Joy of Cooking Gingerbread

By altschiller

Old-fashioned, spicy, moist gingerbread

Ingredients

• 1 and 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour or 7 ounces (4 oz = 1 sifted cup flour, 5 oz 1 unsifted cup)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp ground ginger (or fresh, if you like it particularly spicy)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp (one stick) unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (4.0 oz)packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup molasses, the darker the spicier
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger

Preparation

Step 1

Have all ingredients at room temperature 68-70 degrees F. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of one 9x9 inch pan or line the bottom with waxed or parchment paper (I did parchment). My tip is to prep everything you need for the recipe; it goes together very quickly.

Sift together dry ingredients
Beat butter until creamy
Gradually add brown sugar and then mix in egg
Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended
Stir in boiling water into molasses until mixed and then add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined
Stir in crystallized, again, just until combined
Scrape batter into pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes