Do Cookies Count As Pastries?

It's fun to argue about the official classification of foods — does a pita count as a sandwich? Is ice cream cake a cake? And how about cookies — are these considered pastries, or their own category? Depending on who you talk to, there might be some dividing opinions — a pastry should be fluffy and buttery, like a croissant or eclair. A cookie, whether it be a chewy chocolate chip with coconut or a spicy gingersnap, is dense and rich. 

In general, a cookie is considered not to be a pastry. In American English, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a cookie as "a small flat or slightly raised cake." On the other hand, a pastry is defined as, "usually sweet baked goods made of dough having a high fat content." There are of course similarities between the two — cookies also have a high fat content, but pastries generally have a higher fat content than cookies, particularly when it comes to laminated doughs for croissants and puff pastry. Cookies and pastries are not defined by the fat used — butter, shortening, coconut oil (which makes super crispy cookies!), or vegetable oil are fair game. 

Beyond the fat content, the definitions of each word do not include any particular ingredients. If you consider all the possible varieties of cookies and pastries, the flavors and recipes are seemingly endless. One distinction here is that pastries can be both sweet and savory — like a vegetable tart — while cookies are almost always sweet.

When it comes to defining pastries and cookies, it's really the preparation, baking process, and shape, taste, and texture of the final product that matters. For beginner bakers, cookies are a good first project; cookie recipes are straightforward and can be made in under 20 minutes. Recipes for pastries take a bit more patience and experience, often including multiple steps for mixing, folding, chilling (sometimes overnight), laminating, and shaping.

Pastries are typically rolled out and shaped, while cookies are scooped or spooned onto the baking sheet. Some exceptions exist for cookies, like sugar or gingerbread, that get rolled out and shaped by a cookie cutter.

A low oven temperature is typically better for pastries to avoid browning the dough too quickly and prevent filling from spilling out, while a high oven temperature helps a cookie retain its round, raised shape. However, both are traditionally baked in an oven, and can be categorized under the larger umbrella of baked goods. This broad category is simply defined as foods made from dough or batter and cooked by baking.

Some sweet treats don't seem to be so easily categorized as cookie or pastry — these baked goods ride the line between pastry and cookie. Shortbread cookies taste like a rich buttery crust, with fat levels similar to pastry dough. They're often referred to as biscuits in the United Kingdom (the equivalent of cookie in British English), and despite high fat levels, these remain in the cookie category.

Palmiers are a bit more complicated — these heart-shaped French "cookies" are buttery and flaky, tasting similar to the inside of a croissant, but crunchy. Palmiers are made from puff pastry dough, and are often called pastry cookies – so these could be considered a perfect hybrid of the two categories. Another French cookie, Madelines, have a rich buttery flavor and a texture more similar to a sponge cake; they're referred to as cookies in the U.S., but also called small cakes or pastries.

Rugelach often gets categorized as a cookie, but it starts as a triangle-shaped piece of dough that gets filled and rolled. Because of the flattened dough base, flaky rugelach is actually considered to be a pastry.