Hi All,
You might think that the day before the Superbowl I would pen a blog entry on football. You know a blog entry with player stats, Superbowl stats and pictures and half-time show entertainment. Nope. Not this year. I've done that for a few years now and want to shake it up and mix it up and do something different. So...one of the foods that is near and dear to my heart is the cookie. I'm talking about chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal raisin cookies or Oreos...pretty much almost any cookie is a cookie that I'll take a taste of. Cookies and milk. What a combination! Yum.
Click here for a brief history of the cookie - courtesy of Wikipedia. Section four has a very concise history of the cookie - and is interesting to boot.
And for an alternative history of the cookie, click on this link - courtesy of What's Cooking America. This is a very off the cuff, information-rich, chronological history of the cookie. Neat stuff.
Some of the more well known names in cookie and baking history are Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker. The Duncan Hines link goes to the company website, but this link goes to the 'About Us' page on the site. But...and this is important....neither of these two entities relies on just chocolate chip cookies now. For example, Duncan Hines makes products as varied as Classic Devil's Food Cake Mix and Classic Yellow Cake Mix and brownie mixes. In addition they make Lender's Bagels and Mrs. Butterworth (syrup), Wish-Bone Dressings, Aunt Jemima, Hungry-Man dinners and Vlassic pickles and Mrs Paul's fish sticks. Yum. But probably not a great way to start breakfast every day...
Betty Crocker makes products as varied as Bisquick, Betty Crocker Frosting, Reese's Premium Cookie Mix and many, many different types of cupcake mixes and cookie mixes.
And what an interactive, fun site it is! Filled with pictures and narrative all wrapped up in a magazine like interface, the site is fun and easy to use. And its quite a trip back to the beginnings and history of Duncan Hines! Click on this link for a 'Product Locator'. Click on this link to find a scrumptious Chunky Chocolate Cookie recipe.
So...with all these delicious products, here is a great question: who makes the better cake mix? Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker?
For chocolate chip cookie recipes, click on this link from AllRecipes.com. Click on this link for Anna's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ready in 25 minutes they received 4.5 stars (out of 5) and had over 900 reader reviews. Of course you can type in almost any terms (chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookie, sugar cookie, etc) in the Allrecipes.com search box and you'll come up with interesting recipes.
And finally, click on this link from Keebler - those elves are doing something sinfully good in that treehouse of theirs to be able to make such a delicious cookie
Enjoy the links and the cookies and of course, don't forget the milk when you make cookies. What a wonderful combination!
Regards,
Stu
