Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 cup Grandma’s Original Molasses (not blackstrap)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

Sweetened freshly-whipped cream, to garnish

French vanilla ice cream, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. Use an electric mixer to beat butter in a large bowl until creamy; add sugar and continue beating 3 more minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, then add molasses and stir until smooth; set aside. in a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture gradually, mixing well after each addition until fully incorporated. Slowly add water and stir until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes. If a toothpick inserted into the center of the gingerbread comes out clean, remove pan from the oven. If not, use a new toothpick to check often for doneness, baking up to 15-30 minutes more until done. Cool gingerbread in the pan before serving — while still warm and garnished with your choice of freshly-whipped cream or French vanilla ice cream. — Serves 9

Gingerbread brings back so many fond childhood memories! A wonderful aroma fills the room as it bakes — and there’s nothing like the taste of warm-from-the-oven gingerbread with a big dollop of whipped cream on the top! 😊 And for me — gingerbread brings back even more memories! In 1979 my brother and his wife spent a few days with me building a very large, wonderful gingerbread house. Denny engineered the project very well, and Cindy’s precise measurements and her marzipan creations of Santa Claus in the chimney and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindoor in the front yard made it very special indeed. It was a really fun project, and that gingerbread house was used at Christmas-time for several years. My parents later moved it to their home in Shelton, Washington where they enjoyed it for many more years. Though she has only just seen photos of that gingerbread house from many years ago, our daughter-in-law, Carol, has been wanting to do a gingerbread project herself — so she took pictures of our house, made a cardboard template of the entire thing, and then she started baking. As you can see from the photo of our newly-finished gingerbread house, it is truly a labor of love! And the best part of her whole project was the extra one-on-one time we got to spend together during the “construction” phase. What a truly extra-special gift she has made for us!