Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

The last two steps of baking and cooling are crucial to Appel’s formula. She says, “Make sure you don’t bake the dough all the way through because you don’t want all the moisture to evaporate.

Bake cookies, rotating cookie sheets halfway through, until edges are golden brown and firm but centers are soft, 15–17 minutes. Let sit on sheets 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks; let cool.

When I was still in grade school, I learned to make oatmeal raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies. That was just about my entire cookie repertoire, and they were two separate entities.