The History of New Orleans Stage Planks: Southern Cookie Bar Tradition

If you did not grow up in south Louisiana, stage planks need explaining. If
you did, you already know the sound of the cellophane and probably have an
opinion about whether the pink icing is essential.

What they actually are

A stage plank is a flat rectangular cookie bar, spiced with ginger and
sweetened with molasses, iced on top — traditionally a flat pink glaze,
though white, chocolate and lemon versions all exist. Dense rather than
crisp. Closer to gingerbread than to a biscuit.

The name comes from the shape: long, flat and solid, like a board. They are
sometimes called "cakes" locally, which confuses everyone else in the room.

Why they are a New Orleans thing

Two forces made them a fixture.

The first is economics. Molasses was cheap and abundant in a sugar region,
and a molasses-and-ginger dough keeps for a long time without going stale in
a way that a butter cookie does not. That combination — cheap, sturdy,
long-keeping — is how a regional staple gets made.

The second is Carnival. Stage planks are a classic parade throw. They are
flat, individually wrapped, survive being hurled from a float, and can be
bought in quantity. A cookie that can be thrown to a stranger and still be
edible when it lands is a specific engineering brief, and this one meets it.

That is also why so many people's memory of them is tied to catching one
rather than buying one.

Why the texture is not a mistake

First-time eaters often describe them as hard. They are meant to be firm.
Molasses is hygroscopic — it holds onto moisture — so a stage plank stays
pliable at the centre for weeks while the edges stay crisp. It is not a
cookie that goes soft and then stale; it goes firm and then stays that way.

If yours is genuinely rock hard, it is old or it dried out in an open
wrapper. Twenty seconds next to a warm mug loosens it.

The icing does work beyond decoration

The glaze is a moisture seal as much as a sweetener. It caps the surface,
which is part of why the interior stays soft. Scraping the icing off — which
some people do — leaves you with a drier cookie than the recipe intends.

The pink is traditional and, as far as we can tell, entirely aesthetic. Nobody
has ever given us a convincing reason for it. It looks like Carnival.

How to eat them, according to people who grew up with them

Dunking is not optional in some households. Coffee is the traditional partner
— the bitterness cuts the molasses, and the heat softens the crumb. Milk works
and is the children's version.

Do not dunk for more than about two seconds. The glaze dissolves before the
cookie does, and you lose the top. (We tested coffee, tea and milk in our
Stage Planks Dip Challenge).

What we stock

A variety pack, if you want to work out which glaze you actually prefer
before committing:

Or the original, which is the one most people mean when they say stage plank:

Keeping them

Airtight, room temperature. They do not need refrigerating and the
fridge dries them out.
Do not store them with soft cookies. Molasses pulls moisture from the
air and from its neighbours. A stage plank in a tin of shortbread will
soften itself and stale everything else.

• They travel exceptionally well, which is the whole point of the format.

This is the cookie to post to someone.