It's no secret that Santa Claus loves cookies almost as much as he loves delivering presents to children on Christmas.

Jason Smith, the celebrity chef who won the Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship" in 2016 and now serves as a judge on "Best Baker in America," spoke to Fox News Digital about the cookie tradition.

A Kentucky native who now lives in Florida, Smith revealed how the festive snack got its start — and why people leave out sweet treats for Santa Claus.

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"Christmas cookies became a staple many, many, many years ago," starting with the monasteries of the Middle Ages, Smith said. 

"The monks had access to sugar, flour and spices to make them. The Dutch brought the Christmas cookie tradition to the United States in the early 17th century." 

Smith continued, "Christmas cookies were first made to take to neighbors, friends and family to show their gratitude and kindness toward each other. Most people didn't have much money, and cookie recipes made several dozens – and it gave them plenty to pass around."

He added, "The first cookies were sugar cookies or a spice cookie, almost like a gingerbread cookie as we know them today."

Eventually, Christmas cookies became part of Santa's lore — but it wasn't a direct path, according to Smith.

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Cookies were first associated with St. Nicholas, the early Christian bishop who serves as the model on which Santa Claus was built.

"The leaving of cookies for Santa or St. Nicholas is a tradition that started during the Feast of St. Nicholas that the Dutch held each year," Smith said.

"They would bring cookies to honor the saint and to give travelers a snack for when they arrived from all over the country to praise the saint."

He continued, "Here in the United States, cookies for Santa started during the Great Depression as a teachable lesson. Families didn't have much money or baking supplies, but they had enough to bake a small batch of cookies for Santa. This was also to teach the [children] to be thankful and charitable for what they had. The tradition stuck so much it's still observed in today's time."

Smith told Fox News Digital that the Christmas cookie tradition was observed in his household growing up.

He said he remembers filling stockings with fresh cookies on the fireplace for Santa at his grandparents' request.

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"Santa would take the cookies out of the stockings and eat them and then fill the stockings with our gifts," Smith said. 

"The milk came in later years when families realized Santa needed something to wash down all those homemade cookies."

Although sugar or spice cookies were the original treat for Old St. Nick, Santa's favorite cookie is and always will be a plain chocolate chip cookie with milk, Smith said.

"It was more of a treat because it was chocolate and chocolate was not readily available," Smith said.

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The chocolate chip cookie "just pairs so well with the milk, from the sweetness of the cookie to the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate, to that creamy goodness of the wholesome milk. It's just the perfect touch."

Santa, Smith said, "fell in love instantly with a chocolate chip cookie." 

"He was so thankful to get rid of the sugar cookies."