![]() It’s amazing there’s all this history wrapped up in one small, simple cookie. Its inventors formed an army of men and women including a religious zealot-turned cereal manufacturer, two entrepreneurial housewives, two corporate culinarians, a Korean entrepreneur, an ad agency exec, and a Swiss chocolatier. It also touches on the Cereal Wars and the Chop Suey and Chinese food craze. ![]() The nativity story spans over a century and traces American baking history from coal fired stoves through mass produced industrial products to food mass marketing and postwar and pre-60s liberation movements convenience. The CSI in my research yielded a great story – so much so, that I believe it deserves its own documentary. The story behind the Haystack is the favorite food sleuthing I’ve done in 2021. You could eat several of them at a baseball game or while watching your favorite holiday movie. They have that cracker jack or popcorn ball appeal. My maternal grandmother made them around Christmas time in the 70s and 80s, and my sister-in-law and niece make them today at Christmas. And its history spans an encyclopedic volume of American confectionery history. It has both the crunchy and the creamy the salty and the sweet – all in one delicious bite. Ok, it may not be as sophisticated as springerle or lebkuchen, but it offers a superb bang for the buck. No pastry skills are needed, and only some assembly required. It only needs to be melted, mixed and dropped onto a cooling surface. And, it’s what is known as a drop cookie – it requires no baking. It has only three ingredients – butterscotch morsels, chow mein noodles and Spanish peanuts. But one of my favorites is the most simple of them all and it’s a true American classic – the Butterscotch Haystack. Christmas cookies come in all forms – from complex spiced gingerbread, to elaborately iced cookies.
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