Different Types of Cookies That You Should Know

Cookies are small, round, flat, sweet desserts and are also known as biscuits in some parts of the world. They are easy to prepare and even kids enjoy baking them. Baking powder, all-purpose flour, sugar, butter, and salt are the basic ingredients required to make a cookie. Cookies are basically classified by the way the dough is baked. Before knowing about the common types of cookies, let us take a look at its history.

Records say that the name or the term "cookie" came in print in the year 1703. The origin of cookies is quite interesting and these were initially called little cakes or test cakes. These test cakes were known by different names in different countries. In the Netherlands, these were called koekje, while the Englishmen called them biscuits. Biscuit basically has a Latin origin, where bis coctum means "twice baked". The ovens in olden days did not have a thermostat facility as we have today. 

So, a small amount of cake batter was dropped in the baking pan of the oven to test whether the temperature of the oven is set to bake the cake. These test cakes went under several evolutions. The moisture removal from the test cakes made them remain fresh for a longer period of time as compared to cakes. So, smaller portions were baked to form hard-textured and dry cookies, what we know today.

Drop cookies are baked by dropping or pushing the dough on the cookie sheet with help of a spoon. The dough is comparatively soft and is spread a little after dropping it on the cookie sheet. Chocolate chip cookies, macaroons, rock cakes, oatmeal raisin, etc., are some of the popular drop cookies.

Bar cookies are the quickest and easiest to bake. To make them, the dough is poured into a greased loaf pan and then baked. Once the cookie dough is baked, it is cut into small squares. Brownies are popular examples of bar cookies.

As their name suggests, these cookies are shaped either by hand or with the help of molds. The dough used for these cookies is stiff and is molded into different shapes before baking. Peanut butter cookies, almond crescents, sugar cookies, etc., are some of the examples of molded cookies.

Rolled cookies are made from stiff cookie dough. The dough is rolled out with the help of a rolling pin and is cut into shapes with the help of knife, pastry wheel, or a cookie cutter, and then baked. Example of rolled cookies is gingerbread men.

Refrigerator cookies are made from stiff dough that is chilled before baking. The cookie dough is molded into cylinder shapes and allowed to refrigerate for an hour or so. Then, these cylinders are sliced into round cookies and baked. Pinwheels and shortbread cookies are some of the examples of refrigerator cookies.

Pressed cookies are easy to make. The dough used for making these cookies is soft and a cookie press or pastry bag is used to drop or press the dough on the cookie sheet. Many fancy and decorative shapes can be made while making these cookies. Spritzs are popular examples of pressed cookies.