Laura Ingalls Wilders Gingerbread

I am on a Laura Ingalls Wilder kick right now.  The program Little House on the Prairie was on when I was in my early years, I thoroughly enjoyed the shows.  I had never read any of the books. 

So advance into adulthood,  I just finished reading her biography and let me just say the lady lead a full life.  While I was in the library getting the biography, I stumbled across a cookbook written after her death when they found her recipe book with all her writings.

And after finding out that she was famous for her Gingerbread, that is the recipe that I  decided to  make.

Gingerbread

from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup molasses

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup boiling water, measured in a 2 cup or larger measuring cup

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon each ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 9 baking pan

Blend the sugar and the shortening and mix in the molasses

Add the baking soda to the boiling water and mix well.

Combine the flour and the spices and sift.  Combine the sugar-molasses mixture with the flour mixture and salt and the baking soda-water liquid. Mix ingredients well and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes until cake tester inserted in the center of the gingerbread comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperature.   It is delicious with applesauce or lightly whipped cream

Here's a piece of the one I made, we had it plain for dessert today it was very good.

So now I will be going back to the library and reading all the Little House books.  I will sneak into the children's section to get them.

I hope everyone enjoys this as much as we did,  please give it a try.

Denise

The Bread Fairy

Turning the Table Thursday