Auntie Betty’s GingerbreadI loved gingerbread since elementary school. Auntie Betty had the best recipe, slightly crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, not too sweet. Every Christmas, I loved going to Auntie Betty and Uncle Cliff’s house because I knew I would get gingerbread men. I gobbled up their arms and legs and chomped off their heads.
When we left, Auntie Betty gave my brother and me each a bag with different kinds of her homemade cookies: Christmas cookies, chocolate chip, sugar cookies and a few more gingerbread men. My brother and I would trade some cookies -but never the gingerbread.One year, she made gingerbread houses and a winter scene. My mouth watered. We left it until New Year’s Day and then I gleefully rampaged the town like Godzilla. The gumdrops and licorice decorations, the icing on the roof, all that was just fluff. I brushed it aside and devoured walls and demolished a peaked roof one bite at a time. Ah, Christmas bliss!
And then it ended. Auntie Betty stopped making gingerbread when I was in junior high. Decades later, I found out her boys don’t like gingerbread and so she just stopped baking it. She didn’t know how much we missed it.The first year, I thought it was a fluke. Maybe she ran out? A second Christmas passed sans gingerbread. I was young and shy and properly respectful and didn’t dare complain out loud. In high school, I mentioned it to my mom and she made a discreet but fruitless inquiry. I went away to college and thought wistfully back to the good ol’ days.
Time passed. I got married. We had kids. One holiday season, we walked through the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley and saw their display of fancy gingerbread houses. That jogged my memory and I told Tammy how I loved gingerbread. Tammy has the baking bug and when she saw my eyes filled with disappointment and heard the longing in my voice, she was determined to recreate the magic recipe.
Over the next six years, Tammy tried more than half a dozen recipes. I had a wonderful time taste testing. They were all good in their own way but none of them were Auntie Betty’s.One was crunchy (too hard).There was the fluffy, cake-y gingerbread (too soft).The chocolaty one was interesting. I love chocolate but in my head, gingerbread and chocolate is verboten.Then there was the orange-y one. I liked the tiny piquant pieces of orange rind.She tried another recipe with fresh ginger. That packed a wallop! Spicy and memorable, memorably spicy- but not quite right.
A few years ago, we were at Auntie Betty’s house again. My cousin Mont and his wife Tamara were also there and we got to talking about Tammy’s various gingerbread experiments. Tamara was captivated by the saga. She decided that it was time for the mystery to end and boldly asked Auntie Betty for the secret recipe. Auntie Betty didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. She said it was just a recipe from C&H Sugar.
C&H Sugar, from Hawaii. Remember this commercial?
Auntie Betty waved her hand in the general direction of the kitchen, “It’s in there somewhere.” That was close enough to permission for Tamara. The hunt was on! Tammy and Tamara raided the kitchen cookbooks and dug around until they found the magic recipe. Tammy copied it diligently and promised to mail Auntie Betty and Uncle Cliff a batch. Tammy baked it when we got home and I was in heaven. I love my wife! The next year, she sent 3 batches home with my parents: one for them, one for Auntie Betty and Uncle Cliff, and one for Mont and Tamara. Tamara loves to quilt and work with textiles so she put the recipe on a red potholder that now hangs in our kitchen.
Recipe:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed C&H Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 – 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
Icing (recipe follows)
Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer light and fluffy.
Beat in molasses.
Combine remaining ingredients; gradually mix in until blended.
Halve dough; flatten into 1-inch thick rounds.
Chill in plastic wrap till firm. (2 hours in the refrigerator or 30 minutes in the freezer).
WHEN READY TO BAKE:
On a lightly floured surface roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
Cut with floured cookie cutter.
Place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Chill and re-roll scraps.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until edges are browned.
Cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 3 dozen (5″) cookies.
TO MAKE ORNAMENTS:
Punch a hole into the top of each cookie with a drinking straw before baking. Hang with thin ribbon or string licorice.I
ICING:
2 – 1/4 cups C&H powdered sugar
2 – 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 – 1/2 to 3 tbsp water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Food coloring
Beat powdered sugar, oil, water, vanilla and salt until smooth.
Add water to thin.
Separate small portions into small bowls to make different colors.
Spread with toothpick, knife, small brush, or use a writing tip on a decoration bag.