Who doesn’t love a moist, fragrant square of gingerbread topped with a bit of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream? Some people like it with applesauce instead. I received this recipe attached to a gift of gingerbread mix in a jar, so many thanks to both the person who came up with the recipe and the person who gave it to me—my sister Deanna! As expected, I prefer to use whole wheat pastry flour for baking sweet treats.
Gingerbread
2½ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup old-fashioned molasses (do not use blackstrap molasses)
1 cup hot water
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. Sift the flour, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and clove over a bowl. If you are making this for a gift, it will be easier to pour into the jar if you sift on a piece of waxed paper. Also, if you use the whole wheat pastry flour, there may be bits of bran left in the sifter—put them into the bowl too, just be sure there are no nuggets of salt or soda left.
In another bowl, cream the butter until soft, and then beat in the egg. Add the molasses and mix well. To this molasses mixture, add the flour mixture alternately with the hot water, stirring until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with your finger. Do not overbake. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares to serve.
A wonderful variation on this recipe can be achieved by adding ¼ cup chopped candied ginger to the dry ingredients (use your fingers to make sure the pieces don’t stick together), and proceed as above.
To make a gift mix in a jar, simply pour the dry ingredients into a clean quart canning jar, top with the flat lid, then place a 6-inch square of calico or other homey fabric between the lid and ring (use pinking shears to cut the fabric for a nice effect), and use ribbon or twine to attach the complete recipe, which you have written on a suitable tag. I suppose you could just give the intended person a baked gingerbread, but this means they have to eat it on your schedule, which is the nice part about mix-in-a-jar gifts—they’re ready when you are. They’re also a good way to teach kids basic cooking techniques without too much fuss.