Page:Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.djvu/75

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CAKES.
65

GINGERBREAD NUTS.

Two pounds of flour, sifted.
One pound of fresh butter.
Half a pound of brown sugar.
One quart of sugar house molasses.
Two ounces of ginger, or more, if it is not very strong.
Twelve dozen grains of allspice,
Six dozen cloves. powdered and sifted.
Half an ounce of cinnamon,

Cut up the butter in the flour. Spread the sugar on your paste-board, and crush it very fine with the rolling-pin. Put to it the flour and butter, and then add the ginger and other spice. Wet the whole with the molasses, and stir all well together with a knife.

Throw some flour on your paste-board, take the dough (a large handful at a time) and knead it in separate cakes. Then put all together, and knead it very hard for a long time, in one large lump. Cut the lump in half, roll it out in two even sheets, about half an inch thick, and cut it out in little cakes, with a very small tin, about the size of a cent. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them in a moderate oven, taking care they do not scorch, as gingerbread is more liable to burn than any other cake.

You may, if you choose, shape the gingerbread nuts, by putting flour in your hand, taking a very small piece of the dough, and rolling it into a very little round ball. [1]

  1. Gingerbread nuts are much improved by mixing with the dough half a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash, dissolved in a little vinegar.