Cookie Jars

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets

By Darra Goldstein

Published 2015

  • About

cookie jars are, simply put, storage containers for cookies or biscuits. However, they are more likely to be delightfully decorative than plain.

The term “cookie jar” or “cookie tin” reflects American usage; the English say “biscuit jar” or tin. That is because the Americans took the word cookie from the Dutch koekjes, the diminutive of koek or cake, whereas the English use the word “biscuit,” derived from the Latin panis bicoctus, twice-cooked bread. Whether the containers hold twice-cooked biscotti, macarons, oatmeal cookies, or even commercial animal crackers, they are often as appealing as their contents. See biscuits, british.