American Gingerbread (Southern)

Put one pint of molasses into a copper basin, warm it, and melt half a pound of butter in it; then mix in half a pound of moist sugar and three well-beaten eggs, add ground ginger to taste, one pint of milk and two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder mixed up with one pound of flour. The milk and flour should be added alternately and a little at a time. When thoroughly mixed, pour it into oval buttered pans and bake in a moderately quick oven. Serve either hot or cold.

French Gingerbread

Mix a tablespoonful of ground ginger and half a tablespoonful each of ground aniseed and ground cloves with a pound and a half of flour; then mix in one pound of molasses and work it until quite smooth. Cover the paste over with a cloth and leave it until the following day; then roll it out and with a round tin cutter about two inches in diameter stamp the paste out into rounds. Butter a baking-sheet, lay the gingerbreads on it, brush them over with a paste brush dipped in beaten egg, and bake for half an hour in a moderate oven. The cakes should be kept in biscuit tins in a dry place.

Spiced Gingerbread

Prepare a dough with one pound of butter melted in one quart of warm molasses, half a pound of brown sugar, six eggs, three-quarters of a pound of ground ginger, a quarter of a pound of ground allspice, two ounces of ground cloves, three pounds of sifted flour and four tablespoonfuls of saleratus. Form into cakes and put in a moderate oven and bake. If preferred it may be baked in loaves. It should be eaten cold.

Wafer Gingerbread

Pour seven fluid ounces of treacle into a basin and with a wooden spoon mix in two ounces each of warmed butter and moist sugar, half that quantity of ground ginger, and lastly eight ounces of sifted flour; stir well until quite smooth. Turn it onto a slightly greased baking-sheet, rolling it out very thin, put in a slow oven and bake. Take out and cut into squares while still hot, roll them into shapes, and let them get cold.

Gingerbread With Cocoanut

Put nine ounces each of wheat and rice flour into a basin and mix in eight ounces of moist sugar, one ounce of ground ginger, the grated rind of two lemons and an ounce and a half of candied citron cut up small. Put half a pound of butter into a saucepan with one pound of molasses, make them both hot, pour them into the flour mixture and stir well. Let it all cool, add seven ounces of cocoanut grated and pounded in a mortar. Beat well for a few minutes, put the mixture in small lumps on a buttered baking-sheet, place them in a slack oven, and bake for about forty-five minutes.

Ginger Cake

Put into a basin a breakfast cupful each of sugar, butter and molasses, with three eggs, a tablespoonful of ground ginger, a saltspoonful of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in one tablespoonful of buttermilk and mix in two and a half breakfast cupfuls of flour. Add a little allspice if desired. Pour the mixture into a mould, and bake in a moderate oven.

Ginger Loaf

Rub six ounces of butter or dripping into one pound of flour, put it in a basin and add a quarter of a pound of sugar, half an ounce of ground ginger and half the latter quantity of mixed spice, or a little powdered cloves and nutmeg. When it is well-mixed, add three well-beaten eggs and three-quarters of a pound of treacle Work this vigorously, add one teaspoonful of bicarbondate of soda dissolved in a wineglassful of warm water, and turn it into a well-buttered, shallow, square tin, only half filling it to allow for rising; two ounces of candied peel, finely minced, or half an ounce of caraway seeds may be added if desired. Put the tin in a moderate oven and bake slowly until done.

Ginger Snaps

Put one pint of molasses into a saucepan with a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, two tablespoonfuls of ground ginger and half a pound of butter, and boil until all are thoroughly mixed. Let it cool and then add sufficient flour to make it into a soft dough; work it well, cut it into small cakes and bake in a slow oven until done.

Hazel-Nut Cakes

Put four ounces of blanched and shelled hazel-nuts and one ounce of sweet almonds into a mortar and pound them coarsely; whisk the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, and mix them with the almonds, also six or eight ounces of sugar and sufficient flour to make the whole into a paste. Roll the paste out as thin as possible, and with a round tin cutter cut it into small cakes. Butter some baking-tins, place the cakes on them at a short distance from each other, and bake in a slow oven. When cooked, leave the cakes until cold, then pack them in tin canisters.

Hickory-Nut Cake

Beat one-fourth pound of butter and one-half pound or so of sugar into a smooth cream, stir in the beaten yolks of three eggs, one saltspoonful of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed, and one saltspoonful of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in hot water, then add, and mix in, in small quantities, and alternately, the whites of three eggs whisked to a stiff froth, and one-half pound of flour, with one teaspoonful of cream of tartar mixed with it. Have prepared and dredged with flour one-fourth pound of stoned and chopped raisins and one-fourth pint of hickory-nut kernels, mix them quickly into the dough, and bake at once.