New Years Crackers

In an 1805 cookbook, Hew American Cookery, there is a recipe for New Years Cake that is a form of biscuit. It is sweet and contains caraway seeds and is leavened with yeast. This recipe, however, is not of Dutch origin; it is a true cracker and was sometimes either stamped with a print or merely pricked with a fork. Traditionally, these crackers were meant to be eaten with jams or sweetmeats and may have been among those foods that were once served in the Chesapeake Bay region to Chr