Table of Contents
- Allied Cookery Arranged by Grace Clergue Harrison and Gertrude Clergue [1916]
- The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]
- MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]
- Victorian recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]
- Victorian Gingerbread recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]
- THE LADY’S OWN COOKERY BOOK, AND NEW DINNER-TABLE DIRECTORY; [1844]
- Georgian Gingerbread Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]
- Stuart Era Gingerbread Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery by Robert May [1685]
- The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition
Allied Cookery Arranged by Grace Clergue Harrison and Gertrude Clergue [1916]
GORDON HIGHLANDER GINGERBREAD
Put in a mixing bowl ½ a lb. of flour, 2 oz. of brown sugar, 2 oz. peel, ¾ of an egg or 1 small egg, well beaten, ½ teaspoonful of soda mixed with ¼ of a cup of milk, ¼ oz. each of ginger, mace, and cinnamon, then beat into this slowly 3 oz. of butter that has been warmed in ½ pint of molasses.
Bake very slowly in a tin lined with buttered paper.
The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]
GINGER NUTS.
1/2 lb. nutter, 1/2 lb. sugar, 1 pint molasses or golden syrup, 1/2 oz. ground cloves and all-spice mixed, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, flour to form dough.
Beat the nutter and sugar together; add the molasses, spice, etc., and just enough flour to form a plastic dough. Knead well, roll out, cut into small biscuits, and bake on oiled or floured tins in a very moderate oven.
PARKIN.
2 ozs. butter, 2 ozs. moist sugar, 6 ozs. best treacle, 1/2 lb. medium oatmeal, 1/4 lb. flour, 1/2 oz. powdered ginger, grated rind of 1 lemon.
Some people prefer the addition of carraway seeds to lemon rind. If these are used a level teaspoonful will be sufficient for the quantities given above.
The old-fashioned black treacle is almost obsolete now, and is replaced commercially by golden syrup, many brands of which are very pale and of little flavour. To make successful Parkin a good brand of pure cane syrup is needed. I always use “Glebe.” This is generally only stocked by a few “high-class ” grocers or large stores, but it is worth the trouble of getting.
Some Food Reform Stores stock molasses, and this was probably used for the original Parkin. It is strongly flavoured and blacker than black treacle, but its taste is not unpleasant. For the sugar, a good brown moist cane sugar, like Barbados, is best. Put the treacle and butter (or nutter) into a jar and put into a warm oven until the butter is dissolved. Then stir in the sugar. Mix together the oatmeal, flour, ginger and seeds or lemon rind.
Pour the treacle, etc., into this, and mix to a paste. Roll out lightly on a well-floured board to a 1/4 inch thickness.
Bake in a well-greased flat tin for about 50 minutes, in a rather slow oven. To test if done, dip a skewer into boiling water, wipe, and thrust into the Parkin; if it comes out clean the latter is done. Cut into squares, take out of tin, and allow to cool.
MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]
THICK, LIGHT GINGERBREAD.
Crumble down very small, eight ounces of butter into a couple of pounds of flour, then add to, and mix thoroughly with them, half a pound of good brown sugar, two ounces of powdered ginger, and half an ounce of ground carraway-seeds; beat gradually to these, first two pounds of treacle, next three well-whisked eggs, and last of all half an ounce of carbonate of soda,[174] dissolved in a very small cupful of warm water; stir the whole briskly together, pour the mixture into very shallow tins, put it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it for an hour and a half. The gingerbread made thus will be remarkably light and good. For children part of the spice and butter may be omitted.
174. This should always be of the very best quality when used for cakes. Carbonate of ammonia is recommended in preference to it by some writers.
Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 8 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; powdered ginger, 2 oz.; eggs, 3; carbonate of soda, 1/2 oz.; water, very small cupful: baked 1-1/2 hour.
Obs.—We think that something less than the half ounce of soda would be sufficient for this gingerbread, for with the whole quantity it rises in the oven to three times its height, and is apt to run over the tops of the tins, even when they are but half filled with it at first; or if it were well beaten into the mass without any water, after being carefully freed from lumps and mixed with a little sugar, the cake would still be quite light.
ACTON GINGERBREAD.
Whisk four strained or well-cleared eggs to the lightest possible froth (French eggs, if really sweet, will answer for the purpose), and pour to them, by degrees, a pound and a quarter of treacle, still beating them lightly.
Add, in the same manner, six ounces of pale brown sugar free from lumps, one pound of sifted flour, and six ounces of good butter, just sufficiently warmed to be liquid, and no more, for if hot, it would render the cake heavy; it should be poured in small portions to the mixture, which should be well beaten up with the back of a wooden spoon as each portion is thrown in: the success of the cake depends almost entirely on this part of the process. When properly mingled with the mass, the butter will not be perceptible on the surface; and if the cake be kept light by constant whisking, large bubbles will appear in it to the last. When it is so far ready, add to it one ounce of Jamaica ginger and a large teaspoonful of cloves in fine powder, with the lightly grated rinds of two fresh full-sized lemons.
Butter thickly, in every part, a shallow square tin pan, and bake the gingerbread slowly for nearly or quite an hour in a gentle oven. Let it cool a little before it is turned out, and set it on its edge until cold, supporting it, if needful, against a large jar or bowl. We have usually had it baked in an American oven, in a tin less than two inches deep; and it has been excellent. We retain the name given to it originally in our own circle.
CHEAP AND VERY GOOD GINGER OVEN-CAKE OR CAKES.
Four French eggs (which must be perfectly sweet, or small English ones), six ounces of brown sugar of good quality rolled smooth and fine, six ounces of flour, three of butter, a grain or two of salt, some grated lemon-rind or candied peel sliced very thin, and half an ounce or more of ginger in fine powder. Prepare and mix these ingredients in the order in which they are written, by the directions for “Acton Gingerbread.” [see recipe above]
Bake the cake nearly the same time. An American oven will answer for it perfectly, and it will resemble a really rich cake, though so cheap. A small quantity of carbonate of soda may be added quite at last by inexpert cake-makers, to insure its being light. The same mixture may be baked in small cups or tins in an iron oven. For a cake of tolerable size half as much again of the ingredients must be taken, and the whole poured into a round or square cake-mould.
GOOD COMMON GINGERBREAD.
Work very smoothly six ounces of fresh butter (or some that has been well washed from the salt, and wrung dry in a cloth) into one pound of flour, and mix with them thoroughly an ounce of ginger in fine powder, four ounces of brown sugar, and half a teaspoonful of beaten cloves and mace. Wet these with three-quarters of a pound of cold treacle, or rather more, if needful; roll out the paste, cut the cakes with a round tin cutter, lay them on a floured or buttered baking tin, and put them into a very slow oven. Lemon-grate or candied peel can be added, when it is liked.
Flour, 1 lb.; butter, 6 oz.; sugar, 1/4 lb.; ginger, 1 oz.; cloves and mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; treacle, 3/4 lb.: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.
RICHER GINGERBREAD.
Melt together three-quarters of a pound of treacle and half a pound of fresh butter, and pour them hot on a pound of flour mixed with half a pound of sugar and three-quarters of an ounce of ginger. When the paste is quite cold, roll it out with as much more flour as will prevent its adhering to the board: bake the cakes in a very gentle oven.
COCOA-NUT GINGERBREAD. (Original Receipts.)
Mix well together ten ounces of fine wheaten flour, and six of flour of rice (or rice ground to powder), the grated rind of a lemon, and three-quarters of an ounce of ginger: pour nearly boiling upon these a pound of treacle, five ounces of fresh butter, and five of sugar, melted together in a saucepan; beat the mixture, which will be almost a batter, with a wooden spoon, and when quite smooth leave it until it is perfectly cold, then add to it five ounces of grated cocoa-nut, and when it is thoroughly blended with the other ingredients, lay the paste in small heaps upon a buttered tin, and bake them in very slow oven from half to three-quarters of an hour.
Flour, 10 oz.; ground rice, 6 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; ginger, 3/4 oz.; treacle, 1 lb.; sugar, 5 oz.; butter, 5 oz.; cocoa-nut, 5 oz.: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.
Or: Flour, 1/2 lb.; ground rice, 1/2 lb.; ginger, 3/4 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; butter, 5 oz.; sugar, 5 oz.; treacle, 1 lb.; cocoa-nut, 6-1/2 oz.
Obs.—The cakes made by them are excellent.
Victorian recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]
GINGER BREAD.
Mix half-a-pound of butter, and half-a-pound of soft sugar, half-a-pound of treacle, with a wooden spoon, five eggs, yolks and whites switched separately; a tea-cupful of sour milk, one tea-spoonful of baking soda, one ounce of ginger, one pound and a-half of flour, a drop of browning to make it dark, and two ounces of candied peel. Bake in not too hot an oven.
Victorian Gingerbread recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]
RICH SWEETMEAT GINGERBREAD NUTS.
1759. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of treacle, 1/4 lb. of clarified butter, 1 lb. of coarse brown sugar, 2 oz. of ground ginger, 1 oz. of candied orange-peel, 1 oz. of candied angelica, 1/2 oz. of candied lemon-peel, 1/2 oz. of coriander seeds, 1/2 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 egg; flour.
Mode.—Put the treacle into a basin, and pour over it the butter, melted so as not to oil, the sugar, and ginger. Stir these ingredients well together, and whilst mixing, add the candied peel, which should be cut into very small pieces, but not bruised, and the caraway and coriander seeds, which should be pounded. Having mixed all thoroughly together, break in an egg, and work the whole up with as much fine flour as may be necessary to form a paste. Make this into nuts of any size, put them on a tin plate, and bake in a slow oven from 1/4 to 1/2 hour.
Time.—1/4 to 1/2 hour. Average cost, from 1s. to 1s. 4d. per lb.
Seasonable at any time.
THICK GINGERBREAD.
1760. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of treacle, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1/4 lb. of coarse brown sugar, 1-1/2 lb. of flour, 1 oz. of ginger, 1/2 oz. of ground allspice, 1 teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, 1/4 pint of warm milk, 3 eggs.
Mode.—Put the flour into a basin, with the sugar, ginger, and allspice; mix these together; warm the butter, and add it, with the treacle, to the other ingredients. Stir well; make the milk just warm, dissolve the carbonate of soda in it, and mix the whole into a nice smooth dough with the eggs, which should be previously well whisked; pour the mixture into a buttered tin, and bake it from 3/4 to 1 hour, or longer, should the gingerbread be very thick. Just before it is done, brush the top over with the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little milk, and put it back in the oven to finish baking.
Time.—3/4 to 1 hour. Average cost, 1s. per square.
Seasonable at any time.
SUNDERLAND GINGERBREAD NUTS.
(An Excellent Recipe.)
1761. INGREDIENTS.—1-3/4 lb. treacle, 1 lb. of moist sugar, 1 lb. of butter, 2-3/4 lbs. of flour, 1-1/2 oz. of ground ginger, 1-1/2 oz. of allspice, 1-1/2 oz. of coriander seeds.
Mode.—Let the allspice, coriander seeds, and ginger be freshly ground; put them into a basin, with the flour and sugar, and mix these ingredients well together; warm the treacle and butter together; then with a spoon work it into the flour, &c., until the whole forms a nice smooth paste. Drop the mixture from the spoon on to a piece of buttered paper, and bake in rather a slow oven from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. A little candied lemon-peel mixed with the above is an improvement, and a great authority in culinary matters suggests the addition of a little cayenne pepper in gingerbread. Whether it be advisable to use this latter ingredient or not, we leave our readers to decide.
Time.—20 minutes to 1/2 hour. Average cost, 1s. to 1s. 4d. per lb.
Seasonable at any time.
WHITE GINGERBREAD.
1762. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of butter, 1/2 lb. of loaf sugar, the rind of 1 lemon, 1 oz. of ground ginger, 1 nutmeg grated, 1/2 teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, 1 gill of milk.
Mode.—Rub the butter into the flour; add the sugar, which should be finely pounded and sifted, and the minced lemon-rind, ginger, and nutmeg. Mix these well together; make the milk just warm, stir in the soda, and work the whole into a nice smooth paste; roll it out, cut it into cakes, and bake in a moderate oven from 15 to 20 minutes.
Time.—15 to 20 minutes. Average cost, 1s. 3d.
Seasonable at any time.
THE LADY’S OWN COOKERY BOOK, AND NEW DINNER-TABLE DIRECTORY; [1844]
Gingerbread. No. 1.
To a pound and a half of flour add one pound of treacle, almost as much sugar, an ounce of beaten ginger, two ounces of caraway seeds, four ounces of citron and lemon-peel candied, and the yolks of four eggs. Cut your sweetmeats, mix all, and bake it in large cakes, or tin plates.
Gingerbread. No. 2.
Into one pound and a half of flour work three quarters of a pound of butter; add three quarters of a pound of treacle, two ounces of sugar, half an ounce of ginger, a little orange-peel beaten and sifted. Some take a pound and a quarter of treacle and two ounces of ginger.
Gingerbread. No. 3.
Two pounds of flour, two ounces of caraway seeds, one tea-spoonful of powdered ginger, half a spoonful of allspice, and the same of pearl-ash, two ounces of preserved orange, the same of lemon-peel, and half a pound of butter; mix these ingredients well together, and make it into a stiff paste with treacle, as stiff as you would make paste for a tart; then put it before the fire to rise for one hour, after which you may roll it out, and cut it into cakes, or mould it, as you like.
Gingerbread. No. 4.
Take a pound of treacle and half a pound of butter; melt them together over a fire; have ready a pound and a half of flour well dried, into which put at least half an ounce of ginger well beaten and sifted, as many coriander seeds, half a pound of sugar, a little brandy, and some candied orange-peel; then mix the warm treacle and butter with the flour; make it into flat cakes, and bake it upon tins.
Gingerbread. No. 5.
Two pounds of flour well dried, one pound of treacle, one pound of sugar, one nutmeg, four ounces of sweetmeats, one ounce of beaten ginger, one pound of fresh butter, melted with the treacle, and poured hot upon the other ingredients; make it into a paste, and let it lie till quite cold; then roll it out, and bake it in a slow oven.
Gingerbread. No. 6.
One pound of treacle, the same weight of flour, butter and sugar of each a quarter of a pound, ginger and candied lemon-peel of each half an ounce. Rub the butter, ginger, and sugar, well together, before you put in the treacle.
Thick Gingerbread.
To a pound and a half of flour take one pound of treacle, almost as much sugar, an ounce of beaten ginger, two ounces of caraway seed, four ounces of citron and lemon-peel candied, and the yolks of four eggs. Cut the sweetmeats; well mix the whole; and bake in large cakes on tin plates.
Gingerbread Cakes or Nuts.
Melt half a pound of butter, and put to it half a pound of treacle, two spoonfuls of brandy, and six ounces of coarse brown sugar. Mix all these together in a saucepan, and let the whole be milk warm; then put it to a pound and a quarter of flour, half an ounce of ginger, some orange-peel finely grated, and as much candied orange as you like.
Gingerbread Nuts.
A quarter of a pound of treacle, the same of flour, one ounce of butter, a little brown sugar, and some ginger. Mix all together, and bake the nuts on tins. Sweetmeat is a great addition.
Note from Leigh: Sweetmeat is an old English word meaning candied or sweet foods. Historically, the word “meat” referred to anything that was eaten, so “sweetmeat” equals “sweet food.” For the recipes above, when they suggest adding sweetmeat, you could add an ingredient such as candied citrus peel.
Georgian Gingerbread Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]
To make white GINGER BREAD.
Take a little gum-dragon, lay it in rose-water all night, then take a pound of jordan almonds blanch’d with a little of the gum-water, a pound of double-refined sugar beat and sifted, an ounce of cinnamon beat with a little rose-water, work it into a paste and print it, then set it in a stove to dry.
To make red GINGER BREAD.
Take a quart and a jill of red wine, a jill and a half of brandy, seven or eight manshets, according to the size the bread is, grate them, (the crust must be dried, beat and sifted) three pounds and a half of sugar beat and sifted, two ounces of cinnamon, and two ounces of ginger beat and sifted, a pound of almonds blanched and beat with rose-water, put the bread into the liquor by degrees, stirring it all the time, when the bread is all well mix’d take it off the fire; you must put the sugar, spices, and almonds into it, when it is cold print it; keep some of the spice to dust the prints with.
York GINGER-BREAD another Way.
Take two pounds and a half of stale bread grated fine, (but not dry’d) two pound of fine powder sugar, an ounce of cinnamon, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of ginger, a quarter of an ounce of saunders, and a quarter of a pound of almonds; boil the sugar, saunders, ginger, and mace in half a pint of red wine; then put in three spoonfuls of brandy, cinnamon, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves; stir in half the bread on the fire, but do not let it boil; pour it out, and work in the rest of the bread with the almonds; then smother it close half an hour; print it with cinnamon and sugar search’d, and keep it dry.
GINGER-BREAD in little Tins.
To three quarters of a pound of flour, put half a pound of treacle, one pound of sugar, and a quarter of a pound of butter; mace, cloves, and nutmeg, in all a quarter of an ounce; a little ginger, and a few carraway seeds; melt the butter in a glass of brandy, mix altogether with one egg; then butter the tins, and bake them in a pretty quick oven.
To make GINGER-BREAD another Way.
Take three pounds of fine flour, and the rind of a lemon dried and beaten to powder, half a pound of sugar, or more if you like it, a little butter, and an ounce and a half of beaten ginger, mix all these together and wet it pretty stiff with nothing but treacle; make it into rolls or cakes which you please; if you please you may add candid orange peel and citron; butter your paper to bake it on, and let it be baked hard.
To make a GINGER BREAD-CAKE.
Take two pounds of treacle, two pounds and a quartern of flour, and ounce of beat ginger, three quarters of a pound of sugar, two ounces of coriander seeds, two eggs, a pennyworth of new ale with the yeast on it, a glass of brandy, and two ounces of lemon-peel, mix all these together in a bowl, and set it to rise for half an hour, then put it into a tin to bake, and wet it with a little treacle and water; if you have a quick oven an hour and a half will bake it.
Stuart Era Gingerbread Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery by Robert May [1685]
To make Ginger-Bread.
Take a pound of Jordan Almonds, and a penny manchet [bread] grated and sifted and mingled among the almond paste very fine beaten, an ounce of slic’t ginger, two thimble fuls of liquoras and anniseed in powder finely searsed, beat all in a mortar together, with two or three spoonfuls of rose-water, beat them to a perfect paste with half a pound of sugar, mould it, and roul it thin, then print it and dry it in a stove, and guild it if you please.
Thus you may make gingerbread of sugar plate, putting sugar to it as above said.
The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition
To make Almond Ginger-Bread.
Take a little Gum-Dragon and lay it in steep in Rosewater all night, then take half a Pound of Jordan Almonds blanched and beaten with some of that Rosewater, then take half a pound of fine Sugar beaten and searced, of Ginger and Cinamon finely searced, so much as by your taste you may judge to be fit; beat all these together into a Paste, and dry it in a warm Oven or Stove.
To make Ginger-bread.
Take three stale Manchets grated and sifted, then put to them half an Ounce of Cinamon, as much Ginger, half an Ounce of Licoras and Aniseeds together, beat all these and searce them, and put them in with half a Pound of fine Sugar, boil all these together with a quart of Claret, stirring them continually till it come to a stiff Paste, then when it is almost cold, mould it on a Table with some searced Spice and Sugar, then bake it in what shape you please.
Another sort of Ginger-bread.
Take half a pound of sweet Almonds blanched and beaten, half a pound of fine Flower first dried in an Oven, one Pound of fine Sugar, what sorts of Spices you please, beaten and searced, and also Seeds, beat all these together with two Eggs, both Yolks and Whites, then mould it with flower and Sugar together, and so bake it in what shape you please.