From 1913:
One cupful butter, two cupfuls sugar, three eggs, half teaspoon baking powder, one even teaspoon nutmeg, half teaspoon cloves, flour for a soft dough.
Begin with two cupfuls and add carefully that you do not make them too stiff. Cream butter and sugar, add yolk of eggs, spice, one cupful flour with baking powder, the whipped whites and the rest of the flour.
Roll into a sheet a quarter of an inch thick, cut into rounds, and bake in a good oven.
These cookies ought to be of the soft variety if you will keep them wrapped in a cloth in a box and will not let them dry out. It is impossible to give more explicit directions than “flour to make a soft dough.” for flour has thickening properties that differ and a certain degree of judgment is needed.