"For me, no food says Christmas more than thin, crisp, gingerbread-flavored Moravian cookies. My mother found the recipe in a magazine years ago (I still have it) and made them every year. The intoxicating aroma– redolent of ginger, molasses and cloves–wafting from the oven as these cookies bake evokes some of my happiest holiday memories.

The Moravians–German-speaking Protestants who came to America from Eastern Europe to escape religious persecution in the mid-eighteenth century–brought their treasured recipes with them when they occupied the settlement of Salem, North Carolina, in 1772.

The original Moravian cookies–called tea cakes–were made with allspice from the Caribbean, ginger from the Far East, cinnamon from Ceylon, and vanilla from Madagascar. Rolled impossibly thin and cut into whimsical shapes, the cookies kept well (they contained no dairy products) and the flavor of the spices intensified over time." – M. Linda Lee

Read the full article here: http://towncarolina.com/article/smart-cookie/

Find more about Winston-Salem’s Moravian Culinary Trail and create your own holiday traditions with a hotel getaway to The Moravian Cookie Capital!
www.visitwinstonsalem.com/holiday?fullsite