Every child knows the key to getting lots of presents is to leave Santa a plate full of delicious cookies on Christmas Eve. Whether you have been naughty or nice, cookies always seem to do the trick. Generations of families have taken part in this time-honored tradition of baking cookies for Santa Claus. Cookies can be traced back to humble beginnings thousands of years ago, and today are delightfully embedded into American culture and heritage.
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Angel by Edible Art in Longview.
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Santa Claus by Kern's Bake Shop in Longview.
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Santa hat by Candy and Cakes by Carrie in Beckville.
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The Gingerbread Cookie has a vast history dating back to the fifteenth century when crusaders returning to Europe from the Middle East brought back spices such as ginger. Believed to cure an upset stomach and prevent a cold, Catholic monks formed the ginger into cakes and pressed them into molds. Americans were first introduced to gingerbread in 1854 when Swiss Catholic monks brought over the recipe, fed it to the sick, and baked it for holiday celebrations.
At Edible Art, in Longview, Debbie Fontaine, decorator, and Joyce Yuen, baker, assembled more than 40 medium-sized gingerbread houses last year for customers. "It was a blast!" Debbie said.
The Sugar Cookie was perfected in the mid-1700s by German Protestant settlers in the Nazareth area of Pennsylvania. The cookie is usually made from baking soda, sugar, eggs, flour, vinegar, salt, milk and vanilla and baked until crisp. The sugar cookies can be rolled and pressed into many different shapes with cookie cutters and decorated with icing and sugar sprinkles, a perfect task for any fun-loving adult or child.
"The most popular request during the holidays is for my 'sugar cookie on a stick' in the shape of Santa," said Carrie Beckham, owner of Candy and Cakes by Carrie, in Beckville. "Last year I sold more than 30 dozen just the week of school Christmas parties alone."
At Edible Art, a shortbread sugar cookie in the shape of a Christmas tree has been the most popular cookie for the past three years. These cookies can be decorated in styles ranging from "childish to very elaborate," Debbie said.
The chocolate chip cookie was invented in 1937 by Ruth Graves Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Restaurant, and whirlwinded into popularity when Betty Crocker used the recipe in her radio series. Ruth teamed up with Nestle Co. and put the Toll House cookie recipe on the back of the wrapper of the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar. Later, Ruth sold all the legal rights to Nestle. The chocolate chip cookie continues to be a customary must-bake for the holidays.
The holidays are a time of sharing and giving, so why not do both with cookies? Charm found some scrumptious cookies from local bakeries to help the holiday season get off to the right start. Whether you buy or bake, get together with your friends, co-workers or family and enjoy some cookies. 'Tis the season!
