Food from Heaven

On long, hot summer days I had very little to do when I was a child. I especially remember walking down the dirt road about a quarter of a mile to visit one of my sisters-in-law, Opal. She was married to my brother, Ned.

Opal was a very nice, quiet, soft-spoken lady. She would quite often think up some kind of “goodie” to bake for us.

On this one particular day she chose to bake a pan of gingerbread. While this was baking she got out of cup of real cream. This cream had come from the top of cold milk that came from their cow, not store bought. She whipped up this cream until it was nice and thick, adding a little vanilla flavoring and about a fourth of a cup of sugar. When the gingerbread came out of the oven, she cut us each a big square, topped it with the cold, sweet, whipped cream. That had to have been the most delicious thing I had ever eaten!

Gingerbread

 1 2/3 cups          All-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons      Ground ginger

 1 ¼ teaspoons  Baking soda

 1 teaspoon        Ground cinnamon

 ¾ teaspoon       Salt

 ¼ teaspoon       Cloves

 ½ cup                 White sugar

 ½ cup                 Dark molasses

 ½ cup                 Vegetable oil

 1                          Egg, beaten

 ½ cup                 Boiling water

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.    Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

3.    Whisk flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a bowl.

4.    Stir sugar, molasses, oil, and egg into flour mixture until just combined.

5.    Pour in boiling water and whisk until the batter is smooth and shiny, about 1 minute.

6.    Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Tap pan gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

7.    Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Top with whipped cream if desired. Recipe may be doubled for use with larger pan.