Soft Gingerbread

Soft Gingerbread – courtesy of Angeline Hunt Coleman 1850
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 cup molasses
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
½ tsp salt
2 tsp. soda dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
2 eggs, well beaten

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add molasses; beat thoroughly. Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with dissolved soda, beating after each addition. Add eggs the last thing before baking. Bake in greased and lightly floured 9X13 pan at 350 degrees F. until done (about 25-30 minutes). Serve topped with applesauce and whipped cream.

Lisa Hurst Anderson discovered this recipe in an old Pioneer magazine while she was working at the LDS Church Historian’s Office. She served the gingerbread and shared the recipe with all the guests at her wedding reception when she married Grant Anderson. Emily used this recipe for many years. Emily added the ½ tsp salt to the recipe.