History of Peanut Butter Cookies

Gourmet peanut butter cookies are delicious, but where did they come from?

Since ancient times, people have enjoyed nuts in their cookies. In old times they would bake small cakes with crushed nuts in them. The Romans spread this type of treat throughout Europe. These ancient cakes weren't like the cookies that we enjoy today.

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In medieval times bakers started using white sugar and their cookies more resembled the ones we eat today, but these did not include peanuts. They included other nuts that were known to them at the time. It would take many years before the peanut arrived in Europe.

History of Peanut Butter Cookies

The peanut is believed to have originated in South America approximately 3,000 years ago. This is supported by the fact that ancient jars featured decorations of peanuts and ancient graves contained jars of peanuts for their journey to the afterlife. When the Spanish arrived at the New World, they appreciated the peanut and brought it back to Europe. From there, it spread around the world.

Peanuts were first turned into butter at the turn of the 19th century. It was a who doctor concocted peanut butter as a health food. Now it could find its way into delicious cookies!

It was sometime during the 1920s or 1930s that it first showed up in cookie recipes. Many believe it was a Pilsbury cookbook that taught us to make peanut butter balls, and them smash them into cookies using a fork. This is thought to be due to the higher density of the dough. Since then people have been enjoying peanut butter cookies of all kinds.

The pinnacle today is the gourmet peanut butter cookie. They can be loaded with all types of extras. Our cookies include chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.

History of Peanut Butter Cookies

Omi Kookies makes gourmet cookie dough from all natural ingredients. Flavors include chocolate chunk, peanut butter, white chocolate pecan, and lemon cookie.

Omi Kookies offers frozen gourmet cookie dough perfect for fundraising, corporate gifts, and special events.

Check out all of our products: gourmet cookies, gourmet cookie dough, and baking accessories.

Delete Browsing History - How to Clear & Permanently Delete Cookies and Cache From Your Web Browser

It has always been pretty simple to delete your Internet browsing search history. Your favorite browser, whether it is Internet Explorer, Firefox or some other, has long come with the option to delete your Internet, web and browser search history and to clear cookies and memory cache. The trick is your simply knowing what to do.

Now, remember that as in deleting other files, these files are not permanently erased until they are written over, so there are numerous special programs out there to permanently erase your search and Internet history. However, while most users do not know how to erase the history, even fewer know how to retrieve it, so using these built in functions is going to be successful for most computer users.

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Most people surfing the web still use Internet Explorer. On the top menu, simply click Tools/Options/Internet Options/General. Then click "delete files", then click OK. Finally click "clear history", then click Yes when prompted.

Delete Browsing History - How to Clear & Permanently Delete Cookies and Cache From Your Web Browser

Safari users have it easy. Simply click History on the top menu, and then click Clear History on the bottom of the list that appears. Just in case you did not know, Safari is now freely available for Windows users. It is one of the best browsers when it comes to protecting your search history and enabling private browsing.

If you are a Mozilla FireFox user, you will choose Tools/Options/Privacy/Clear. It is a piece of cake, right?

AOL is just as simple...Settings/Preferences/Toolbars and Sounds/Clear History Trail Now.

Granted, having to choose "toolbars and sounds" does not sound intuitive, but it does bring up an important point. If you have toolbars on your browser, like the Google, Yahoo, or Alexa toolbars, those also keep your search history for future reference...which is actually quite handy when you are trying to find something again and cannot remember what search term was successful.

However, if you are trying to cover your tracks, you do not want that information left there for prying eyes. As an example, click the Down arrow to the right of where you enter your search on the Google toolbar, and you will see your search history right in front of you. Fortunately, you will also see a link that says Clear History. Just click there, and your history is gone from sight.

All toolbars provide this sort of option, as well as an option to not even remember your Internet search history, although you might have to go into your browser and turn off the AutoComplete function.

But, again, if you want to truly make sure your search history is gone forever, you are going to need third-party privacy control software to do it. These programs cannot only clear history, cache and cookies, but they will usually permanently delete them from your computer where they cannot be recovered using undelete or data recovery software. Most programs on the market use government and military level deletion protocols, which wipe the data from your computer for good.

Delete Browsing History - How to Clear & Permanently Delete Cookies and Cache From Your Web Browser

For more in-depth and informative articles on all sorts of subjects ranging from anonymous web browsing to how to clean your hard drive to remove private data and for comprehensive reviews of the latest software available to protect your online privacy, such as Cyberscrub Privacy Suite, you should visit the Privacy Software Review Center right now at http://privacysoftware.biz

The History of Cookie Decorating

We can thank the Swiss for bringing the cookie decorating tradition to life. Their now famous springerle cookies were the very first decorated cookies. These sweet, but hard, cookies are pressed into molds and pop out featuring the most intricately designed cookies you have ever seen. The first molds were discovered from the 14th century and are now considered national treasures and held in Swiss museums.

The Swiss also used rolling pins cleverly carved with designs to roll out highly ornate cookies. The images on these cookies rival the finest artwork of the master painters and sculptors. Decorators soon realized that they could combine egg yolks and food dyes to paint these cookies. Some even paint the cookies for decoration only with paint. Of course, you can't eat these beauties, but they will last and last and become a favorite holiday decoration.

\"Decorated Cookies\"

The first scenes on cookies were from the Bible. Because people were largely illiterate in ancient times, these cookies served as a way to tell important Bible messages to everyone. Even if you couldn't read the words, you could look at these beautiful images and understand the concepts they portrayed.

The History of Cookie Decorating

The Germans were next to promote cookie decorating. Back in medieval times, they made gingerbread, called Lebkuchen. The cookies were so revered that a guild of artisans called the Lebkuchen Guild banned together to make a law that only their members could bake gingerbread. The ban was lifted each year for the high holidays of Christmas and Easter. The common people, if they could afford the ingredients, were allowed to make their own gingerbread at these two times of the year.

Gingerbread cookie decorating spread throughout the world and during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I gingerbread cookies adorned with gold were given to court visitors. Master gingerbread decorators started to promote their gorgeous creations as Christmas ornaments.

In 1812, the Grimm Brothers published their now famous story, Hansel and Gretel. This classic tale of two children who encounter a witch who lives in an ornately decorated gingerbread house in the forest inspired a new love of the gingerbread cookie. Soon tinsmiths couldn't keep up with the demand for cookie cutters and molds designed to help bakers create elaborate gingerbread houses of their own. German cookie cutters are still prized today as among the best made and highly sought after by collectors.

Today cookie bakers can't imagine the holidays without decorated cookies. The popularity of Royal Icing has made home cookie decorating fun. It's easy to create interesting and realistic motifs on cookies using Royal Icing. This confectioner sugar-based icing dries rock hard, so once its set, it won't smear or run. This makes it ideal for decorating cookies that need to last through the season on the tree or that need to travel. You can eat Royal Icing, of course, but most cookies that are heavily decorated in Royal Icing tend to be treasured as ornaments or for display rather than eaten.

If you're looking into cookie decorating this year for your own holiday celebrations, you have more resources than you could ever imagine at your disposal. Visit a craft store and browse their cookie and cake decorating aisle. You will marvel at the tools and colors available for you to get started with.

The History of Cookie Decorating

Betty Ann Sherman is a mother and a baker of tasty treats and decorated cookies. She has a special passion for baking cookies, pies, cakes, and everything wonderful. Check back for updates from Betty on her delicious treat adventures.