Cookies may seem like an American treat but they’re actually a global phenomenon that precedes America’s independence by centuries. Discover 20 delicious cookies to eat in the USA and around the world.
1. Chocolate Chip Cookie
Not long after the Great Depression, Massachusetts baker Ruth Graves Wakefield added chocolates chips to drop cookie dough made with plenty of brown sugar and butter. The historic result was the original “toll house” cookies and possibly the first chocolate chip cookies. Today, chocolate chip cookies are enjoyed by kids of all ages everywhere.
Discover More: Toll House Cookie Recipe
2. Sandwich Cookie
Oreos aren’t the only sandwich cookies in the world worth eating. Sandwich cookies come in various shapes and sizes with a range of fillings besides sweet cream like fruity jam and salty peanut butter. But, let’s face it, Oreos are the world’s most popular sandwich cookies by a long shot.
Discover More: Ten Oreo Flavors
3. Peanut Butter Cookie
While people have been eating peanuts for centuries, two famous Americans get credit for the peanut butter cookie. The first is cereal magnate John Harvey Kellogg who patented a method for mass producing peanut butter in 1895. The second is George Washington Carver who published the first peanut butter cookie recipe in his prolific How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption two decades later in 1916.
Discover More: Best American Cereals
4. Snickerdoodle Cookie
The snickerdoodle easily wins the award for the cookie with the most colorful moniker. But that name is confusing. This cookie has nothing to do with either American candy bars or cuddly doodle dogs. Likely inspired by German schneckennudel pastries, the buttery cookie is baked with plenty of cinnamon and sugar.
Discover More: Best American Candies
5. Sugar Cookie
The sugar cookie may be the world’s most versatile cookie. While traditional sugar cookies are traditionally round, they can be baked in a variety of shapes and sizes. The best ones, deocrated with colorful icing, glaze and sprinkles, often have a holiday motif.
6. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Baked with wholesome oatmeal and dried grapes (i.e. raisins), the oatmeal raisin cookie sounds like it should be a healthier cookie option. It’s not. But it tastes good and that’s what really matters.
7. Linzer Torte
While it’s documented that Austrians have been eating lattice-topped linzer tortes since the 17th century, details about the linzer cookie’s history are fuzzier. Similar to their pastry inspiration, jam-filled linzer sandwich cookies have almond crust. They also have peek-a-boo holes that display fruit jam plus a dusting of powedered sugar on top.
8. Hobknob Biscuit
Hobknob biscuits have been lining London supermarket shelves 1985. An immediate success when they debuted, the rolled-oat cookies reached cult status after McVitie’s added a chocolate-topped version two years later. Today, Hobknob flavors include milk chocolate, dark chocolate and chocolate chip. There’s also a gluten-free version of the original cookie.
Discover More: London Food Favorites
9. Macaron
French macarons are fancified sandwich cookies made from a meringue of egg whites, sugar and almond flour. Some Parisian bakers add vivid food coloring to create virtual macaron rainbows. Others keep things more natural and create crunchy, creamy sandwiches that are muted, natural and still beautiful.
Discover More: Best Paris Bakeries
10. Biscotti
Biscotti, also called cantuccini in some parts of Italy, are oblong, twice-baked (thus the name) almond cookies similar to mandelbrot in Eastern Europe. Italy’s version was first baked in Tuscany centuries ago before spreading throughout the country and beyond.
Discover More: Traditional Italian Desserts
11. Biscuit Rose De Reims
Also twice baked and oblong, Reims’ most famous cookie isn’t famous for its baking process or shape. Instead, its fame emenates from the cookie’s rose color and a dunking techniqe that involves Reims’ greatest product – champagne.
Discover More: Irresistible French Pastries
12. Hungaro
Despite their name, hungaro cookies aren’t from Hungary. They’re Portuguese. We don’t know why Portuguese bakers chose to name this tasty cookie after the faraway Eastern European country. However, we do know that the buttery, chocolate-coated cookie tastes best when its shaped into a sandwich and filled with apricot jam.
Discover More: Best Portuguese Pastries
13. Alfajor
Argentina embraced the alfajor when the caramel sandwich cookie arrived in the New World. Argentine bakers prepare alfajores by filling two cookies with a luscious layer of dulce de leche and dusting them with powdered sugar. Some are even coated with chocolate and coconut.
14. Red Velvet Cookie
Red velvet cake is hard to miss due to its vibrant red hue. The same can be said for red velvet cookies which are also red. Both versions get their flavor from cocoa powder. As for the color, that’s typically enhanced by food coloroing or beet juice depending on the recipe.
15. Black & White Cookie
The black and white cookie isn’t a typical cookie for a couple key reasons. For starters, its base is soft and cakey as opposed to firm and crumbly. But the real differentiator is its two toppings – equal amounts of chocolate and vanilla fondant. Big enough to share, the two-toned, upside down cookie are staples at NYC bakeries and bagel shops.
Discover More: Best NYC Bakeries and Best NYC Bagel Shops
16. Amaretti Cookie
Depending on the Italian region where it’s baked, an amaretti cookie can be either soft and chewy or hard and crispy. However, regardless of its origin, this cookie is a great meal ender especially when paired with an espresso or sweet liqueur.
17. Polvorones
Traditional polvorones in Spain are crumbly round shortbread cookies. Spanish bakers add almonds andlard to this cookie’s recipe before covering their baked cookies with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar. Mexico’s Polvorones are different. If you’re lucky, you can find tri-colored Polvorones in Mexican cities like Puebla, Guadalahara or in American cities like Tucson.
Discover More: Great Places to Eat in Tucson
18. Gingerbread Man
Children of all ages have been decorating and eating gingerbread men cookies for centuries as part of global Christmas celebrations. Some gingerbread men have faces and some do not. They’re all made with gingerbread or pain d’epice that’s baked with flavorful ingredients like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and, of course, ginger.
Discover More: Best Christmas Desserts
19. Wafer Cookie
Europeans have been eating Neapolitan wafers layered with hazelnut cream since 1898 when Josef Manner started selling Manner Wafers in the shadow of Vienna’s St. Stephens Cathedral. More than a century later, Manner Wafers are sold in countries around the world including the USA.
Discover More: Must-Eat Foods in Vienna
20. Ciambelline al Vino
Romans don’t mess around with their cookie recipes. Instead, they add wine to pantry ingredients like flour, sugar and olive oil to bake little ‘wine donuts’ called Ciambelline al Vino. Some Romans dip these cookies into wine while others dip them into chocolate sauce.
Discover More: Must-Eat Foods in Rome
Read Next: Best Cookies in America
Which American cookie is your favoritie? The best way to answer this question is to taste them all.
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