It’s gingerbread time which means the countdown to Christmas is officially on! I treated myself to the book The World of Little House a few months back while going through another nostalgia Amazon spree and this ended up in my cart. More juvenile then I originally intended but my thoughts were a bit impaired with wine that night…anyways… I thought I would try to recreate Laura’s recipe tonight. The biggest debate being adding the chocolate frosting or not she so loved! “Chocolate frosting adds to the goodness.” -LIW Comment with your results or Tweet/Instagram photos of the gingerbread on your Christmas tables!
Ingredients
1 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon each: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
shortening to grease a 9×9 baking pan
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease the baking pan.
- Blend the sugar and shortening in the small bowl. Mix the molasses.
- Measure out a cup of boiling water in the 2-cup measuring cup and add the baking soda. Mix well.
- In the large bowl, sift together the flour and the spices. Add all other ingredients, mix well and pour into the greased pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until knife/cake tester comes out clean.
- Serve this warm or at room temperature.
Collins, Carolyn Strom., Christina Wyss. Eriksson, Deborah Maze, and Garth Williams. The World of Little House. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996. Print.pg. 131
little history on the prairie 