Margo's GingerBread Creations

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These recipes have survived the passing of time. If you are very courageous, you just might give one a try; but I have included the recipes just for fun.

This page was last updated on December 17, 2004.

All of these recipes come from The Gingerbread Book, Ed. Allen D. Bragdon, New York: Arco Publishing, 1984, ISBN #0-916410-08-0. Thanks Allen!

Index of Heirloom Recipes:
Gingerbread Royal Colonial Soft Gingerbread With Rose Water Lafayette Gingerbread
Sailor's Gingerbread Muster Day Gingerbread

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GINGERBREAD ROYAL

From the cookbook used at Mount Vernon comes a recipe for fancy-cut gingerbread belonging to Frances Parke Custis, Martha Washington's mother-in-law.

2 cups blanched almonds

Rose water (see Rose Water recipe).

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon candied ginger

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup raisins

Beat almonds in a mortar and mix with two tablespoons rose water as they are prepared. Stir in sugar, spices, and fruit, using enough additional rose water to form a very stiff paste. Roll out on board dusted with confectioners sugar and cut into fancy shapes. Set in a cool oven to dry out.

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COLONIAL SOFT GINGERBREAD WITH ROSE WATER
by Amelia Simmons, 1796

Rub two pounds of sugar, one pound of butter, into four pounds of flour; add eight eggs, one ounce ginger, one pint milk, four spoons rose water; knead dough until stiff, shape to one's fancy, bake in a pan for 15 minutes.
(Bake in moderate oven, 350⁰F.)

Rose Water
If the druggist doesn't have it, this is how it was made. Place a peck of freshly picked, red or crimson rose petals into a quart of spring water. Distill it twice over a low fire before corking it loosely and letting it stand 3 days. On the fourth day, fasten down the cork and let it age.

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LAFAYETTE GINGERBREAD

Another fancy gingerbread recipe came from Elizabeth Raffold in 1795. This was named for the Marquis de Lafayette.

Five eggs.

Half a pound of brown sugar.

Half a pound of fresh butter.

A pint of sugar-house molasses.

A pound and a half of flour.

Four table-spoonfuls of ginger.

Two large sticks of cinnamon.

Three dozen grains of allspice.

Three dozen of cloves, powdered and sifted

The juice and grated peel of two large lemons.

Stir the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the eggs very well. Pour the molasses, at once, into the butter and sugar. Add the ginger and other spice, and stir all well together. Put in the egg and flour alternately, stirring all the time. Stir the whole very hard, and put in the lemon at the last. When the whole is mixed, stir it till very light. Butter an earthen pan, or a thick tin or iron one, and put the gingerbread in it. Bake it in a moderate oven, an hour or more, according to its thickness. Take care that it does not burn.

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SAILOR'S GINGERBREAD

This recipe was published in the New England Vineyard Gazette in August, 1857.

Sift two pounds of flour (8 cups) into a bowl, and cut into it 11/4 pounds fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour and then mix in a pint of West Indian molasses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs until very light. Stir into the eggs a gill, or 1/2 cup of brandy. Add also to the egg 1/2 cup of ground ginger and a tablespoonful of powdered cinnamon, with 1 teaspoon of baking soda melted in a little warm water. Moisten the flour with this mixture until it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your pastry board, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, lightly buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently apart to prevent their ruining each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.

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MUSTER DAY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Muster Day, the first Tuesday in June, was a day of compulsory militia training for the men of New Fngland, and a day of revelry for the entire family when the training was done. Gingerbread was an essential part of the menu.

2/3 cup molasses

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda

2/3 cup butter

1 egg

5 cups flour

Heat molasses, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling point. Remove from heat and add baking soda, then pour over butter in a mixing bowl. Stir until butter has melted, then add egg and flour and mix thoroughly. Knead for a few minutes, then gather dough into ball. Refrigerate dough until firm enough to roll easily, then roll on lightly floured board and cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased sheet and bake at 325⁰F for 10 minutes. Remove small cookies from sheet as they brown.

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This web page was created on November 7, 1999
by Margo Osti

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