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    15 Cookie Facts More Interesting Than Your IG Feed

    Grab a cookie and read on.

    1. The cookies that the Cookie Monster enjoys on Sesame Street are actually painted rice cakes.

    PBS

    That's because the grease in real cookies would be damaging to Muppets, according to Sesame Street Unpaved.

    2. Chocolate chip cookies were invented in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield, who ran the Toll House Inn with her husband.

    Eddiehernandezphotography / Getty Images

    Apparently, Wakefield invented the cookies while trying to improve on a butterscotch nut cookie recipe with an all-chocolate dough. The chocolate she used didn't fully melt in the dough, though, resulting in a cookie with chocolate bits. Some people are dubious of the story, however, saying that Ruth Wakefield was too much of a perfectionist to overlook such an important detail.

    3. On that note: Have you noticed chocolate chips never melt? That's because they have less cocoa butter than chocolate bars.

    Sasimoto / Getty Images, Songbird839 / Getty Images

    According to a Nestlé spokeswoman, it also has to do with the way the fat structure of the tempered chocolate is aligned.

    4. Nabisco "uncaged" the animals on its Animal Crackers box cover after receiving criticism from PETA.

    Trent Musho / PETA

    It's a surprise it happened so recently, in 2018, because the old design was pretty crude.

    5. The world's biggest chocolate chip cookie weighed over 40,000 pounds.

    immaculatebaking.com

    It was baked by Immaculate Baking Co. and took eight months of planning.

    6. The word "cookie" comes from the Dutch "koekje," meaning little cake.

    Corinne Poleij / Getty Images

    Dutch settlers brought koejkes to the colonies, integrating the word, along with the treat, to American life.

    7. Fortune cookies are not served in China. They are mostly an American phenomenon.

    Neilson Barnard

    When Wonton Foods, Inc., America's largest manufacturer of fortune cookies, tried to expand its business to China, the company found that the idea didn't translate, as unsuspecting diners often accidentally ate their fortunes.

    8. As of 2017, Oreos are America's top-selling cookie brand.

    Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

    They had $674.2 million in sales in 2017. And fun fact: Oreos are actually both vegan AND kosher.

    9. In 2002, Bruce Willis bought 12,000 Girl Scout cookies from his daughter and shipped them troops stationed in the Middle East.

    10. And by the way, Girl Scout cookies used to cost just 25 to 35 cents per dozen.

    John Moore / Getty Images

    Thanks to inflation and increased interest, Girl Scout cookies now come in a dozen flavors and are sold for about $5 per box. You can find when Girl Scout cookies are being sold in your area here.

    11. Oreos are knock-offs of Hydrox biscuits, which predate Oreos by four years.

    books.google.com

    Oreos were inspired by Hydrox cookies, which are actually crispier and stand up to milk when dunked. They're also made with a darker chocolate cookie and a less sweet filling. You can get a pack of six from Amazon for $28.57.

    12. English women used to eat gingerbread "husbands" to improve their chances of finding a real mate.

    Tips2k / Getty Images

    Want to try it out yourself? Here's a recipe to make your own gingerbread person.

    13. The ancestors of what we now call cookies seem to have originated in the 7th century CE in Persia, one of the first places to grow sugarcane.

    Mind_and_i / Getty Images

    By the 14th century, cookies were a common food all throughout Europe.

    14. Famous Amos cookies were born when the founder Wally Amos, an agent, began using them to recruit celebrities to his agency.

    15. Former Secretary of State John Kerry helped open a cookie shop in 1976, when he was bored with the predictable and boring nature of his legal profession.