Cookies (no calories)

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

For many of us, the holidays are all about smells: evergreens, scented candles, and freshly baked treats. And when the timer goes off and the warm smell of cookies fills the room, it can be hard to wait until the batch is cool enough to eat.  

If this is the situation for you, have no fear. As the educator, I’ve asked my colleagues to name their favorite cookies and I’ve added some history to think about while you wait.

Archivist Rachel Dworkin chose Snickerdoodles as her top cookie. While taking a middle school home economics class, she and a friend were assigned this strange sounding cookie to bake. They carefully followed the recipe and to their surprise, they ended up liking them so much that every time she and her friend got together, they’d make a batch.

According to cookbook author Ann Byrn, Snickerdoodles were probably brought to the United States by early Dutch-German immigrants. They became a big hit in 1891, when Cornelia “Nellie” Campbell Bedford, a New York City cooking teacher and newspaper columnist published her version of the recipe. She called for sugar cookie dough to be sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and baked in a tray. In the 1930s, bakers started chilling the dough and forming balls they would roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  

The cookie’s iconic name isn’t as clear. Some attribute it to the German word “Schneckennudle” which translates to snail noodles, while another insists it’s a nonsensical word created by New Englanders who were known for their silly names for cookies.

Senior Curator Erin Doane’s favorite cookie is as much about looks as about taste. She remembers her grandmother using special cookie cutters to make these masterpieces each Christmas. Her grandmother also made sure each of her grandchildren knew how to make them. So knowing how critical the tools are to the cookie, Erin tracked down the iconic cookie cutters and has adapted the cookie to reflect her mixed-faith household. Now each winter she creates her own Jolly Santa and Happy Rebbe cookies.  

The important “Aunt Chick” cutters, used to make these cookies, were the invention of Nettie Caroline Williams, a former home economics teacher. Finding too much time on her hands after she married, Williams wrote a popular food column in the Tulsa, Oklahoma newspaper under the name Aunt Chick. She also invented various kitchen items to make life easier for home cooks and presented cooking shows at Tulsa’s premier department store, Vandever’s. These were so well-received that she was asked to share them at Macy’s in New York and other venues across the nation. Her 1939 cookbook, “Aunt Chick’s Pies,” sold over 650,000 copies.

Nettie Caroline Williams

The success of her cookie cutters, invented in 1948, was that they allowed dough to keep its sculptural shape while sliding free of the cutters. These became such a hit with bakers that in 1952, Princess Margaret of England bought a set for four-year-old Prince Charles. Thanks to the royal publicity, 70,000 sets were sold in just six weeks.

Our executive director, Bruce Whitmarsh, forced to choose just one kind of cookie, selected Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ruth Wakefield

These favorites first showed up in a 1938 cookbook, “Tried and True” written by Ruth Wakefield of Whitman, Massachusetts. For years, she had served this treat to rave reviews at her Toll House restaurant. Not a happy accident as some thought, Ruth Wakefield created this cookie intentionally. Before running the restaurant, Wakefield had taught home economics at what later became Framingham State College, where she had earned a degree.

The Chocolate Chip cookie became an instant hit and caught the attention of chocolate manufacturer Nestle’s. To promote sales of their chocolate, they created a special tool for bakers to chop their semi-sweet bars into bits. In 1939, they negotiated with Wakefield to print her recipe on the back of each package, then took it further and created the chocolate morsels or chips that bakers use today.

Office Manager Samantha Sallade’s favorite cookie is Pepperidge Farm’s Chocolate Orange Milano. Like the others, we can thank a woman for inventing these cookies.

Margaret Rudkin

In 1937, Margaret Rudkin of Fairfield, Connecticut, was looking for help. Her youngest son had asthma and reacted badly to preservatives in commercially processed foods. Her husband, was off work, having been injured in a polo game, and economic times were challenging. Her solution to all this was to bake her own bread. Women were not baking their own bread anymore, and the store options were limited. Rudkin started selling bread to specialty stores on the East Coast and a month later she had sold over 4,000 loaves of the high-end bread.

She named the company Pepperidge Farms after her family’s farm in Fairfield where she had started baking. Her products were known for their quality. By 1947, it was necessary for her to move operations and open a modern commercial bakery.

Business continued to grow, and she added other products. On a trip to Europe in the 1950s, she came across fancy chocolate cookies. Convinced she could sell something similar in the United States, she bought the rights to produce them and launched Pepperidge Farm’s Distinctive Cookies line, each named after a European city.

In addition to quality ingredients, Rudkin believed in supporting working women. She actively encouraged and hired women, and gave advice to women who wanted to go into business for themselves. In 1942 she told a newspaper, "I don't believe that there is any job women can't do," and "They handle machines as well as men and they're marvelous to work with." In the 1950s, she was called one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen by Fortune Magazine.

In 1961, Rudkin sold the company to the Campbell Soup Company for over 25 million dollars. She was the first woman invited to sit on their board.

So the next time you wait for a batch of cookies to cool, or are waiting in line at the grocery, know that history is one of the important ingredients.  As for my favorite cookie, I’ll take one of each.