The Gingerbread Man was the star of my last post earlier this evening. As I wrote about the children’s book titled The Gingerbread Man Goes to School, I acquired more and more of a craving for homemade gingerbread. I already have all of the ingredients except for molasses and cloves. So the gingerbread making is on the schedule for tomorrow. I found the recipe that I want to use…a very old recipe.

The recipe is called…Great-Grandmother’s Gingerbread    and it is not my own relative we are talking about. The recipe came from a 1968 cookbook titled Cherokee Club Cookbook. The recipes were collected by the members of the Cherokee Club in Longview TX, my hometown. I have written a post about my attachment to Lake Cherokee. The Cherokee Club is a private country club without the golf course, but with an elegant dining room and areas for events and meetings…as well as a beautiful view of Lake Cherokee. This cookbook was one of my mother’s favorites and she knew many of the people who collected recipes.

 Lake Cherokee, Longview TX

 Everything that I have made from the Cherokee Club Cookbook is delicious. It is one of my “go to” cookbooks when I want to make something special. This recipe for gingerbread is surely over 150 years old and belonged to an aunt of a former Texas governor. It is truly “good old fashioned gingerbread” as the recipe states. I hope that you enjoy the following recipe as much as I do!

 

Great-Grandmother’s Gingerbread

1/2 cup butter & shortening, mixed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon soda

2 1/s cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

1 teaspoon ginger

Cream butter/shortening and sugar. Add beaten egg and molasses. Stir together.

Sift together dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Add hot water last and beat until smooth.

Bake in greased shallow pan for 40-45 minutes in a moderate oven (350 degrees). Should make 15 portions.

 

Yum!!!