Hellema Chocolate Peanut Cookies

The American-English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch “koekje,” meaning “little cake.” The word can likely be traced back to the Middle Ages, when cooks would place a small amount of cake batter into a wood-fired oven to test how hot it was. Cookies themselves were brought to America by Dutch immigrants, where the word “koekje” soon became “cookie,” replacing older American terms such as “jumble” (a cookie-like snack made with nuts and sugar) and “plunket.” These crunchy cookies are extra special—featuring roasted peanuts and a layer of chocolate. Peanuts are extremely popular in the Netherlands—in fact it’s one of the top peanut importers worldwide. A related fun fact: the Dutch word for peanut butter is pindakaas, or “peanut cheese,” because during the time that peanut butter arrived in the Netherlands, the word “butter” had been copyrighted by the dairy industry.