Easy Angel Gingerbread from My Great-Grandmother’s Kitchen
I grew up eating gingerbread sprinkled with just a light dusting of powdered sugar. So the other day when someone said it just didn’t feel like Christmas because he hadn’t had gingerbread I called my mom to ask her to make her gingerbread.
Imagine my surprise when she finally clarified, in my 35th year on Earth, that the creation she always referred to as simply “gingerbread” was actually Angel Gingerbread.
Of course, I’ve had plenty of gingerbread cookies over the years. I just never distinguished between those cookies and my mom’s gingerbread other than her version wasn’t flat.
It also turns out, she got the recipe from her grandmother. This might also be a good time to note that while I have a LOT of info on my family, I’ve realized my Ancestry.com account needs some cleaning up… as the same person sometimes gets listed twice. Whoops:
Anyways. I am often not aware of which recipes my mom makes are ones that are passed down the ages. It could be because I only have a recent interest in cooking and its historical meaning in the South. Either way, I wanted to share it with y’all, straight as my mother sent it to me over email… including her own modifications:
Great-Grandmother Corley’s Easy Angel Gingerbread
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup ga cane syrup( I use molasses because I can’t find cane syrup)
1/4 cup Wesson oil-( I use whatever kind of vegetable oil)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 heaping cup of plain flour( a heaping cup means it’s not leveled)
1/2 cup boiling water
Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients first in a medium size bowl with a spoon. Add the egg, oil, and molasses. Mix well. Add the 1/2 cup boiling water. Mix well. Pour into an 8” square greased and floured cake pan or glass Pyrex one. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar. (1/2 cup of chopped pecans which have been dusted with flour may be added to the batter.)
To dust with powdered sugar, I use a small wire strainer , put some powdered sugar in it while holding over the gingerbread and shake the strainer.
Also measure and add the oil first. Then measure the molasses using the same measuring cup. This way the molasses won’t stick to the measuring cup when added. – Mom
As you can see, it was the perfect way to finish off our Christmas meal. I like to make it year round!
Love to all y’all,
Molly
