1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
3 each eggs
1/2 cup cold water
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sorghum or molasses
1 all-purpose flour (5-6 cups)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
Directions
Preparation time: 30 minutes Chilling time: Overnight Baking time: 10
minutes
1. Cream shortening and sugar in mixing bowl, beat in eggs, one at a
time. Mix water and baking soda in small bowl until dissolved. Add
baking soda mixture and sorghum to butter mixture. Sift 5 1/2 cups of
the flour, the spices and salt together. Blend into dough. Divide
dough into 4 balls. Wrap in plastic wrap. Flatten and refrigerate
overnight.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll 1 portion of dough out at a time on
lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on a greased
cookie sheet until puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake.
3. When cool, decorate with buttercream frosting and/or candies as
desired. Sorghum gives these cookies a special flavor, but molasses
can be used as a substitute.
Ann Smith of Plainfield won second place, and described how her
gingerbread men left Bohemia in 1872 and immigrated to the United
States. Smith's great-grandmother, "Babicka" Novak, lived in a small
Czech-American town in South Dakota where Smith's mother grew up in
the 1920s. At Christmas time, her great-grandma would give her
neighbors Old World gingerbread men, reindeer and rocking horses.
"One year when Great-grandma delivered the cookies, she brought
along her teenaged grandson, who was visiting from a small ethnic
Czech community in Nebraska," Smith wrote.
"Introductions made that day over the watchful eyes of the
gingerbread men eventually lead to wedding bells for my parents a
decade later. Great-grandma Novak probably had planned this all
along!" from the Chicago Tribune second annual Food Guide Holiday
Cookie Contest December 14, 1989
Servings: 36 servings
1989 2nd Place: Great-Grandma's Gingerbread C Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads; Cake
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of written recipes way back into ancient history, in truth as far into history as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and maybe further still. Interesting though that is, sadly, these early cookbooks were just primitive pictorial instructions for preparing food.
Later on, in The time of the roman empire 25BC a man called Apicius compiled some documents which described recipes cooked by wealthy Romans. He recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into appetizers, entrees and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. Additionally, he recounts how the Roman chefs made use of a good variety of herbs and spices, including a few that will be familiar to modern chefs for example thyme, fennel and parsley. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and spices from Arab cooking, including parsley and basil. These new foods and tastes led to a surge in books on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private collections. By the time we get to the 1900s, recipe books were starting to become popular as a result of more people being able to read, more leisure time and having more money to spend. |
We hope you enjoy this 1989 2nd Place_ Great Grandma's Gingerbread C recipe.
