"Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat. In our
mad rush for progress and modern improvements, let's be sure we take along
with us all the old-fashioned things worthwhile."
-Laura Ingalls Wilder
Once upon a time, over 150 years ago, a baby girl was born in
a little gray house made of logs in the Big Woods of Wisconsin...
Thus began the life story of one of America's most beloved writers
of children's books, the original pioneer girl, Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Although considered works of historical fiction, Laura's "Little House" series
of books tells the story of the Ingalls family and their adventures during the
frontier days in 1870's and 1880's America, as they traveled by covered wagon
from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to the prairies of Indian Territory in Kansas,
and from there to the farm lands near Plum Creek in Minnesota, and finally
out to the prairies of Dakota Territory, (now South Dakota) where they
were among the first residents of the town of De Smet.
While living and working as a school teacher in De Smet, Laura
met and married her husband, Almanzo Wilder. Their daughter
and fellow writer Rose Wilder Lane was born there in 1886.
The Wilder family later moved to Mansfield, Missouri in 1894,
where Laura and Almanzo lived for the rest of their lives.
In the cozy house Almanzo built for them on their farm
called Rocky Ridge, Laura wrote her famous novels.
An accomplished cook, one of Laura's favorite dessert recipes,
which she often liked to make for her husband and especially for
their joint birthday celebration (Almanzo was born February 13th)
was delicious, old-fashioned gingerbread!
LAURA INGALLS WILDER GINGERBREAD
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup molasses
2 tsps. baking soda
1 cup boiling water, measured in a 2 cup
or larger measuring cup
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. each ginger, cinnamon, allspice,
nutmeg, and ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 9-inch baking pan.
Blend the sugar and the shortening and mix in the molasses.
Add baking soda to boiling water and mix well.
Combine the flour and the spices and sift. Combine the sugar-molasses
mixture with the flour mixture and the baking soda-water liquid. Mix
ingredients well and pour into prepared pan.
*Bake for 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the center of the
gingerbread comes out clean.
"Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Recipe"
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cook Book
Commentary Collection: William T. Anderson
Recipe Collection: Roger Lea MacBride
Illustrations: Leslie A. Kelly
Harper Trophy
A Division of HarperCollins Publishers
(1995)
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