While researching on what to make in the kitchen today – I came across a delightful (and easy!) recipe for Gingerbread that was used during the Civil War era. If they could, families of the Union soldiers would often send small care packages of gingerbread, socks, soaps and other food items from home.  Since Gingerbread required molasses, it was a popular staple to make being that molasses was much cheaper to purchase than sugar in the Civil War era. This is why Molasses Cookies were also a popular item back in this era.

Here is the recipe that was used today:

Gingerbread

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of butter (used for greasing the pan)

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 cup of butter

1 1/4 cups of molasses*

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon of allspice

1 cup of very hot water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ square baking pan with the butter (1 tablespoon).  In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, soda and spices, and cut in softened butter to the four mixture with a fork.  Combine molasses, egg and water in a small mixing  bowl.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well.  Pour the batter into a baking pan and bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Makes 9 servings. (Source: http://www.totalgettysburg.com)

*It seemed as if everyone in town was making something with molasses this weekend and after going to 3 stores…I relented and looked online for a molasses replacement (who knew that molasses was so popular in my small town??!!) Here is what I used as a replacement for molasses in this recipe:

1 1/4 cup dark corn syrup (you can also use honey or maple syrup)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water