This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Soft or crunchy, filled with jam or star-shaped, with raisins or chocolate chips… how do you like your cookies? In their infinite variety, biscuits find a place on all tables, from trays of refined petit fours to the plate of good-natured Santa Claus.
The word “biscuit”, attested as early as 1538, is derived from the Latin panini biscotus or twice baked bread. However, this type of preparation dates back to Antiquity, explains the culinary historian Amélie Masson-Labonté: “The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans all made rolls with honey, sometimes adding dried fruits such as figs, raisins or dates. »
As for the biscuit, “we must above all remember that its origin is neither glamour nor festive. It’s a purely functional invention: a very dry roll keeps better and longer,” recalls the historian. Cooked twice or for a long time, it can withstand long trips. In the Middle Ages, sailors took to sea whole cargoes of long-cooked cakes then dried in the corner of the oven. These “sea biscuits” are so hard that you have to soak them in a liquid before biting into them.
From the XVIe century, biscuits leave the ship to carve out a place for themselves on the great European tables. The Italian Catherine de Medici moved to the court of France with her Florentine pastry chefs who notably imported the recipe for spoon biscuits. Over the following centuries, biscuits took on a multitude of forms. With spices, fruit, flavored or chocolate: each country, each region has its preference and develops its recipes according to local techniques and ingredients. “Wheat flour is the basic canvas for the vast majority of European biscuits, with a few exceptions. In Eastern Europe and the Slavic world, rye is more present; the oatcake comes to us from the Scots”, specifies Amélie Masson-Labonté.
The sweetness of biscuits also evolves over time. “Before the exploitation of sugar cane in the West Indies, which grew from the 16e and XVIIe centuries, and the massive production of sugar beets in the 19e century, sugar is a rare and extremely expensive commodity. All the oldest biscuit recipes are therefore made from honey”, explains the historian, who also specifies that it is this honey which, by giving a denser and more compact texture, made it possible to unmold the bread biscuits. spices, shaped in decorative wooden moulds.
A delight for all
It is in the XIXe century that industrial biscuits were born in Europe, first in England and then in France. In our Belle Province, biscuits are also part of popular daily life, as a dessert or at tea time, as is the Anglo-Saxon tradition. In Montreal, the Viau bakery opened its doors in 1867 and soon after specialized in making cookies. In 1927, it will market the famous Whippet. In Quebec, the Leclerc biscuit factory was founded in 1905. The family business quickly expanded; even in wartime, despite rationing, it still produces 26 varieties of biscuits. Between 1930 and 1950, there were about sixty commercial biscuit factories in the province.
At home too, we bake cookies. As Amélie Masson-Labonté reminds us, “the cookbooks that were widespread in Quebec in the first half of the 20e century were often produced by flour companies. I am thinking, for example, of the famous Farine Five Roses or Robin Hood cookbooks, which all our grandmothers, or almost, had. Obviously, anything that required flour was put forward.” The 1939 edition of The Five Roses cooker alone offers more than 80 varieties of cookies.
Even today, little sweet bites occupy a very special place during the holiday season. According to legend, Saint Nicholas himself distributed speculoos to children — hard biscuits with brown sugar and spices, now a must in December in Belgium and the Netherlands. Almost everywhere Christmas is celebrated, cookies are present: kolaczki Polish, krum kake Norwegians, soetkoekies South Africans, pizzelles Italian, biscochitos mexicans, melomakarona Cypriots, Belgian and Dutch speculoos… With us, glazed sugar cookies, gingerbread men or shortbreads Scottish are at the heart of many family memories.
A real world tour of sweets… and something to fuel Santa’s long journey.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Homework, relating to marketing. The drafting of Homework did not take part.