Home › Eighth Day › Eighth Day: Gingerbread

Eighth Day: Gingerbread

No. 101-FRUIT GINGERBREAD.

Two lbs. flour, three-quarters do. butter, one do. coffee-sugar, one do. raisins, one do. currants, two cups molasses, one-half do. sour cream (or milk, if you cannot get cream), six eggs beaten separately, one heaping teapoonful soda, two tablespoonfuls ginger, one teaspoonful cinnamon and one of cloves. Cream the butter and sugar, warm the molasses a little and add to them; next the beaten yolks, then the the milk and spice, soda, flour and whites, well beaten; last, the fruit, which must be dredged with flour. Beat all together well, the last thing before baking. Bake in two loaves, in a moderate oven. This cake will keep a long time.

No. 102-PLAIN GINGERBREAD.

One cup butter, one do. sugar, one do. molasses, one do. sour milk, two eggs, one teaspoonful soda, one of cinnamon, and one tablespoonful ginger, nearly five cups of flour. Be careful not to get it too hard; it should be about as thick as cup-cake batter.

No. 103-SPONGE GINGERBREAD, WITHOUT EGGS.

Three cups flour, one of molasses, one of sugar, one of milk (sour is best), one heaping tablespoonful butter, two teaspoons saleratus (not soda), two do. ginger, one do. cinnamon. Mix the molasses, sugar, butter and spice together; warm them a little and beat until they are very light in color; then add the milk, the saleratus, and lastly, the flour. Beat hard five minutes and bake in shallow pans, or, if preferred, in small cake-tins.

No. 104-TEA-BISCUIT.

One quart flour, two heaping tablespoonfuls lard, two cups milk (new milk, if you can get it), one teaspoonful soda and two of cream tartar, one saltspoon salt. Sift the cream tartar into the flour, then put in the salt, then the lard, rubbed lightly through the flour with the hands, next the soda, dissolved in a little of the milk, then, as rapidly as possible, the rest of the milk. Knead all together as fast as you can, roll out lightly and cut into cakes at least half an inch thick. Bake in a quick oven. "Now, I believe I have given you all the receipts we shall need," said Mrs. King, "besides a good many others. You know we have a pretty large party to provide for; eight from here, three from Mrs. Lane's, and five from Aunt Carroll's-sixteen hungry people! Here is our bill of fare, that she and I made out together. "Veal loaf, ham-sandwiches, potato salad, buttered biscuit, short-cakes, black cap and huckleberry pies, loaf cake, soft gingerbread, iced tea and coffee for the grown folks." "And what shall we have to drink, Aunt Jane?" "Oh, I think little folks can get on very well with icewater. However, there is a very nice preparation called lemon sugar, that makes a pleasant drink when mixed with water, and we'll take along a bottle of that. I advised Mrs. Lane against lemonade, it is so troublesome and hard to manage." "Are we going to make every thing to-morrow?" "Mrs. Lane will have the veal and pork weighed and chopped up at the butcher's, and the ham boiled to-day for the sandwiches, and as her cook is going to bake bread to-morrow, we shall have some light dough ready for the loaf-cake; every thing else I think we can prepare ourselves." The next morning saw a busy scene at Mrs. Lane's.

Six clean-aproned little girls bustled about the kitchen, like peas on a hot shovel, somebody said; Ellen, the cook, had to be on hand to give out materials and utensils. Mrs. Lane said she could not keep out of the kitchen, it was so delightful to watch them, and Aunt Jane sat by a corner of the table up against the wall, in the character of the Genius of the place, inspiring every one with the power suited to the occasion. "The dough will be ready for your loaf-cake very soon, Edith; you must be ready for it. Take your recipe and put the materials together just as we always do, and Mabel and Amy will stone the raisins." "Shall we weigh them first, Aunt Jane?" "No, raisins musn't be weighed until after the seeds are taken out. Rose, you may set about the veal loaf; the meat is all ready, mixed by the butcher; Ellen will give you some bread to crumb up, and you can see by your recipe what else you will want." "I'm waiting patiently for my turn, Aunt Jane," said Grace. "Yes, I see. You may have either the soft gingerbread or the pies for your share. Which will you take?" "Oh, the pies, if I may make them all alone! May I go into the cellar and do it all by myself?" "Yes, if you want to," said Mrs. King. "But wouldn't you rather have a little oversight and advice?" "No, I just want to take all the responsibility myself. I don't want anybody to see them until they go into the oven." "Very well, just as you like. The berries are all nicely looked over and clean; all you have to do is to be careful not to put in too much sugar, as they are both so sweet." "I wish pie-crust could be measured instead of weighed," sighed Grace. "It's so much trouble." "Oh, I can give you a nice receipt for measuring if you are not afraid to try it for the first time by yourself. Here it is:" No. 105-CUP PIE-CRUST.

One cup butter, one of lard, four cups flour. "Is that all?" said Grace. "What a comical little recipe!" "Of course it is understood that you know how to put it together, and also that you will add about half a teaspoonful of salt on account of the lard, and make it up with ice-water. Don't forget, too, after the under crust is on and the fruit in, to wet the margin of paste that will be touched by the upper crust, so as to make it keep together, and as we don't want very rich paste, make your cups of flour rather large, and those of butter and lard rather small."