I Made You a Cookie, But I Eated It

About

"I made you a cookie but I eated it" is a catchphrase used to reveal one's feeling of shame in taking claim to something that he or she had initially prepared for someone else. Often paired with celebrity photos, web comics and LOLcat images, "I made you a cookie…" macros usually depict someone or something with a sad-looking face for the cuteness overload effect.

Origin

Despite the poor grammar commonly associated with LOLcat phenomenon, the catchphrase "I made you a cookie but I eated it" originates from a 2005 comic strip from the Pon and Zi web comic by artist Azuzephre (a.k.a Jeff Thomas). It was first submitted on his Deviant Art account on January 29th, 2005. According to the artist's description:

I've decided to give Pon a speech disorder when he's ashamed.

Spread

Circa late 2005 and early 2006, Japanese Flickr user Babykailan uploaded series of photo albums, one of which depicted the photographer's cream tabby Munchkin cat named BeiBei. Babykailan has also uploaded videos of the cat via Youtube account. In one of the clip, dating from January 2007, BeiBei can be seen standing on his back legs:

It is worthwhile to point out that images of BeiBei standing on two feet were uploaded prior to the rise of Standing Cat phenomenon. BabyKalian's Flickr album already featured two peculiar photos of the cat awkwardly standing up. The first version, with the tail visible, was uploaded on March 23 2006. Another version without the tail soon followed that same day.

The latter instance would appear in another Flickr user TheBoyOnaBike's LOLcat folder on September 13th, 2006, which is one of the earliest instances of the meme identified so far. Embodied as a perfect example of a LOLcat image macro, "I made you a cookie" cat has been featured on ErrorAccessDenied on November 13 2006 and eventually on Icanhascheezburger in January 2007.

The I made you a cookie… cat soon became popular enough to have its own Flickr album, to be the first example of the LOLcat's Urban Dictionary definition and to have its own Cafepress goodies using the following illustration by IronyDesign.

Comparison of LOLcat-related Catchphrases

With the increasing popularity of his comic strips, Azuzephre eventually created an alternate website. In late 2005, a fan site dedicated to Pon and Zi comics was created. The catchphrase followed that trend, as shown in the Google Insights chart below:

Derivative: You… You… Eated My Cookie?

During the peak of LOLcat madness circa 2005 – 2006, derivative macros began to surface in response to the original "I made you a cookie, but eated it" macro. Among the most notable examples is "You Eated My Cookie?", a spin-off series based on a picture of a sad looking kitty also used in another LOLcat series known as Is It Can Be Hug Tiems Now Plees?. One of its earliest appearance on the web as such is from November the 22nd 2006 in a SnowPicture.net entry.