Testing 18th Century Gingerbread Recipes

I will be doing a gingerbread seller impression at an upcoming event, so I thought I would test out a couple of 18th Century gingerbread recipes and see which one I liked best to make for the event.

The first recipe is a gingerbread cake rather than a cookie. It is taken from “The Lady’s Assistant for Regulating and Supplying her Table, Being a Complete System or Cookery”, by Mrs. Charlotte Mason from 1777.

The modern version I made is:

8 oz flour

12 oz butter

1 lb sugar

2 tbsp rosewater

5 eggs

2 oz fresh ginger, finely grated

 Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the rosewater, eggs and ginger and blend. Add in the flour and combine. Pour into a greased 9x13” dish and bake for 45 minutes.

 This one was not my favourite, but everyone else in our house liked it, so if you like gingerbread cake, then I would still recommend it.

 The next recipe that I tried is from “Court Cookery: or the Comlpeat English Cook”, by R. Smith from 1725.

 The modern version:

12 oz flour

8 oz fancy molasses

0.5 oz dried ginger

Small pinch each caraway and coriander seeds, ground

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 oz butter

3 oz sugar

¾ of a nutmeg, grated

½ cup raisins

 Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add in the eggs and molasses and blend. Finally mix in the flour, spices, and raisins. Scoop out with a cookie scoop (or two teaspoons) and roll into balls before baking. Bake for 12 minutes.

 I really liked the addition of the raisins to this cookie; it gave it a little sweetness that paired well with the spiciness of the ginger.

 The next recipe I tried is from “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy”, by Hannah Glasse from 1774.

 The modern version is:

12 oz flour

4 oz sugar

4 oz butter

0.5 oz dried ginger

¼ of a nutmeg, finely grated

4 oz fancy molasses

½ cup cream

 Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add in molasses and cream and combine. Finally add the flour and spices and blend. Scoop out with a cookie scoop (or two teaspoons) and roll into balls before baking. Bake for 12 minutes.

 This was by far the favourite recipe in our house. Everyone agreed that they liked this one the best. It was also the closest in texture and taste to modern gingerbread and the only one that would be able to be cut into shapes with a cookie cutter.

I have a couple more gingerbread recipes that I would like to try so there are definitely more to come (but for now my whole family has had their fill of gingerbread)!