Did you know that cookies were first “invented” to test the temperature of an oven, not to eat? According to culinary historians, back in the 7th century, bakers would take a small piece of batter and place it in their wood-fired stove to see if the oven was hot enough for full-on baking.
(And by the way, did you know there were such things as culinary historians? How do I apply for that?)
Did you know that actual Christmas cookies originated in the Middle Ages in Europe? The increased spice trade made sugar more accessible, but spices were still expensive so bakers only used flavorings such as cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruits during the most important holidays, like Christmas.
Did you know that, according to tastesbetterfromscratch.com — and only after what I assume must have been painstaking, exhaustive research — the most popular Christmas cookies are sugar cookies (favored by 18.1% of 2,700 respondents), followed by snowball cookies (13.2%), peanut butter (12.4%) and snickerdoodles (10.8%)?
(And what, no rum balls?)
And did you know that on Monday, the Finger Lakes Times will be holding our annual Cookie Contest right here in our office?
(You do if you’ve noticed the various ads we’ve been running to hawk the big, sweet event).
It’s one of the most exciting projects that we undertake here, especially when the entries are delivered on the Monday of the contest and our conference room where they are stored begins smelling like a bakery. I usually gain about five pounds just by taking some deep breaths of sugar and spice and everything nice.
This will be our 13th annual Cookie Contest — we held it for 10 straight years between 2000 and 2019, took a year off in 2020 (not for our waistlines but for covid), and ran it again in ’21 and ’22. Our Susan Porter very ably handles things, from soliciting judges, to orchestrating the actual tasting, to collecting the winning recipes and writing about the event for the paper. Chief photographer Spencer Tulis adds levity, photographs and sometimes video.
Sue has lined up a fabulous group of judges for this year’s contest:
• FLT Circulation Manager Tony Arno (hint to bakers out there, he’s a Cincinnati Reds fan if you need decorating ideas!)
• Bethany Boyes from QZ Cookies in Seneca Falls.
• Keli Crummer of It’s a Wonderful Bakery in Seneca Falls.
• Beth French of Geneva, 2022 contest winner with her incredible Brown Butter Maple Waffle Cookies.
• Rebecka Picchi of Geneva, 2019 winner with her unique Baklava Thumbprint Cookies.
The rules are relatively simply — mouthwatering, yet simple — bakers are limited to two entries per person. Submit SIX cookies per entry with the recipe, the baker’s name and phone number attached. (The phone numbers will only be used to contact the winners). They must be submitted between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday at our office at 218 Genesee St. in Geneva. Judging will be held that evening, winners will be notified, and the top three recipes along with a recap of the tasting action will be published in our Dec. 16 Weekend edition.
And, as if the title of FLT Christmas Cookie Baker of the Year isn’t enough, cash prizes of $150, $75 and $50 will be awarded to the top three finishers.
So, now is the time to get your cookie on, if you haven’t already. Get out your flour, your sugar, your butter, your spices, your baking powder, your sprinkles … and whatever else you need to make incredible holiday cookies and get them to us on Monday. If you have any questions, contact Sue at scporter@fltimes.com.
And how about one more fun fact about Christmas cookies: Apparently someone has actually done this research (which is another job I might like to apply for) and determined that Santa visits over 500 million homes around the world on Christmas Eve, encountering about a billion cookies laid out for him — and untold glasses of milk. He can’t possibly eat all those cookies, even with the help of his reindeer, but even if he eats one or two at, say, every other house, that is over 300 million cookies!
Talk about a sugar high.
Mike Cutillo is the publisher and executive editor of the Times. Contact him at mcutillo@fltimes.com or 315-789-3333, ext. 264.
PUB CHAT: Time to get your cookie on — FLT contest is Monday
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09.12.2023
Did you know that cookies were first “invented” to test the temperature of an oven, not to eat? According to culinary historians, back in the 7th century, bakers would take a small piece of batter and place it in their wood-fired stove to see if the oven was hot enough for full-on baking.
(And by the way, did you know there were such things as culinary historians? How do I apply for that?)
Did you know that actual Christmas cookies originated in the Middle Ages in Europe? The increased spice trade made sugar more accessible, but spices were still expensive so bakers only used flavorings such as cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruits during the most important holidays, like Christmas.
Did you know that, according to tastesbetterfromscratch.com — and only after what I assume must have been painstaking, exhaustive research — the most popular Christmas cookies are sugar cookies (favored by 18.1% of 2,700 respondents), followed by snowball cookies (13.2%), peanut butter (12.4%) and snickerdoodles (10.8%)?
(And what, no rum balls?)
And did you know that........
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