Q 01/05

Modern Christmas cookies trace back to the biscuits of which period?

A) Ancient Rome

B) Tudor England

C) Medieval Europe

D) Colonial America

Answer · why

C) Medieval Europe

Cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit had just arrived in the west. Those same spices still define the flavour today.

Q 02/05

Who brought the earliest Christmas cookies to the United States, in the early 17th century?

A) The Spanish

B) The Dutch

C) The French

D) The Swedish

Answer · why

B) The Dutch

German imports later flooded American markets with cookie cutters. Shaped biscuits became a mass-market tradition as a result.

Q 03/05

What made cookie cutters widely available in American shops between 1871 and 1906?

A) Cheap German imports

B) An expiring patent

C) Mass-produced tin plate

D) A store promotion

Answer · why

A) Cheap German imports

Importation rules changed and inexpensive products flooded in. Shaped biscuits became a household activity rather than a bakery product.

Q 04/05

Since which decade have US and Canadian children left cookies and milk out on Christmas Eve?

A) The 1950s

B) The 1890s

C) The 1970s

D) The 1930s

Answer · why

D) The 1930s

The custom grew during the Depression as a lesson in gratitude. Most of the cookies are eaten by the household anyway.

Q 05/05

Who created the modern sugar cookie, according to its history?

A) French pastry chefs

B) English bakers in London

C) Moravian settlers in Pennsylvania

D) Dutch bakers in New York

Answer · why

C) Moravian settlers in Pennsylvania

They came from Germany to the Nazareth area in the mid-18th century. The biscuit is sometimes still called a Nazareth cookie.