SOFT GINGERBREAD

 You may be someone who only thinks about gingerbread in the cooler months. Me? I try not to do that with food. Chili or a big pot of soup taste good to me anytime of the year. 

So when I was flipping through a fairly recent cookbook purchase at an estate sale from The Shaw House - A collection of choice receipts from a Golden Era of St. Louis Living and I saw this recipe for soft gingerbread, I thought I would try it but make as mini-muffins for the Cafe Treats. I felt a little braver to try this change when one of our Cafe Treat Baker made banana mini-muffins from his banana bread recipe. They turned out perfectly!

I otherwise followed the recipe except I used buttermilk for the sour milk. The Shaw House made the recipe in a 9 x 13 - inch pan so I had no idea how many mini-muffins I would end up with. So you can imagine my surprise when it made 7 dozen mini-muffins. Needless to say, I ended up freezing some of them and served them two Sundays in a row for the Cafe Treats at church. They freeze really well. You would never know that they had been frozen the second Sunday.

PRINT RECIPE.

SOFT GINGERBREAD

1      cup sugar

1/2   cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

3      eggs

1      cup molasses

3      cups flour

1      teaspoon cinnamon

1      teaspoon nutmeg

1      teaspoon cloves

2      teaspoons ginger

2      teaspoons baking soda

1      cup sour milk (I used buttermilk)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 x 13 - inch pan or spray several mini-muffin pans. (I used Baker's Joy for the mini-muffin pans.)

Sift the flour and then remeasure 3 cups by the spoon method (can use the leftover flour (bowl on the right side) to "flour" the 9 x 13 - inch pan if you are using it or just return to your flour container.)

Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the remeasured flour.

Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. (Beat several minutes.)

Add the sugar gradually, creaming it all the while.

Add the eggs and

beating well,

and then the molasses.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour milk.

(I didn't read the recipe well and added all of the buttermilk and

then added all of the flour.)

Spread in the 9 x 13 - inch pan if you are making a sheet cake or use a cookie scoop to measure batter in the mini-muffin pan.

Bake the sheet cake for about 30 minutes or until done. The mini-muffins should be ready in 12 to 15 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before "popping" them out of the mini-muffin pan. (I just flipped mine over a large cookie sheet.)

Cool on a wire rack.

Most of them.