‘Tis cookie time!

‘Tis cookie time!

It’s time to roll out the rolling pin, dust your hands with flour and make all the cookie monsters happy. December 4th was National Cookie Day and officially kicked off the holiday cookie season. Cookies appeal to more than our tastebuds, they hold a sentimental place in our hearts and trigger feelings of sweet nostalgia and aromatic pleasure. People have had a love affair with cookies for more than 10,000 years.

The colonists probably celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence with “Joe Froggers.” The story goes that Joe Brown was the son of an African-American mother. His father was a member of the Wampanoag Tribe on Matha’s Vineyard. Brown joined the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War. His wife, Lucretia, made wonderful molasses cookies that were as large as the lilies on a frog pond, hence the name “Joe Froggers.”

Gingerbread cookies were also popular with the colonists. George Washington’s mother, Mary, made gingerbread cookies in the shape of a king before the revolution. After George won the Revolutionary War, she would form the gingerbread into the shape of an eagle. During the Renaissance, in 1598, Shakespeare referred to gingerbread in his play “Love’s Labours Lost,” as a “kinde of cake or paste made to comfort the stomacke.”

Ginger has long been used to aid digestion and to alleviate nausea and sea sickness. With all the stop-and-go jetting around that Santa does on Christmas Eve, he may need the tummy-soothing effect provided by the knobby brown ginger root, in the form of a tasty cookie.

Chocolate chip cookies are America’s favorite. In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, who worked at the Toll House Inn, dropped some chocolate bits into her cookie batter. She assumed the chocolate would melt, but it did not. It is said that Nestle bought the chocolate chip recipe from Wakefield for one dollar and a lifetime supply of chocolate. During WWII, families began including chocolate chip cookies in the care packages they sent to soldiers overseas. This started a chocolate chip cookie craze that continues to this day.

The only cookie that puts in more flight miles than Santa is the Biscoff cookie. The darling of several airlines, these ginger and cinnamon cookies are made in Belgium, where they are known as speculoos, a traditional Christmas cookie given to “Sinterklaas” on St. Nicholas Day.

Delta began serving these crispy ginger and cinnamon cookies in the 1980s because of their long shelf life, compact size, and the fact that they don’t leave a trail of cookie crumbs all over the plane. Both United and American Airlines soon followed suit. These coookies snap with a ginger and cinnamon zing that is perfect for high altitude snacking, with the added benefit that ginger helps alleviate air sickness.

According to a survey conducted by Santa’s elves, the most popular cookies left out for the rosy-cheeked Santa are chocolate chip, with oatmeal and peanut butter cookies tied for second place. The reindeer, however, prefer carrots.

Don’t let Santa fool you with his twinkling eyes, his hearty “ho, ho, ho,“ and that jolly old elf routine. When he jumps into his sleigh on Christmas Eve, he has studied quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves, and the space/time continuum. Santa has a lot going on under that bright red hat with the jaunty pom-pom on top.

Santa must deliver presents to 365,000 kids per minute or 6,000 kids per second. Of course, this is easy-peasy for Santa, who is fueled by cookies and milk in a sleigh powered by reindeer and magic.