The blend of spices and molasses, rolled paper thin, has a reputation as the "World's Thinnest Cookie".
[1] They are related to German Lebkuchen; original recipes can be traced back to the 17th century.
[2] The cookie is especially popular around, and usually associated with, Christmas in communities with a strong Moravian background such as Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which still maintain the two largest Moravian communities in the United States.
While this does not affect the taste, the machine-made cookies have been criticized for not being as thin as their handmade counterparts.
[4] While the spice recipe is the most traditional and well-known of the Moravian cookies, other versions have appeared over the years, including sugar, lemon, black walnut, and chocolate varieties.