Tis the season for giving and this time of year lots of people give cookies! Cookies were originally called “little cakes.” Cooks used to test their ovens for cakes they were baking. They would drop a small amount of the cake batter onto a sheet in the oven. If it cooked correctly, the oven was ready for the cake to go in. These little test cakes were called “koekje,” meaning “little cake” in Dutch, hence we have the cookie. Cookies are perfect for snacking and as a dessert and can be combined with so many ingredients to create so many different variations.