iN PHOTOS: Classic Christmas cookies add flavour to holidays in Kamloops, Okanagan

Christmas cookies are baking in ovens across Kamloops and the Okanagan, and this includes traditional classics enjoyed for hundreds of years. Gingerbread men, shortbread and sugar cookies, and rosettes and pizelles are five Christmas cookies with long histories that are often made with unique flavour twists and creative designs. The earliest form of gingerbread comes from ancient Greeks and Egyptians where it was used for ceremonies, and it first appeared in Europe when crusaders brought it back from the Middle East in the 1000s, according to The Spruce Eats. https://www.thespruceeats.com/the-history-of-gingerbread-1135954 Early European recipes were made with breadcrumbs and pressed into moulds, and over time the breadcrumbs were replaced with flour and sweeteners. The first gingerbread man is believed to be made by Queen Elizabeth 1 in the 1500s. Gingerbread is baked with ginger and spices and sweetened with brown sugar, honey or molasses, and takes different shapes in different European countries where it enjoyed. Shortbread cookies are believed to have evolved from a medieval biscuit bread that was popular in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Scottish are credited with replacing yeast with butter to made them the savoury cookies they are today, according to Back Then History. https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-shortbread-cookies Mary Queen of Scots' love for shortbread cookies helped to make them popular. The cookies come in different shapes and bakers today add different flavour twists to them. Sugar cookies originated in Pennsylvania in the 1700s and were created by German Protestant settlers, according to Back Then History. https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-sugar-cookies They are simple, popular cookie to make that allows for creative decorating and designs. Pizzelle cookies are crispy Italian waffle cookies made by pouring batter onto iron griddles, according to The Tasting Table.  https://www.tastingtable.com/1118428/the-possible-8th-century-origins-of-pizzelle-cookies/ READ MORE: Kamloops Christmas angel recognized by community for giving https://infotel.ca/newsitem/kamloops-christmas-angel-recognized-by-community-for-giving/it107457 They are eaten as cookies or rolled into cone shapes, and cookies are often dipped into melted chocolate or thin icing. Traditionally eaten at Christmas time in Italy, it's believed the cookies could have been around since the 700s where they were a Roman treat. To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .