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Ginger Drop Cakes
Mrs. Carson.
Two cups of molasses, two cups of sugar, two cups of butter or lard, two cups of sour milk, two tablespoons of soda, two spoons of cinnamon, one of cloves, nine cups of flour, and ginger to suit taste; drop from spoon into a pan and cook in oven, taking care not to burn.
A very large batch of soft molasses-ginger drop cookies, written in the cup-and-spoon shorthand of a cook who already knew what the dough should feel like. Two things need pinning down before you start: the batch size and the leavening.
- Halve or quarter itNine cups of flour with two cups each of molasses, sugar and fat yields roughly eight to ten dozen soft cookies. A quarter batch is manageable in a home mixer and still gives about two dozen.
- The soda is the hingeTwo tablespoons of soda is a great deal, and it works at all only because there are four cups of acid liquid (sour milk plus molasses) to take it up; measured against the common nineteenth-century rule of a teaspoon of soda to a cup of sour milk it is still generous, so measure it level and consider cutting it back. If you substitute sweet milk you risk a soapy taste and a darker, duller colour. Use real buttermilk, or milk soured with a tablespoon of vinegar per cup.
- Sour milkNineteenth-century sour milk was raw milk left to clabber, thicker than modern cultured buttermilk though not necessarily more acidic. Buttermilk is the closest stand-in; plain whole-milk yogurt thinned to pouring consistency also works.
- "Two spoons" of cinnamonThe recipe specifies tablespoons for the soda but leaves the spice spoons unqualified, and in this period an unqualified "spoon" could mean either a teaspoon or a tablespoon. Taken as tablespoons the spicing is assertive but in keeping with the molasses; teaspoons are the safer first attempt. Ginger "to suit taste" can run from a teaspoon to a tablespoon or more.
- Butter or lardLard gives a softer, more cake-like crumb and was the cheaper choice; butter gives more flavour and slightly more spread. Either should be soft, not melted, and creamed with the sugar.
- OvenNo temperature is given because there was no gauge. Bake at 350F. These are molasses-heavy and scorch on the bottom quickly, which is what "taking care not to burn" is warning about — use parchment and a light-coloured sheet.
- Timing and donenessTen to twelve minutes for a rounded tablespoon of dough. Pull them when the tops are set and just cracking; they firm as they cool and go hard if baked to a crisp edge.
- ConsistencyNine cups of flour to four cups of liquid gives a stiff drop batter that holds a mound. If yours spreads flat, chill it half an hour before scooping rather than adding flour.
"Drop cakes" describes a method rather than a name for cookies as such: batter dropped from a spoon rather than rolled and cut, which saved both time and a floured board. The Home Cook Book (Chicago, 1874) was assembled from recipes contributed by named local women — Mrs. Carson is one of them — and sold to raise money for the Chicago Home for the Friendless, a model of community cookbook publishing that spread across North America for the next fifty years. The proportions are typical of that genre: everything in even cups, easy to recite from memory, and scaled for a household that baked in quantity. Molasses and ginger together were the cheap sweet-and-spice combination of the period, molasses being far less expensive than refined sugar, and the sour-milk-and-soda pairing let a cook leaven without commercial baking powder, which was still a novelty in many kitchens.