Happy Holidays from A. Lincoln, Gingerbread Man

Washington, D.C.

Dec. 23, 2025

Abraham Lincoln was known for being rather indifferent about food, but one recollection from his youth made it clear that one of his favorite foods was the gingerbread man cookies he recalled that his mother baked for him.

At holiday time, which is also cookie time, it's worth remembering his favorite.

During one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in1858 Lincoln told a light-hearted story about his boyhood in Indiana, where his family moved in 1816, when Lincoln was seven years old. His family, of course, was very poor, so it was a special treat when his mother gathered the ingredients to bake the cookies. One day she gave Abraham three of the cookies and he took them outside to eat.

A boy from a neighboring family, which was even poorer than the Lincolns, happened by and asked for one of the treats. Lincoln obliged. Then he gave the boy another. At which point, Lincoln recalled saying, I don't suppose anybody on earth likes gingerbread better than I do and gets less of it."

The story was recounted by Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg in his book "The Prairie Years.'

The exact recipe for the Lincoln gingerbread men isn't known but if you want to come close to replicate it, do a web search for "Lincoln gingerbread cookies" and you'll find a trove of recipes.