Fun Facts About America's Favorite Cookie (2024)

FAQs

Fun Facts About America's Favorite Cookie? ›

They're America's favorite cookie

Nearly 93% of all American households serve and enjoy cookies as treats or after meals. However, it's the chocolate chip cookie that's the most popular in the U.S. and around the world. How much do youknow about chocolate chip cookies?

General Cookie Facts

Over a lifetime, the average American eats 35,000 cookies (we think we can beat that!). Santa Clause eats an estimated 336 million cookies on Christmas Eve. Americans spend $550 million on Oreos each year—it was the best-selling cookie of the 20th century, and it's still going strong!

In the Southern colonies, every housewife knew how to bake tea cakes that had no extra flavoring except butter and sometimes a couple drops of rose water. The first American cookies that showed up in cook books had creative names like Jumbles, Plunkets and Cry Babies which gave no clue to what was inside the cookie.

The data has been calculated by Statista based on the U.S. Census data and Simmons National Consumer Survey (NHCS). According to this statistic, 245.0 million Americans consumed ready-to-eat cookies in 2020. This figure is projected to increase to 251.38 million in 2024.

According to the story, in the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the Toll House Cookie, added pieces of a chocolate bar into her cookie batter, thinking the chocolate would melt. When it didn't, chocolate chip cookies were born!

America's favorite cookie and the one dubbed “the American cookie” is the Chocolate chip cookie.

The Oreo was originally had a less sexy name: the Oreo Biscuit. A lemon filled variety was available briefly during the 1920s, but clearly it didn't compare to the chocolate kind. Oreo's original slogan "America's Favorite Cookie" was changed to "Milk's Favorite Cookie" because clearly it's all about the dunk!

1. Chocolate chip cookies. What is the most popular type of cookie? It might just be this one.

Why is cookie called a cookie? ›

From 1808, the word "cookie" is attested "...in the sense of "small, flat, sweet cake" in American English. The American use is derived from Dutch koekje "little cake", which is a diminutive of "koek" ("cake"), which came from the Middle Dutch word "koke".

Before diving in, let's do some basic math: Americans eat approximately 2 billion cookies annually! From classic chocolate chip to Oreos and beyond, cookies have long been part of our diets. In fact, the average American consumes roughly 35,000 cookies over their lifetime, with chocolate chip being their go-to choice!

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico”.

In the US, what us Brits call a biscuit, Americans would call a cookie - whilst an American biscuit is something resembling a British scone… making a name like Biscuiteers seem rather confusing!

No joke – it was 102 feet wide and over 40,000 pounds! On May 17, 2003, we baked the World's Biggest Cookie right here next to our bakery in Flat Rock, NC.

In 1938, the chocolate chip cookie was reportedly invented by Ruth Wakefield, who ran the Toll House restaurant with her husband in Massachusetts. Chocolate chip cookies, however, as much of a classic as they have become today, were actually pre-dated by Oreos by 26 years.

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co.

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies: A Timeless Classic. It's no surprise that chocolate chip cookies consistently rank as one of the most beloved treats in the United States.

Ice cream is America's favorite dessert and is a key driver of the frozen food category.

Why is a cookie called a cookie? ›

The word “cookie” comes from the Dutch “koekjes” which came from the Dutch “koek”, meaning “cake”; cookie was introduced to English in the very early 18th century. It is thought this term caught on more in the United States due to the strong Dutch heritage in early America.

Some food blogs claim Nabisco has said Chips Ahoy! is a reference to the nautical term, "ship ahoy," which is a signal phrase that's historically been used among sailors who spot another boat at sea, according to the Britannica Dictionary. In line with the ship ahoy phrase, fans of Chips Ahoy!

Magic happened on March 6, 1912 when two decoratively embossed chocolate-flavored wafers met up with a rich crème filling. Today, Oreo is the world's top selling cookie.

Many simple cookies sell for between $2.00 and $5.00 each, but it's not uncommon to see a dozen cookies cost $55 or more depending on the time and ingredients that went into making them. Some people charge $10 or more per cookie because of their decorative, custom designs.

Hydrox aren't a knockoff — they're the original sandwich cookie. Hydrox debuted in 1908, a full four years before Oreo came out, and they were revolutionary at the time.