Reconstruction
Amelia Simmons’s cookies entered print in Hartford in 1796, when Hudson & Goodwin published American Cookery. The title page identified Simmons only as “an American orphan,” and little about her life can be established securely. Her book nevertheless became the earliest extant published cookbook attributed to an American author. It drew extensively on British culinary traditions while adding North American ingredients, regional vocabulary and practical adaptations. The two cookie recipes are especially revealing because they combine an established European style of sweet, shaped cake with distinctive American language and an innovative household leavener.
The recipe headed “Cookies” directs the cook to boil a pound of sugar slowly in half a pint of water, skim and cool the syrup, and add two teaspoons of pearlash dissolved in milk. Two and a half pounds of flour, four ounces of butter and two large spoonfuls of finely powdered coriander seed completed the dough. It was formed into rolls half an inch thick, cut into any desired shape and baked for fifteen to twenty minutes in a “slack,” or relatively gentle, oven. Simmons said the cookies would remain good for three weeks.
“Another Christmas Cookey” was richer: three pounds of flour, one pound of butter, one and a half pounds of sugar, milk, pearlash and an unusually large, imprecisely measured quantity of coriander. The dough was rolled three-quarters of an inch thick and could be cut or stamped. Simmons acknowledged that the cakes emerged hard and dry, recommending storage in an earthenware pot in a cellar or damp room. Her claim that they improved over six months documents deliberate aging, although modern food-safety practice should not reproduce those storage instructions uncritically.
Pearlash was refined from potash made by leaching and processing hardwood ashes. Its appearance in American Cookery is an important early printed instance of chemical leavening in an American household recipe. Unlike yeast fermentation or prolonged beating of eggs, alkaline leavening could make certain cakes and biscuits more quickly, though variable purity, uncertain measures and poorly balanced recipes sometimes produced spreading, discoloration or alkaline flavors. Nineteenth-century baking soda and acid-balanced baking powders eventually made the process more predictable.
The word “cookey,” related to Dutch koekje, also signals the influence of Dutch-speaking communities in New York and the Hudson Valley, although Simmons’s own origins remain disputed. Fraunces Tavern Museum has scheduled a Founding Foods tasting for September 26, 2026. Its official listing describes cardamom cookies attributed to Simmons, while the 1796 recipes specify coriander. The museum version should therefore be understood as an adaptation—or a program-description discrepancy—rather than a documented literal reconstruction.
Nutrition
| Nutrient | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 385–425 kcal | estimated |
| Protein | 6.5–7.5 g | estimated |
| Fat | 5.5–7 g | estimated |
| Carbohydrate | 74–81 g | estimated |
| Fibre | 1.8–2.5 g | estimated |
| Glycaemic index | 38–60 | estimated |
| Glycaemic load | 28–47 | calculated |
| Micronutrients | ||
| iron | 0.7–1.2 mg | estimated |
| selenium | 18–25 mcg | estimated |
| potassium | Not established | insufficient evidence |
Typical serving: one modern tasting-size cookie, approximately 30g; Simmons did not specify individual size or yield
Historical context
At this time, the United States was a young republic approaching the end of George Washington’s presidency. Its population had grown from about 3.9 million people in 1790 toward the 5.3 million recorded in 1800, while most Connecticut residents still lived on farms or in small market towns. Hartford was an important regional printing center linked to the Connecticut River trade. Refined sugar and imported spices connected domestic baking to Atlantic commerce, while potash and pearlash were products of North American woodland clearance. The first United States patent, issued to Samuel Hopkins in 1790, concerned an improved process for making potash and pearlash.
Evidence
Written sources
StrongThe 1796 Hartford text survives and directly records the title, ingredients, measurements, shaping, baking time and storage advice for both cookie recipes.
Recipe evidence
StrongBoth “Cookies” and “Another Christmas Cookey” are complete prescriptive recipes rather than foods inferred from later tradition.
Food identification
StrongThe recipe headings and instructions clearly identify shaped sweet baked goods corresponding broadly to cookies or firm sweet biscuits.
Dating
StrongThe Hartford edition is explicitly dated 1796, and contemporary copyright documentation supports publication in that year.
Preparation method
ModerateMixing, rolling, cutting and baking instructions are direct, but spoon capacities, flour properties, pearlash purity and the temperature represented by a “slack oven” were not standardized.
Geographic attribution
StrongHartford is securely established as the place of publication. It does not, by itself, prove that Simmons originated there or that the recipes were first developed there.
Historical interpretation
ModerateThe recipes are strong evidence for early American printed use of pearlash and “cookey,” but claims about Simmons’s ancestry, residence or personal invention remain scholarly interpretations.
Visual reconstruction
LimitedSimmons permitted arbitrary cutting or stamping and supplied no illustration, diameter, yield or finished-color description; any specific modern appearance is reconstructed.
Sources
- 1.Amelia Simmons (1796). American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables. Hudson & Goodwin, Hartford; digital transcription by Project Gutenberg. www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12815Historical primary source
- 2.Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald (2017). United Tastes: The Making of the First American Cookbook. University of Massachusetts Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv3s8tmrModern synthesis
- 3.Linda Civitello (2017). Baking Powder Wars: The Cutthroat Food Fight that Revolutionized Cooking. University of Illinois Press. doi:10.5406/illinois/9780252041082.001.0001Modern synthesis
- 4.Marcella Garsetti, Sophie Vinoy, Vincent Lang, et al. (2005). The Glycemic and Insulinemic Index of Plain Sweet Biscuits: Relationships to in Vitro Starch Digestibility. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. doi:10.1080/07315724.2005.10719489Scientific literature
- 5.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2020). FoodData Central. U.S. Department of Agriculture. fdc.nal.usda.gov/Modern synthesis
- 6.U.S. Census Bureau (2024). 1790 Census: Return of the Whole Number of Persons within the Several Districts of the United States. U.S. Census Bureau. www.census.gov/library/publications/1793/dec/numModern synthesis
- 7.Fraunces Tavern Museum (2026). Founding Foods. Fraunces Tavern Museum. www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/events-calendar/202Modern synthesis
Limitations
- moderatedescription.ingredients
Simmons’s two 1796 cookie recipes specify powdered coriander seed, but Fraunces Tavern Museum’s official September 26, 2026 program lists cardamom cookies attributed to Simmons. The claim that the event returns the documented coriander preparation to tasting is therefore unsupported unless the program listing is erroneous.
- minordescription.event status
As of September 25, 2026, Founding Foods is scheduled for September 26, 2026 and has not yet occurred. References to its tasting should remain future-tense and should not imply confirmed execution.
