Old Fashioned Bacon Molasses Cookies

I have several cookbooks from the late1800s and early 1900s, you know the ones that call for "rendered lard" as an ingredient and have simple straightforward recipes. One of my favorite cookies is a basic molasses cookie that can be dressed up with dried fruits, nuts, and.......BACON.  So without further ado, I give you, Bacon Molasses Cookies from 1868.

Ingredients:

3/4 pound bacon, fried crisp, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup rendered lard (if you're squeamish, you can use Crisco, pussies)
1 tsp salt
2 rounding tsp soda
1 tsp ginger
2/3 cup cold water (for soft cookies) or boiling (for crisp cookies)
Sufficient flour to roll out*

Mix sugar, molasses and shortening. Add bacon, water and 2 cups of flour mixed and sifted with salt, soda and ginger. Add enough more flour to make a stiff dough. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a fork. Sprinkle tops of cookies with sugar and bake in a hot oven until done.

As you can see, women in the 1800s didn't have a lot of hard and fast rules; sufficient flour?! How hot is hot? How long do they bake? Well, as much as needed, hot is hot (standard today is 375 degrees), and until they're done, ya know? Those ladies were masters in the kitchen, that was their domain. Proudly, I can relate. I can look in my pantry and throw together dinner and dessert without consulting a cookbook. I know it's not a skill that's widely valued in today's society, but it's a good skill to have in the coming storm.