ISO NYT Cookbook Gingerbread cookie? Gingersnap? recipe

Buried in my mother's kitchen is a dog-eared copy of Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook. Dog-eared by me, because I am fairly certain that my mother never used it, and I'm not sure how or when it came to live on her long shelf of other now-neglected cookbooks that must miss me terribly.

At any rate, this cookbook contained one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes ever - a gingerbread cookie which could be rolled out thin and cut out, or, if you followed the addendum, made pouffy, almost brownie-textured thick ginger cookies that spilled out of the shape they started with. They were richly flavored with molasses. The search function on the New York Times itself only goes back to 1981 (I'm sure I made my last batch of these around that time) and I don't see a recipe anywhere else online. I'm planning to visit the Public Library and check out the book if I don't have more success, but I thought I'd post here first. Anyone?

I see two recipes in my copy. One is more like a cake and the other is for gingerbread men.

Does the gingerbread men recipe have a little addendum at the bottom for an alternate version? I think that's the one!

You have a PM

Yay! Will post back next weekend with pictures!

Have you ever tried Gale Gand's recipe? I love it. I think it's got the perfect kick of spices & molasses and I also like switching between softer and crispier cookies (depending upon how thick I cut them). If you have tried both, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

This is a recipe for soft, cakey, gingerbread cookies from the Raleigh Tavern Bakeshop in Williamsburg, VA - my very favorite
http://www.history.org/almanack/life/food/ginger.cfm

Hey Will, any chance you can send a note my way, too?

Thanks!

Yay! Here they are: Fluffy hearts are rolled 1/4" thick



Crisp people 1/8" thick:



Both are very good, though clearly my tastes have grown up a bit: I'd add a bit more ginger and stick with clove over allspice (possibly my ginger is a bit tired.) If I get industrious, I will try Gale Gand's recipe (is this the right one?) and see how it compares - the two recipes are very similar: hers seems to have a slightly higher yield, and the NYT recipe seems to have a higher proportion of fat to flour and less sugar (it's hard to tell, since the yield is different.)

As I mentioned above, I absolutely love Gale Gand's recipe for gingerbread cookies. In my opinion what makes them so good is that they deliver a healthy dose of spice with deep, rich flavor and they are not too sweet. The royal icing decoration offers a very nice contrast and really brings out the spices in the cookies. Just make sure to use a good quality molasses and very fresh spices. You can make them crispy (roll them out thin) or soft (roll them out a little thicker and under-bake them). And you can also certainly put in more effort when it comes to decoration, but in this case I didn't have the time. Here's the result: