I’m always on the look-out for “healthy” hundred-year-old cookie recipes, so I was thrilled when I came across a recipe for Honey Wafers. The recipe uses honey as the primary sweetener – though it does contain a small amount of sugar.
Old-fashioned Honey Wafers are delightful with coffee. They have a distinct honey flavor, with mild undertones of lemon. Don’t expect these cookies to taste like sugar cookies.
I used a 2-inch in diameter round cookies cutter when making these cookies. This was a good size. Small is better. The honey is very predominant, and made for savoring.
These cookies got relatively hard after a day or two, but were still good. They could also be softened by putting in an airtight container with a slice or two of apple.
Here’s the original recipe:
And, here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
1/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup honey 1/3 teaspoon lemon extract 2 3/4 cups pastry flour (All-purpose flour can be substituted.) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 2-4 tablespoons milk, if needed Preheat oven to 400° F. Combine butter, sugar, honey, and lemon extract in a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, stir to combine. Add flour, stir until well-mixed. If the mixture is too dry, add milk to create a dough with a consistency that can be easily rolled. On well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.Honey Wafers
A Hundred Years Ago 
Yum those look really good!
Thank you, I was pleased with how the photo turned out.
They do look really good. It would be a great recipe to make for company when they will all get eaten.
Yes, that’s a good suggestion. I served them when I had friends over, and we had fun discussing this recipe.
Those cookies sound really good. Are they soft for the first couple of days? You mentioned them hardening after that.
I generally prefer soft cookies, but I am curious to try these. They seem like they’d go well with a cup of herbal tea.
These cookies are not a particularly soft cookie. The texture of the Honey Wafers seemed to be very dependent upon how thick they are. I didn’t get the dough rolled out evenly when I made them, so some were thicker than others. The day that I made them, the thinnest cookies were crisp; the thicker ones were a little chewy.
They would be really good with herbal tea.
I like a hard, crisp cookie, so a good sugar cookie is hard to find. These look worth trying. I like honey in Greek cookies, so it might make these even a little more special.
These cookies are definitely a little different than most modern cookies, but if you like firm cookies and honey-flavored cookies, you should give this recipe a try. I’d love to know your opinion.
They look easy, delicious and as you said healthy.
This is a simple-to-make recipe.
Love the dominant honey flavor and aroma. I hope to try these soon. 🙂
If you make this, I’d really value your opinion of these cookies. I had fun making this hundred-year-old recipe, but it is a recipe that I tend to think would benefit from a bit of tweaking. I haven’t done much baking with honey, and I’m not sure exactly what is needed.
I will experiment and report!
p.s. I saw that the original recipe calls for quite a lot of salt. I’m wondering what that was all about?
Yeah! You are such a knowledgeable and insightful cook. I’m not sure about the salt. Many old recipes call for more salt than what I think is needed. People may have just preferred more salt back then.
Years of editing do that… 🙂
It’s either they preferred more salty desserts, or maybe the salt they’ve used at the time was less salty? Even now we can see differences in the level of saltiness between different brands. It’s really an interesting question.
It has been a long time since I’ve heard of apples slices keeping cookies soft, or a slice of bread in the brown sugar to keep it from getting hard. Maybe it is because our containers are tighter…. these sounds so good!
I’m probably old-fashioned, but I still do it occasionally. I may have to to do a post on this someday. 🙂
These look amazing!
It was fun to make a cookie that used honey as the predominant sweetener.
I don’t like artificial sweetener, trying not to have too much refined sugar so is perfect
I love reading your old recipes! These look fun. Kind of like food for wayfarers!
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoy this blog.
I love going through my Grandma’s recipe box and books and I have a few reprints of old cookbooks, but you’ve kind of made old recipes an artform!
Thank yu and funny but the order of Girl Scout cookies arrived a short time ago.
🙂 I just realized that no girls scouts have stopped by this year selling cookies. I guess our neighborhood is getting older.
Sheryl, I can make a room in my house for you to be my family’s personal chef. I can pay in kind with genealogy. 🙂
Works for me. 🙂
If you like honey-flavored cookies, you’ll enjoy this recipe.
Awesome, you have given a modern touch, icing on the cake, wonderful:)
Verry Cool!
It’s a nice honey recipe.