Gingerbread That Actually Tastes Good!!!!

this is a really great recipe that my mom handed down to me, from a 1960s Jell-O pudding pamphlet. sadly, we lost the pamphlet.

it is easier to find Sheriff Pudding and Pie Filling mix (the kind you cook) in Ontario than the Jell-O version, but they both work great!

i never really liked gingerbread until my mom made these cookies. they are so tasty, like sugar cookies with a ginger bite to them. the thinner you roll the cookies, the crispier they will be.
we used to make gingerbread houses with this dough. one Christmas, when i was in college and had no money, i made a gingerbread house for each of my siblings. it was an awesome Christmas!

Gingerbread

• 2 pkgs of butterscotch (COOKED) pudding and pie filling mix - 6 oz or 6 serving size x 2
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 4 1/2 tsp ginger
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• cream together butter, pudding mix and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs and blend well.
• mix dry ingredients together.
• add dry to wet and blend well
• chill until firm, about an hour, or the next day.
• roll onto lightly floured board, to 1/8" thick and cut with cutters [i use waxed paper to roll out dough onto. i find it really easy to get the dough off the counter this way, and i use much less flour when i roll it out. i place down two large pieces of waxed paper and then sprinkle it lightly with flour. roll out your dough a few times (flour the top, lightly) and then flour the top again and flip the dough over (flouring the surface if necessary) and then roll it out completely]
• gather up the leftover dough, roll it up into a ball, and roll it out again. repeat this process until you've used up all of the dough. the last couple cookies will be a bit tough and floury, but not too bad. you can eat those yourself to test them!
  
• bake on greased cookie sheet, or use parchment paper at 350 F for 10 - 12 min until golden brown and it looks like it is cooked
  
• 
• makes about 7 1/2 dozen

note: this recipe has been tripled from the original, as it called for a 4 oz package of butterscotch pudding mix which they don't sell any more.

here is a recipe for royal frosting, but i have no idea where i found it. it is great to use as tasty glue to hold the gingerbread houses together!

Royal Frosting

combine:

• 3 egg whites (at room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 16 oz package of icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

beat 7 to 10 min until VERY stiff
mix dry ingredients into wet

keep covered with a damp cloth at all times
use right away
makes 3 cups

cathynote: i don't recall if i beat the egg whites until fluffy first and then added the icing sugar, or if i threw it all in together and beat the crap out of it then. the resulting icing is VERY stiff and sticky, not fluffy at all, but sweet and crunchy when dried.

Cupcakes

my mother gave me her American Woman's Cookbook, by Ruth Berolzheimer (1947 edition), which is now my most prized possession. The Devil's Food Cake (pg 458/459) recipe is the first cake she ever made from scratch, and now it is my first ever 'scratch' cake. she said it was really simple, but man... there are a lot of steps.


here is the recipe (verbatim):

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE:

• 3/4 cup butter or other shortening
• 1 7/8 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 3 ounces (3 squares) bitter chocolate

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sour milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream shortening thoroughly; add sugar gradually and cream mixture until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and beat well. Meanwhile, pour the boiling water over chocolate; stir over low heat until smooth and thick; cool and add to egg mixture; blend thoroughly. Sift flour once, measure and combine with remaining dry ingredients and sift 3 times, then add to chocolate mixture, alternately with milk and vanilla combined. Beat well after each addition. Pour bater into greased pans which have been lined with waxed paper. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F) until done, 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 3 (8-inch) layers. Spread with Boiled Frosting (page 479).

creamed butter, sugar, and eggs:

adding the flour:
cathynotes:

• i prefer to use cocoa (powder), and am more likely to have it in my cupboard than baking chocolate. the substitution is 3 tblsp cocoa and 1 tblsp butter for every square/ounce of chocolate.
• i also made cupcakes, which take less time to cook (about 20 min).
• sour the milk by adding 1 tblsp vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk. oddly enough, this is also the substitution for buttermilk.

BOILED FROSTING

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

• 1, 2, or 3 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cook the sugar and water together, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Them cook without stirring. For one egg white, cook to 238° F.; for two egg whites, cook to 244° F.; and for three egg whites, cook to 254° F. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool while you are beating the eggs white stiff, then pour the syrup in a thin stream over the stiff white, beating the mixture constantly until thick enough to spread. Add vanilla.

cathynotes:

• don't bother with the vanilla if you have a crappy variety or artificial vanilla extract. it will taste crappy.
• who has a candy thermometer? not me. my mom taught me to boil the syrup until it makes a "soft ball" on the bottom when you drop it from a teaspoon into a glass of water. This is supposed to be around 238° F. If you try it too soon, the syrup just dissipates. i let it boil 2 min longer, since i was using 2 eggwhites.

Cathy's chocolate icing:

i made really tasty butter frosting for some for some of the cupcakes. however, my recipe is sketchy:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cp icing sugar
• divide into 2/3 for chocolate, 1/3 for white

for chocolate:

• add about 3 heaping tablespoons more
• 2 tbsp cocoa

• blend well. it looks like dirt at first. careful! don't let the cocoa powder blow everywhere! whee!!

for the white: "cherry frosting" (we thought almond extract tasted like cherry when we were kids)

• 3 heaping tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract

• blend blend blend!

whip cream frosting:

• 1 small container of whipping cream
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 4 tbsp sugar

• let the cocoa and sugar sit in the whip cream for at least an hour. it needs to melt or something. whip it as you would whip cream, but maybe a bit more to make it stiffer.

easy peasy. this is me icing the cupcakes in the car on the way to my neice's 16th birthday party.

for cookbook fans, here is a link to the online/downlaodable source:
http://www.archive.org/details/americwomanscook00delirich