What is the history of Rosette cookies?

My, you'll be hard pressed to really find an answer to this- In my travels, I've heard Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Mexican and Indian folks all claim that rosettes are "really" theirs. Finding a good history is difficult. Suffice it to say that the idea of heating up a decorative bit of metal in oil, dipping it in egg & flour and covering it in sugar has seemed like a good idea to lots of people the world over. In rosettes I've had, Swedes & Norwegians tend to not flavor them and cover them in simple sugar. Germans, Czechs & Poles put a little vanilla and/or almond in the batter and the Germans tend to like to put cinnamon in the sugar. Mexicans lean toward vanilla only, and sometimes a bit of cinnamon in the sugar. I've seen old rosette irons in museums from the middle ages in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Sorry I can't be of more help, and I'm certain you'll get opinions from folks that, of course, I'm all wet, they're really from- oh, I don't know- Russia, maybe? ;-)