I Want My Cry Babies

DEAR SOS: My friend Jane, 94, fondly remembers moist molasses cookies from her childhood called Cry Babies. She thinks they were called that because after tasting them, people always cried for more. She lost the recipe she got from her father, who got it from the cafeteria of the company where he worked between about 1910 and 1920. I would be grateful if you could find the recipe, and so would Jane.

ELISABETH MacCURDY

Sierra Madre

DEAR ELISABETH: We found several recipes for Cry Babies, each slightly different. This recipe is from the Web site all recipes.com, modified slightly by the Times Test Kitchen to meet Jane’s specifications. These old-fashioned cookies are delicate, so don’t over-bake them. They’re as fragile as, well, crybabies.

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Send requests to Culinary SOS, Food Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 or e-mail to cindy.dorn@latimes.com. Please include your last name and city of residence for publication. Include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants.

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Cry Babies

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened, plus more for preparing baking sheet

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup strong, hot brewed coffee

1 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

5 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a baking sheet and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Dissolve the baking soda in the coffee, then add to the butter mixture along with the molasses. Mix well.

Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Add to the butter mixture, mixing well. Fold in the raisins and nuts.

Drop the batter by the teaspoonful onto the baking sheet. Bake until the cookies spring back slightly when touched, 10 to 12 minutes. Repeat until all the batter has been used.

84 cookies. Each cookie: 66 calories; 66 mg sodium; 6 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.30 gram fiber.