828 edition published by Munroe and Francis: Boston [Applewood
Books:Chester Ct] (p. 56-7)
"Apees.--Rub a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour, and mix in a pound of
powdered
white sugar, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and four large
table-spoonfuls of
carraway seeds. Add a wine glass of rose water, and mix the whole with sufficient cold water to
make it a
stiff dough. Roll it out into a large sheet about a third of an inch in thickness, and cut it into round
cakes
with a tin cutter or with the edge of a tumbler. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them in a
quick oven,
(rather hotter at the bottom than at the top,) till they are of a very pale brown."
---Directions fo Cookery in its Various Branches, Miss Leslie [Carey & Hart:Philadelphia]
1849 (p.
354)
"Apees (A.P.'s).
One pound and a half of flour, one pound of sugar, one pound of butter, one gill of milk; rub the
butter,
sugar and flour together; add the milk; stir the mixture with a knife or spoon into the dough; turn
it out, and
work it until it becomes perfectly smooth; roll it into thin sheets, cut with a small cutter, place on
tins, and
bake them in a cool oven. It will take a few minutes to knead all the ingredents into a dough, but,
as the
quantity of milk is quite sufficient, it would spoil them to add more."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter, facsimile reprint of 1871
edition with
introduction and suggested recipes by Louis Szathmary [Promontory Press:New York] 1974 (p.
267)
"Apees (Ice Cream and Cakes)
1 pound of butter
1 1/2 pounds of flour
1 pound of sugar
1 gill of milk
Cream the butter and sugar; sift in the flour, then the milk, and stir it to a dough; turn it out on the
moulding-board, and work to a fine dough again. Roll into sheets, as thick as a dollar piece, cut
into small cakes, lay
them on tins, and bake in a cool oven."
---Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Mrs. S.T. Rorer [Arnold and
Company:Philadelphia] 1886
(p. 496-7)
"A-P's.
Cream half a pound of butter and the same of sugar, add a wine-glass and a half of cold water, ten
drops
of essence of lemon, a few caraway seeds, and one pound of flour; foll out as thin as paper, and
bake on
buttered tins."
---The Economical Cook Book, Mrs. Sara T. Paul [John C. Winston:Chicago] 1905 (p.
247)
Fig Newtons
---Associated Press Newswire, April 11, 1991, Thursday, AM cycle
---The Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, edited by Janice Jorgensen, [St. James
Press:Detroit] 1994, Volume 1 (pps.183-185)--includes a list of articles
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 126-7)
---Out of the Cracker Barrel, William Cahn [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1969 (p.102)
---Yankee Magazine, August 1995 (p. 19)
Word Mark FIG NEWTONS Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: BAKERY
PRODUCTS-NAMELY, BISCUITS. FIRST USE: 18910000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE:
18910000 Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED
FORM Serial Number 71551025 Filing Date March 2, 1948 Registration Number 0588911
Registration Date April 27, 1954 Owner (REGISTRANT) NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY
CORPORATION NEW JERSEY 449 WEST 14TH STREET NEW YORK NEW YORK (LAST
LISTED OWNER) NABISCO, INC. CORPORATION BY CHANGE OF NAME FROM NEW
JERSEY 7 CAMPUS DRIVE PARSIPPANY NEW JERSEY 070540311
Biscotti & mandlebrot
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] 2001 (page 113)
---The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York]
1998 (p. 36)
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
53)
Almonds, hazelnuts, anise, and sesame seeds were well known to ancient cooks. Chocolate was
introduced to the "Old World" in the 16th century. It took approximately hundred years before
this ingredient was incorporated into European desserts. It wasn't until the 19th century this
ingredient found its way into baked goods. Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History (Alberto
Capatti & Massimo Montanari) references both biscotti and hazelnuts, although not together in
one recipe, as foods relished by the wealthy during the 16th century (p. 128).
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 354)
Chocolate chip cookies
"Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies
Cream 1 cup butter, add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 eggs beaten whole.
Dissolve 1 tsp. Soda in 1 tsp. Hot water, and mix alternately with 2 1/4 cups flour sifted with 1
tsp. Salt. Lastly add 1 cup chopped nuts and 2 bars (7-oz.) Nestles yellow label chocolate,
semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with 1 tsp vanilla and drip half
teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375 degrees F. Oven. Makes 100
cookies."
---Toll House Tried and True Recipes, Ruth Wakefield [M. Barrows:New York] 1947 (p.
216)
Petit fours & mignardise
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p. 876)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 252)
The term mignardise, as applied to the culinary world, means an assortment of small, dainty
confections.
This assortment is generally composed of petits fours in the larger sense: tiny decorated cakes,
specialty
cookies, bonbons and sugared fruits. In other words, a plate of identical petits fours confections
(no matter
how ornate) would not be considered a mignardise. A mixed presentation of small, decorated
specialty
pastries, cookies and candies would qualify as mignardise.
---Collins Robert French English/English French Dicitonary, unabridged, Beryl Atkins et
al, 4th ed.
[HarperCollins:New York]1995 (p. 512)
---Harrap's New Standard French and English Dictionary (p. M:40)
---Master Dictionary of Food and Cookery, Henry Smith [Philosphical Library:New York]
1950 (p.
153)
---International Dictionary of Food & Cooking, Ruth Martin [Hastings House:New York]
1974 (p. 177)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang, editor [Crown:New York] 1988 p. 793)
Rugelach
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 351-2)
[1958]
"Rugelach--Elsie Waldman's Recipe
1 cake yeast
1 cup commercial sour cream
4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1/2 pound butter (or part margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/16 teaspoon salt
Have all ingredients at room temperature. Crumble the yeast into the cream. Alternately add the
flour and
egs. Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt, and blend thoroughly into the batter. Divide the
dough into
4 parts, wrap each in waxed paper, and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Roll out each part of the
dough
into a strip 6 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Spread each with jam, and sprinkle with any or all of
the
following: raisins, ground cinnamon, sugar, ground nut meats, and shredded cocoanut. Roll up
and cut
each roll into 12 slices. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees F. About 30
minutes, until
a rich brown."
---The Jewish Cook Book, Mildred Grosberg Bellin [Tudor Publishing Company:New
York] 1958 (p.
268)
Joan Nathan's
apricot or
chocolate rugelach recipe (Jewish Cooking in America/PBS):
Scooter Pies & Mallomars
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 184)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montage [Crown Publishers:New York] 1961 e(p.
578)
[1919]
"Langue de chat, I. Work a quarter pound of butter with a quarter pound of sugar until
creamy. Then add four eggs, one by one, and keep on working until very smooth. Add a few
drops of vanilla extract and a quarter pound of flour, and mix lightly. Put into a pastry bag and
spread on a buttered pan in the shape of small lady fingers. Bake for a few minutes in a rather hot
oven.
---The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book, Victor Hirtzler [Hotel Monthly Press:Chicago] 1919
(p. 179-180)
"Cats' Tongues, or Finger-Biscuits (Langues-de-Chats Fines)
The dough for this kind of cookie varies, but they are always cooked in the same way; it requires the use of thick black
steel baking sheets; the cats' tongues will color too much on a thin baking sheet. If possible, it is a good idea to have two baking
sheets, so that you can shape the dough on the second while the first is in the oven. Also, you need a pastry bag fitted with
a nozzle 1/2 centimeter (3/16 inch) in diameter...If ou do not have one, you can use a large cone of heavy paper, cutting the end
to the right diameter. You have to prepare as many cones of paper as the number of times you would need to refill the pastry bag,
because these paper cones can be used only once. Time: 1 hour for the preparation. Makes 5 dozen.
125 gram (4 1/2 ounces, 9 tablespoons) of fine butter;
160 grams ( 5 2/3 ounces) of good sifted wheat flour;
140 grams (5 ounces) of confectioners' sugar;
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder; 2 egg whites beaten into a snow.
Procedure: Once the flour has been strained through a drum sieve or sifted, mix in the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla
powder, then sift everything a second time through the drum sieve onto a stiff sheet of paper. Leave it on the table. Have
ready the baking sheets, lightly buttered, as well as the pastry bag or the paper cones. In a terrine large enough to be able
to mix the whites, work the mixture as directed...The whisk the egg whites into a snow...Add the prepared flour and sugar to the
butter made into a pomade by lightly shaking the sheet of paper above the terrine while mixing with the wooden spoon, without
working the dough too much. Finally, incorporate the egg whites beaten into a snow with the movement and care required for this
mixture...Immediately afterward, fill the pouch of the paper cone. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheet in little sticks about half
the length of a pencil. Leave about 3 centimeters (1 1/8 inches) of space between each little stick, because the dough will
spread out a great deal when baking. Then immediately put them into an oven at a good medium heat for 7-8 minutes, until
only the edge of the cookies has taken on a lightly brown golden tint. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and loosen the
cookies from it by passing the flexible blad of a large knife under them."
---La Bonne Cuisine: The Original Companion for French Home Cooking, Madame E. Saint-Ange, translated and with an
introduction by Paul Aratow [Ten Speed Press:Berkeley CA] 2005 (p. 717-8)
[NOTES: (1) Elipse (...)indicates directions to be found on other pages of this book. (2) We have a copy of the original French
book. If you would like to see this recipe from that source let us know. Can scan, mail or fax.]
"Langue de chat (Patisserie).--Ce petit gateau est ainsi nomme, disent certains auteurs
culinaries, a cause de sa forme plate et allongee qui est, parait-il, semblable a une langue de chat.
A vrai dire, il faut mettre une extreme bonne volonte pour trouver que cette patisserie ressemble a
une langue de felin domestique, amis n'ayant pas d'autre etymologie a proposer pour justifier
cette appellation, nous l'adoptons sans discuter.
Les langues de chat, qui appartiennent a la categorie des gateaux secs, se preparent de diverses
facons, ou, du moins, peuvent etre partumees diversement. Mais seulement peuvent etre designes
sous ce nom les petits gateaux dont ci-apres nous donnons les recettes. Les langues de chat, qui
sone des patisseries d'assez longue conservation, se servent surtout comme accompagnement de
certains vins de liqueur ou de vins mousseux. On les sert aussi comme accompagnement des
entrements glaces et enfin, on les utilise dans la preparation de divers poudings."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montage [Librarie Larousse:Paris] 1938 (p.
637)
[NOTE: This book also offers two recipes for langues de chat: simples and fines. If you would
like us to fax you the pages we reference all we need is your number.]
Lemons are ancient foods enjoyed in many cultures and cuisines from the beginning of time
through
present day. The figured prominently in custards, pies, cheesecakes, candies, and baked goods.
They were
also used to flavor savory dishes (lemon chicken, etc.). Lemon bars, as we know them today,
evolved from
Renaissance times. Why? The ingredients provide the answer. This is when shortbread/crust was
developed, lemon custard was very popular and sugar was sprinkled on everything.
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson
Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 499)
[NOTE: Sunset recipe is reprinted in this book. Your librarian can help you obtain a copy.]
Everyone [in America] had a recipe for lemon bars in the Seventies after they appeared in Betty
Crocker's
Cooky Book (1963)."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren [MacMillan:New
York] 1995 (p.
349)
"Lemon squares.
And another recipe from the same year:
1 cup Gold Medal Flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Lemon juice.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (Mod.). Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Blend flour,
butter, and
confectioners' sugar thoroughly. Press evenly in square pan, 8 X 8 X 2". Bake 20 minutes. Beat
rest of the ingredients
together. Pour over crust and bake 20 to 25 min. More. Do not overbake! (The filling puffs
during baking but flattens
when cooled.) Makes 16 squares."
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, fascimile 1963 edition [Hungry Minds:New York] 2002
(p. 13)
[NOTE: Even though this recipe is called "squares" it is included in the section on "bar cookies."
Traditional bar
cookies cooked in a shallow pan and cut after baking. There are also no-bake bar cookies.]
"Crunchy Lemon Squares
Set out a 13 X 9 X 2-in. Baking pan.
Finely chop and set aside 1/2 cup (about 2 oz.) Pecans
Measure and set aside 1 cup sifted flour
Cream together 1/2 cup shortening, 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Add gradually, creaming until fluffy after each addition 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
Add gradually, beating thoroughly after each addition 2 egg yolks, beaten
Mixing until well blended after each addition, add flour in fourths to creamed mixture. Spread
batter evenly over the
bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. 10 min. Remove to cooling rack.
Meanwhile, beat until frothy 2 egg whites
Add gradually, beating well after each addition 1/2 cup sugar
Continue beating until rounded peaks are formed and egg whites do not slide when bowl is
partially inverted.
Fold in the chopped pecans and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Spread evenly over first payer in pan. Return to oven and bake for 25 min. or until meringue is
delicately browned.
Cool and cut into 2-in. Squares."
---The Family Home Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute[Grosset & Dunlap:New York]
1963 (p. 421)
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZus, William Cahn (p.
144)
[NOTE: this book is about the history of the National Biscuit Company/Nabisco--your librarian
can help you find a
copy.]
--- "Mallomars make fall debut," Business Wire, October 20, 1987
The Cookie
Crumbles," Gersh
Kutzman
Mexican wedding cakes & Russian tea
cakes
"...in looking for the roots of Spanish food traditions one must go back to the Phoenicians, who
founded the city now called Cadiz in 1100BC; the ancient Greeks, and the Carthaginians...and
more important, the Romans who used Spain as a major source of food, especially wheat and
olive oil...Introductions by the Arabs were also of fundamental importance for Spain's future.
They are particularly associated with the use of almonds (the essential ingredient for so many
Spanish desserts, baked goods, and confectionery items); with the introduction of citrus fruits
(including the lemon and the bitter (Seville) orange, without which British marmalade would
never have been born); sugar cane and the process of refining sugar from its juice..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
741)
---Recipes from a Spanish Village, Pepita Aris [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1990 (p.
124)
These typical Spanish holiday cookies are of Arab origin, but just about every country in the
Western world has some version of a sugar cookie. Sevilla is famous for its cookies, but they are
also found throughout Spain. Although often made with lard, butter produces a finer
cookie."
---The Foods and Wines of Spain, Penelope Casas [Knopf:New York] 1982 (p. 745)
---http://www.sevillacultural.com/ocio/english/gastronomy.htm
Biscochitos are a "new world" food with "old world" roots. Introduced to Mexico by Spanish
explorers in the 16th century, their true origin can be traced to Medieval Arabian cuisine. When
the Moors invaded Seville, they brought this recipe with them. Biscochitos (known in many
countries/cusines by different names) are traditionally associated with holiday feasts; most notably
Christmas. Variations on this recipe are endless. Orange juice/rind is probably one of the
oldest...Seville is/was famous for oranges.
Chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa) are "new world" foods.
---The Genuine New Mexico Tasty Recipes, Cleofas M. Jaramillo, Unabridged reprint of
Seton
Village Press edition, 1942 [Ancient City Press: Santa Fe NM] 1981 (p. 23)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd edition
[Barron:New York] 2001
(p. 385)
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Foods of the 20th
Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 481)
[NOTE: Ms. Anderson provides a recipe in her book.]
[1951]
"Mexican Wedding Cakes
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter with sugar. Add flour gradually, beating well after each addition. Add nuts and vanilla and blend. Shape into crescents,
place on an ungreased cooky sheet. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees F.) for 15 to 18 minutes. Approximate yield: 4 dozen crescents.
Crisp little things, ready to break in the mouth, melting richly on the tongue."
---"Quick-as-a-Wink Dishes," Clementine Paddleford, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1951 (p. G27)
"Mexican Wedding Cakes (a variation of Nut Butter Balls)
1 cup soft butter or margarine
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated or confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract; or 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 to 2 cups finely chopped or ground walnuts, pecans, almonds, black walnuts,
Brazil nuts, or
filberts.
Mix butter with sugar until very light and fluffy. Add salt, extract, flour, nuts; mix
well.
Refrigerate until easy to handle. Start heating oven to 350 degrees F. Shape dough
into 1" balls or
1" to 2" X 1/2" rolls, triangles, or crescents. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. (Or
drop by level
tablesoonfuls onto cookie sheet.) Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until light brown.
While cookies are
warm, roll in granulated or confectoners' sugar, fine cookie crumbs, or cinnamon
and sugar.
Makes 4 to 5 dozen.
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh editor [Good
Housekeeping Book
Division:New York] 1955 (p. 479)
[NOTE: this book does not contain a recipe for Russian Tea Cakes.]
[1886]
"Sand Tarts
1 pound of granulated sugar
Yolks of three eggs
1/2 pound of butter
Whites of two eggs
Flour enough to make a stiff paste
Beat the butter and sugar together; add the yolks beaten to a cream, then the
whites well beaten;
mix all well together, and add the flour. Roll out on a baking-board, cut with a
round cutter, and
bake in a moderate oven until a light brown."
---Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Mrs. S.T. Rorer [Arnold and
Company:Philadelphia] 1886 (p. 498)
"Sand tarts, Boston Cooking School Cook
Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
"Sand tarts
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar.
1 egg.
2 cups sifted flour.
2 teaspoons baking powder.
1/4 teaspoon salt.
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
3 tablespoons granulated sugar.
Halved almonds or pecans.
Cream together the butter and brown sugar, and add the well-beated egg. Sift
together the flour,
baking powder, and salt, and add to the first mixture. On a lightly floured board
make a roll of the
dough about 3 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and let stand for several
hours or
overnight in a cold place. In the morning slice wafer thin with a sharp knife, and
sprinkle with a
mixture of the cinnamon and granulated sugar. Press a nut in the center of each
cookie. Bake in a
moderate oven (350 degrees F.) For about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Store in air-tight
containers."
---Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised, Bureau of Gome Economics,
U.S. Department
of Agriculture [United States Government Printing Office:Washington DC] 1931
(p. 119)
No-bake cookies
[1936]
"Date Balls.
Stone: 1 pound dates, or use 1/2 pound seeded dates
Put them through a food chopper with: 1 cup chopped pecan meats
Add: 1/4 teaspoon salt
Shape the candy into tiny balls. Roll them in: Powdered sugar."
Remove the seeds from: 1 pound dates, or use 1/2 pound seeded dates
Cut the stems from 1 pound dried figs
Put these ingredients thorugh the coarsest cutter of a meat grinder with: 1 pound seeded raisins, 1 pound pecan meats, 1/3 pound crystallized ginger
Shape these ingredients into balls. Roll them in: Powdered sugar.
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis IN] 1936 (p. 543)
"Fruit Cookies (Unbaked)
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. figs
1 lb. dates
1 lb. cooked prunes
1 c. nuts
1 lb. graham crackers
2 tb. lemon juice
2 tb. honey
Grind fruit and nuts; add lemon juice and honey. Mix thoroughly and make into roll. Keep in refrigerator. Serve thin slices."
---Granddaugher's Inglenook Cookbook [Bretheren Publishing House:Elgin IL] 1942 (p. 51)
"Honey Bars
2 Cups Raisins
1 Cup Mixed Nuts
1/4 Cup Honey
Grind raisins and nuts. Mix with honey and press into sheet 1/2 inch thick. Cover, and place weight on top for 24 hours. Cut in bars. Roll in white or colored
coconut."
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Raisins
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Plumb raisins by steaming. Drain and chop. Roll coconut into fine pieces. Toast to a light brown in moderate oven (370 degrees F.). Mix peanut butter, sugar,
lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and raisins. Blend thoroughly. Shape into small balls. Roll in toasted coconut."
---Searchlight Recipe Book, Ida Migliaria, et al [Household:Topeka KA] 1952 (p. 81)
"No-Bake Cookie Balls
1 pkg. Semisweet chocolate pieces (1 cup)
3 tablesp. White corn syrup
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teasp. instant coffee
1/3 cup hot water
1 3/4 cups finely crushed packaged vanilla wafers (about 3 doz.)
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar.
In double boiler over hot, not boiling, water, melt chocolate; remove from heat. Mix in syrup, 3
cups sugar, nuts, coffee dissolved in hot water, wafer crumbs. Form into 1" balls. Roll in 1/2 cup
sugar. Store in covered container a day or so to ripen. Makes about 5 doz."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1962 (p.
480)
[NOTE: It is interesting to note mid-1950s "no bake" recipes typically employ popular packaged/processed
items. Perhaps the idea was a timely treat promoted by food companies? The earliest mention we
find for "no bake" cookies was printed in the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, 1962 (copyright
1955).]
Holiday Apricot Balls
1 pkg. (8 oz.) dried apricots, ground or finely cut
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 sweetened condensed milk
1 cup finely chopped nuts
Blend apricots, coconut, and milk well. Shape in small balls. Roll in chopped nuts. Let stand about 2 hr. to firm. Makes
about 5 doz. balls."
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, facsimile 1963 edition [Hungry Minds:New York] 2002 (p. 135)
Oatmeal cookies
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University:Oxford] 1999 (p. 547)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
229)
[NOTE: Oatmeal, ground oats mixed with milk/cream, descends from ancient pottage. These econmical, nutritious, belly-filling dishes
provided energy needed by hard working people.]
---Oxford Companion to Food (p. 546)
---A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and Distribution, Ann Hagen [Anglo-Saxon Books:Wilton UK] 1995 (p. 23)
[NOTE: This book contains much information about oats. Ask your librarian how to obtain a copy.]
---Traditional Scottish Cookery, Theodora Fitzgibbon [Fontana Paperbacks:Suffolk UK]
1980 (p.
225)
[NOTE: This book contains recipes for Selkirk and Pithcaithly bannocks]
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews
[ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 161)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 208)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 547)
So? Where do oatmeal cookies (as we know them today) fit in?
"The first recipe I've found for oatmeal cookies appears in the original Boston
Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer (1896). Nineteenth century, to be
sure. But just
barely (in fact they were barely oatmeal cookies, containing only half a cup). I include oatmeal
cookies here because they did not begin routinely appearing in cookbooks until the twentieth
century."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 482)
Ms. Farmer's 1896 oatmeal cookie recipe.
[1884]
Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup lard.
1 cup brown sugar.
1 cup molasses.
2 cups fine oatmeal.
1 teaspoon soda, dissolved in
2/3 cup boiling water.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 tablespoon ginger.
White flour for stiff batter.
Drop in little pats in a greased dripping-pan."
---Mrs. Owen’s Cook Book and Useful Household Hints, Mrs. Frances E. Owens, Revised and Illustrated [Owens Publishing Company:Chicago]
Copyright 1884-1885 (p. 265)
Oatmeal Cookies.
Three cups oatmeal (fine), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup lard, 1/3
cup butter, 1/2 tea-spoon salt, 1/2 tea-spoon soda; make thick with white
flour, roll very thin and bake a nice brown.
Theresa J. Cochran, Alternate Lady Manager World’s Fair, Groton, Vermont."
The Home Queen Cook Book, [Fort Dearborn Publishing:Chicago] 1898 (p. 367)
Oreos & vanilla Oreos
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZu's, William
Cahn [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 142-4)
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York]
1999 (p. 225)
"Oreos," Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Volume 1: Consumables,
Janice Jorgensen
(editor) [St. James Press:Detroit] 1994 (p. 425-427)
We searched magazine and newspaper articles (including the New York Times Historic
database) and did not find any references to a vanilla-flavored Oreo made by Nabisco. We did, however, find Nabisco Swiss
Creme Sandwiches. These could easily pass as vanilla Oreos. According to the records of the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Nabisco's Swiss Cream sandwich cookies were introduced to
the American public in 1958:
Word Mark GOLDEN OREO Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: Cookies. FIRST USE: 20040419. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20040419
Standard Characters Claimed Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK Design Search Code Serial Number 78327468
Filing Date November 13, 2003 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1B Published for Opposition September 21, 2004 Registration Number
2961410 Registration Date June 7, 2005 Owner (REGISTRANT) Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE Three Lakes Drive Northfield
ILLINOIS 60093 Attorney of Record Douglas W. Cherry Prior Registrations 0093009;1927379;AND OTHERS Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO
THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "golden" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Live/Dead
Indicator LIVE
Peanut butter cookies
"Peanut Butter Balls
Recipe makes 5 dozen small cookies
Temperature: 375 F.
1 cup Pillsbury's Best Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated rind of 1 lemon
2. Cream peanut butter and shortening; add sugar gradually.
3. Add unbeaten egg, lemon juice and grated rind; beat well.
4. Stir in dry ingredients. Chill dough thoroughly.
5. Form dough into small balls; place on greased baking sheet; press each cooky
once with tines
of a fork to flatten. Bake in moderate oven."
---Balanced Reicpes, Mary Ellis Ames [Pillsbury Flour Mills
Company:Minneapolis] 1933
(recipe 76)
1930s recipes instructed cooks to create criss-cross pattern on cookie with the tines of a fork.
They did not specify why. Neither do subsequent cookbooks. Craig Claiborne's observations on
the subject are quite enlightening:
---"The Fork and the Cookie," Craig Claiborne, New York Times, April 2, 1979 (p. A17)
---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carol Bloom [Hearst:New York] 1995
(p. 236)
---"Pizzelles bring Tuscan Elegance to the Cookie Tray," Annette Gouch, Chicago Tribune,
December 13, 2000 (p. 9)
---"Italy's Traditional Pizzelle Cookes Get an Update," Jolene Worthington, Chicago Tribune,
January 6, 1994 (p. 2)
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble
Books:New York]
1992 (p. 121)
[pages 120-124 present
the history of butter, including its symbolism]
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C.
Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p.
161-164)[ask your librarian to help you find this book--it is chock full of
interesting information.]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
721)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang [Crown Publishers:New
York] 1988 (p.
974-5)
---A Taste of Scotland, Theodora FitzGibbon [Avenel Books:New York]
1979 (p. 117)
[19th century]
Short Bread, Scotch.
No. 1. Mix two pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, two ounces of
candied citron,
chopped small, and two ounces of sweet almonds, blanched and sliced. Rub one
pound of butter
into the flour, melt another half pound of butter, and with this work up the four to
a smooth
paste. If a plainer cake is wanted, less butter may be used. Sometimes the whole of
the butter is
melted, and then the bread is more easily made. Roll out the pastry to the thickness
of an inch, and
in a large oval shape, pinch the edges evenly, prick the surface with a fork or
skewer, and sprinkle
large comfits over the top. Cut the oval across, thus making two cakes, and place
these upon
paper rubbed with flour, and then upon tins. Bake in a moderate oven. When the
bread is lightly
browned, it is done enough. It should be remembered that the less the bread is
kneaded the
shorter it will be. No. 2. Rub three-quarters of a pound of fresh unsalted butter
into half a pound
of flour; add a quarter of a pound of ground rice, four tablespoonfuls of moist
sugar, two ounces
of candied citron, finely minced, and an ounce of sweet almonds, blanched and
chopped small.
When these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, work the whole into a smooth paste
with the yolks
of two small eggs. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of half and inch, divide it
into four squares,
pinch the edges neatly, prick the surface with a "dabber" or fork, sprinkle comfits
and sliced citron
on the top, and bake as above. Time to bake the bread, half to three-quarters of an
hour."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell,
Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1874? (p. 866)
[NOTE: What are comfits?]
Shortbread
The ingredients should be warm and dry
1 lb (450 g.) butter
8 ox (225 g.) castor sugar
pinch of salt
1 lb (450 g.) sifted flour
8 oz (225 g.) rice flour
---Traditional Scottish Cookery, Theodora FitzGibbon [Fontana
Paperbacks:UK] 1980 (p.
252)
S'mores
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
298)
"Some More"
8 sticks (for toasting the
marshmallows)
16 graham crackers
8 bars plain chocolate
(any of the good plain brands, broken in two)
16 marshmallows
Toast two marshmallows over the coals to a crisp gooey state
and then put
them inside a graham cracker
and chocolate bar sandwich. The heat of the marshmallow between the halves of
chocolate bar
will melt
the chocolate a bit. Though it tastes like "some more" one is really enough.
"Some-Mores (serves 1)
4 squares plain chocolate (thin)
2 graham crackers
1 marshmallow
Toast marshmallow slowly over the coals until brown. Put chocolate on a graham
cracker, put the
toasted
marshmallow on top, then another graham cracker. Press gently together, and eat.
Taste like
"some more."
This recipe may be varied by using slices of apple (cut cross-wise) in place of the
graham
crackers; by
using pineapple slices or peanut butter in place of chocolate."
---Girl Scout Handbook [Girl Scouts of the United States of America:New
York] 1947 (p.
316)
Snickerdoodles
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 299)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd ed.[Barrons:New
York] 2001 (p.
575)
---Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Craig
Claiborne [Times
Books:New York] 1985 (p. 412)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 77)
1. You won't find recipes for snickerdoodles in early American
American
cookbooks.
---You WILL find plenty of recipes for currant (they are like raisins) cakes and
jumbles
combining sweet spices, nuts and dried fruits
2. Some food historians say snickerdoodles are a New England recipe
[English
origin].
---Others say it is from the Pennsylvania Dutch [German origin].
"Snickerdoodles
Three cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one cup of butter, two eggs, two teaspoons of cream of tartar, one teaspoon of soda. Drop
in a pan and sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon over each. Bake in a quck oven. --Mrs. John Montgomery"
---1902 Cook Book: A Collection of Tried Recipes Contributed by Estherville [Iowa] Housewives, Mrs. A.L. Barnum and Mrs. S. I. Delavan editors,
(p. 80)
"Snickerdoodles. 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 1 1/2
cups flour, 2
teaspoons
baking powder, 1/2 cup currants. Put into a large square tin and sprinkle with
sugar and cinnamon
before baking."
---Tried and True Recipes, published for the Benefit of the First
Congregational Church,
Wilmette, ILL. By the East End Circle Woman's Guild [1920s?--no date on the
book] (p. 72)
"The recipe for this delicious "family cooky" came to us from Mrs. Ronald
Anfinson, Benson, Minnesota.
1 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Have questions? 
