Cookies are small, sweet baked treats, usually round and flat, made from dough that often contains flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. Chocolate chip cookies are probably the most famous kind in America, but cookies come in countless varieties: oatmeal raisin, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, sandwich cookies with cream filling, and many more. Some are chewy, others are crispy and crunchy.

The word comes from the Dutch word koekje, meaning “little cake.” Dutch settlers brought both the word and their recipes to America centuries ago. Different countries have their own versions: in Britain, most cookies are called biscuits, though they might call our soft chocolate chip cookies just “cookies.”

When you visit many websites today, you'll see messages about “cookies.” These aren't edible treats but small files that websites store on your computer to remember information about you, like items in a shopping cart or your login preferences. The computer kind helps websites work better, though unlike the baked kind, they won't satisfy your sweet tooth.