The one thing I just love about cookies is that there is no end to what you can do. According to A Brief History of the Cookie - DoDo Cookie Dough & Ice Cream the most popular type of cookie in no particular order is Animal crackers, originally from England. They are called Animal due to the shape of the biscuit, cut with animal shapes. Animal cookies varied with different recipes. Then there are the iconic Australian Anzac Biscuits made with oats for the Australian army.

Biscotti comes next, meaning twice cooked, Italian known, however the Dutch and German have their claim to fame with a twice cooked biscuit.

Probably by far the most popular is the chocolate chip cookie which was accidentally invented in 1937. Ruth Wakefield wanted to bake butter cookies but ran out of baker’s chocolate and added chopped bits of chocolate bars she found in her pantry. To her surprise the chocolate did not melt through the dough and they became a world-wide hit - the world has never been the same since then. In 1997 this cookie became the official cookie of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Also, let’s not forget about the Fig Newton, which is a fig roll, then there is Ladyfinger or Sugar cookies, oh and there is also the infamous Oreo which was invented in 1912. There are so many varieties of cookies and there is so much to know and learn about them too.

Shelf life at home - not long at all

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By the way, have you ever wanted to know what kind of cookie you are? Well if so you can take a test at National Cookie Day. Yes, this is a somewhat true and interesting test to take, go on give it a go.

To no surprise I am a Chocolate Chip Cookie and this is what the quiz said about me. “You're a chocolate chip cookie! You've likely got a large group of friends, and you've probably even baked cookies with a few of them. Your friends can count on you to always have the most-stocked pantry, and you never let them down.”

Sounds about right to me but I wonder how many other people will take the test and end up being a chocolate chip cookie ...

So, here are a few short facts about the cookie according to National Homemade Cookies Day 2022.

A homemade biscuit can last up to a week at room temperature, good for a short multi-day hike I say.

An average person consumes almost 19,000 cookies in a lifetime. Wow, that is a lot of cookies.

Cookies are one of the easier desserts to cook. Let’s get baking.

The biggest cookie was baked in 2003, and it was said that it was 102 feet wide and weighed over 40,000 pounds! That is 31 metres wide and just over 18 tonnes. Wow, what a big cookie that is.

One last thing. Who remembers Sid the Muppet, the Cookie Monster? Well, he was born on 2 November 1966 and became famous on Sesame Street in 1969 for his voracious appetite for cookies. His favourite biscuit is the original simple Cookie Dough with chocolate chips. This is a recipe for you to bake at home and share with friends on your next hike. You're welcome!

Cookie Dough

Ingredients

MethodPut ¾ cup of butter or margarine into your mixing bowl. Measure 1 cup of sugar. Pour sugar over butter. With a fork, squash the butter and sugar together until they are blended. Crack open the two eggs, slightly beat them and the pour the eggs over the mixture in the bowl. Measure 1 teaspoon vanilla and pour over the mixture. With a fork, blend everything in the bowl together. Measure 2½ cups plain flour and pour over the mixture in the bowl. Measure 1 teaspoon of baking powder and sprinkle over the flour. Measure 1 teaspoon of salt and sprinkle over the flour and teaspoon of baking powder. Mix everything together either with the fork or with your hands. Add the chocolate chips add now and gently mix through. Rest the dough at least one hour in the fridge. Sprinkle the counter with flour and place the chilled dough on top. Roll dough into a 7 mm thick sheet. Use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place on ungreased baking paper, sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy cookies.

50 | Bushwalk December 2022