Cookies, crackers, and biscuits (hardtack or “teeth dullers” that could last for months on the battlefield or aboard ship) in some form have been around for thousands of years. Cooks of the ancient civilizations of the Middle East explored ways to make baked goods more tempting by adding eggs, butter, and cream. To sweeten the baked goods, fruit, honey, and eventually sugar was added when sugar became widely available in the late Middle Ages.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Food/2014/11/30/The-sweet-history-of-the-cookie.html#Y0qiuYutbdltR3lI.99

MCCCOY POTTERY LEPRECHAUN COOKIE JAR, MULTICOLOR, NO RED ON CHEEKS OR EARS, UNMARKED.  AT AUCTION $720

the modern incarnation of the authentic sugar cookie can be traced back to the mid 1700s in Nazareth Pennsylvania. There, German Protestant settlers created the round, crumbly, buttery cookie that came to be known as the Nazareth Sugar Cookie. Sugar cookies probably derived from an earlier, unleavened cookie called a “jumble,” which is a biscuit that gained popularity in the 17th and 18th century in Europe chiefly because of the fact that, as a non-leavened food, it could be dried and stored for many months.    http://www.cookcfb.org/articles/entryid/97/history-of-the-sugar-cookie

BRUSH POTTERY PINK ELEPHANT COOKIE JAR, MONKEY FINIAL, ONE OF THE 10-12 MADE, MARKED “BRUSH USA” ON BOTTOM.  AT AUCTION $1,020

In July 1922, Chicago’s local Girl Scout director Florence E. Neil wrote an article for the organization’s national magazine, The American Girl, in which she included a cost-efficient cookie recipe for girls to use for their baked goods sales. The ingredients for the recipe would cost 26 to 36 cents and would yield up to seven dozen cookies; the cookies could then be sold for 25 to 30 cents per dozen. Gradually these cookie sales evolved from girls baking in their kitchens at home to an enormous commercial enterprise. The organization licensed their first commercial baker in 1936 to accommodate the nationwide sale of Girl Scout cookies. By the end of the 1940s, the Girl Scouts were employing nearly 30 commercial bakers for their cookie sales, and by 1951 they offered three tasty options: Peanut Butter Sandwich (Do-si-dos), Shortbread (Trefoils) and Chocolate Mints, now called Thin Mints.     http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/the-girl-scout-cookie-a-delicious-tradition

AMERICAN BISQUE HERMAN AND CATNIP COOKIE JAR, ONE OF SIX KNOWN, “A.B. CO.” PAPER LABEL UNDER LID, TITLED “HERMAN & CAT NIP—USA” AROUND THE BASE, BOTTOM NOT STAMPED.  AUCTION PRICE: $1560.

Oreo cookies were first created in a New York City bakery and sold in a tin for 30 cents per pound, says 997Now.    It remains a mystery exactly why the cookies are named Oreos.  They were created with British customers in mind.  They were initially named “Oreo Biscuits.” But the name changed to the “Oreo Crème Sandwich” in the 1940s and to the “Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie” in the 1970s.  The original Oreo recipe included pork fat for the creamy center.  Oreos are the world’s best-selling cookie.  They can be found in more than 100 countries.  It takes a total of 59 minutes to make an Oreo.  When they first debuted, there was also a lemon meringue flavor of Oreos.  In China, you can purchase green tea ice cream flavored Oreos.  Women rather than men are more likely to pull their Oreos apart before eating them.   Oreos became Kosher in December 1997.   If all the Oreos ever manufactured were stacked, they could reach the moon and back more than five times.  Lemon meringue Oreos were discontinued in the 1920s.  More than 450 billion Oreo cookies have been sold worldwide since their debut.  National Oreo Day is March 6,     http://www.ibtimes.com/national-oreo-day-15-interesting-facts-about-oreo-cookies-1559760

 

 

 

“SINCLAIR OIL” DINOSAUR COOKIE JAR, RARE, MARKED “USA 1943” ON BOTTOM.  AUCTIONED $1,800

 

 

Cookie jars he been favored collectibles for generations, but a genuine frenzy was reached in 1987 when Andy Warhol’s collection was auctioned at Sotheby’s.  Warhol’s jars were sold in pairs, 39 pairs in all, with prices expected to range from $75-$250 a pair.  Instead the lowest price was $1,980 and the highest $23,100.   While this temporarily raised prices it has since ebbed with the realization that it was Warhol’s name and not the cookie jars that brought the outrageous prices.  (KOVELS Aug. 2013)

 

 

 

 

AMERICAN BISQUE “COOKIES OUT OF THIS WORLD” SPACESHIP COOKIE JAR, MARKED “USA” NEAR BOTTOM (CHIPPED) SOLD FOR $6,000

 

Auction quoted:  Victorian Casino Antiques auction May – June 2013 Las Vegas, NV.

 

I like a gooey cookie.  —Trisha Yearwood