Sift two pounds of flour into a deep pan, and rub into it three
quarters of a pound of butter; then mix in a pound of common white
sugar powdered; and three table-spoonfuls of the best white ginger.
Having beaten four eggs very light, mix them gradually with the other
ingredients in the pan, and add a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash
melted in a wine glass of sour milk. Stir the whole as hard as
possible. Flour your paste-board; lay the lump of dough upon it, and
roll it out into a sheet an inch thick; adding more flour if necessary.
Butter a large shallow square pan. Lay the dough into it, and bake it
in a moderate oven. When cold, cut it into squares. Or you may cut it
out into separate cakes with a jagging iron, previous to baking. You
must be careful not to lay them too close together in the pan, lest
they run into each other.
COMMON GINGERBREAD.--Cut up a pound of butter in a quart of West India
molasses, which must be perfectly sweet; sugar-house molasses will
make it hard and heavy. Warm it slightly, just enough to melt the
butter. Crush with the rolling-pin, on the paste-board, half a pound
of brown sugar, and add it by degrees to the molasses and butter; then
stir in three table-spoonfuls of ginger, a large tea-spoonful of
powdered cloves, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Add gradually
sufficient flour to make a dough stiff enough to roll out easily; and
lastly, a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash melted in a little sour milk.
Mix and stir the dough very hard with a spaddle, or a wooden spoon;
but do not knead it. Then divide it with a knife into equal portions;
and, having floured your hands, roll it out on the paste-board into
long even strips. Place them in shallow tin pans, that have been
buttered; either laying the strips side by side in straight round
sticks, (uniting them at both ends,) or coil them into rings one within
another, as you see them at the cake shops. Bake them in a brisk oven,
taking care that they do not burn; gingerbread scorching sooner than
any other cake.
To save time and trouble, you may roll out the dough into a sheet near
an inch thick, and cut it into round flat cakes with a tin cutter, or
with the edge of a tumbler.
Ground ginger loses much of its strength by keeping. Therefore it will
be frequently found necessary to put in more than the quantity given in
the receipt.
GINGERBREAD NUTS.--Rub half a pound of butter into a pound and a half
of sifted flour; and mix in half a pound of brown sugar, crushed
fine with the rolling-pin. Add three table-spoonfuls of ginger, a
tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a tea-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon. Stir in a pint of molasses, and the grated peel of a large
lemon, but not the juice, as you must add at the last a very small
tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in tepid water, and pearl-ash
entirely destroys the taste of lemon-juice and of every other acid.
Stir the whole mixture very hard with a spaddle or with a wooden spoon,
and make it into a lump of dough just stiff enough to roll out into a
sheet about half an inch thick. Cut it out into small cakes about the
size of a quarter dollar; or make it up, with your hands well floured,
into little round balls, flattening them on the top. Lay them in
buttered pans, and bake them in a moderate oven. They will keep several
weeks. Use West India molasses.
FRANKLIN CAKE.--Mix together a pint of molasses, and half a pint of
milk, and cut up in it half a pound of butter. Warm them just enough
to melt the butter, and then stir in six ounces of brown sugar; adding
three table-spoonfuls of ginger, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon,
a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a grated nutmeg. Beat seven eggs
very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, in turn with a
pound and two ounces of flour. Add, at the last, the grated peel and
juice of two large lemons or oranges; the peel grated very fine. This
gingerbread requires no pearl-ash. Stir the mixture very hard; put it
into little queen-cake tins, well buttered; and bake it in a moderate
oven. It is best the second day, and will keep soft a week. Use West
India molasses.
GINGER PLUM CAKE.--Stone a pound and a half of raisins, and cut them in
two. Wash and dry half a pound of currants. Sift into a pan two pounds
of flour. Put into another pan a pound of brown sugar, (rolled fine,)
and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Stir the butter and sugar
to a cream, and add to it two table-spoonfuls of the best ginger, one
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; and one of powdered cloves. Then
beat six eggs very light, and add them gradually to the butter and
sugar, in turn with the flour and a quart of molasses. Lastly, stir in
a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in lukewarm water and add by
degrees the fruit, which must be well dredged with flour. Stir all very
hard; put the mixture into a buttered pan, and bake it in a moderate
oven. Use West India molasses.
MOLASSES CANDY.--Mix a pound of the best brown sugar with two quarts
of West India molasses, (which must be perfectly sweet,) and boil it
in a preserving kettle over a moderate fire for three hours, skimming
it well, and stirring it frequently after the scum has ceased to rise;
taking care that it does not burn. Have ready the grated rind and the
juice of three lemons, and stir them into the molasses after it has
boiled about two hours and a half; or you may substitute the juice
and rind of three large oranges. The flavour of the lemon will all be
boiled out if it is put in too soon. The mixture should boil at least
three hours, that it may be crisp and brittle when cold. If it is taken
off the fire too soon, or before it has boiled sufficiently, it will
not congeal, but will be tough and ropy, and must be boiled over again.
It will cease boiling of itself when it is thoroughly done. Then take
it off the fire; have ready a square tin pan; put the mixture into it,
and set it away to cool. The pan should be buttered.
You may make molasses candy with almonds blanched and slit into pieces;
stir them in by degrees after the mixture has boiled two hours and a
half. Or you may blanch a quart of ground-nuts and put them in instead
of the almonds.
NOUGAT.--Blanch a pound of shelled sweet almonds; and with an
almond-cutter, or a sharp penknife, split each almond into two slips.
Spread them over a large dish, and place them in a gentle oven. Powder
two pounds of the best loaf-sugar, and put it into a preserving pan
without a drop of water. Set it on a chafing-dish over a slow fire,
or on a hot stove, and stir it with a wooden spoon till the heat has
entirely dissolved it. Then take the almonds out of the oven, and mix
with them the juice of two or three lemons. Put them into the sugar a
few at a time, and let them simmer till it becomes a thick stiff paste,
stirring it hard all the while. Have ready a mould, or a square tin
pan, greased all over the inside with sweet oil; put the mixture into
it; smooth it evenly, and set it in a cold place to harden. When almost
hard cut it into long slips.
LEMON DROPS.--Squeeze some lemon-juice into a pan. Pound in a mortar
some of the best loaf-sugar, and then sift it through a very fine
sieve. Mix it with the lemon-juice, making it so thick that you can
scarcely stir it. Put it into a porcelain saucepan, set it on hot
coals, and stir it with a wooden spoon five minutes or more. Then take
off the pan, and with the point of a knife drop the liquid on writing
paper. When cold, the drops will easily come off.
Peppermint drops may be made as above, substituting for the lemon-juice
essence of peppermint.
Orange drops may be made in the same manner.