Food - Drink
The 12th Century Cookies Intended To Change Your Mood
By CHRIS SANDS
Cookies have the power to make us happy, and one iconic 12th-century figure got the most out of this concept with her "cookies of joy." Hildegard of Bingen, born in 1098 in what is now Germany, was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2012, and some of her famous "healing" cookies are still baked today.
Though St. Hildegard was also an extraordinary writer, composer, and linguist, people are still fascinated with her many cookie recipes crafted with healing properties in mind. Her “cookies of joy” were meant to improve one's mood, and used spelt, a wheat variety that was a favorite of hers, as well as cinnamon and nutmeg.
The Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana are among the few who still bake cookies of joy, and their recipe based on the original uses butter, brown sugar, eggs, almonds, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and wheat flour. St. Hildegard was a Benedictine nun herself, and her idea of medicinal healing is still tasty today.