6 cups flour sifted 2 cups dark molasses

tsp. cloves warmed rind of 1 lemon grated 1 cup butter

tbsp. Jamaica ginger 1 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp. soda

Cut the butter into small pieces and melt it in the mo lasses. Add the buttermilk, spices, lemon rind and soda and mix well. Pour the molasses mixture over the flour and mix into a smooth dough, adding more flour if needed. Roll into thin sheets, dust with powdered sugar and bake at 400° F. until light brown. Cut into large squares while still warm.

Sift together

5 cups flour 2 cups sugar

tsp. salt 1 cup butter

tsp. ginger 1 cup New Orleans molasses Dissolve 1 egg well beaten

tsp. soda 2 tsp. vanilla 1 cup strong hot coffee

Mix the butter, sugar, molasses and hot coffee and stir until the butter is melted. Allow to cool then add the egg and vanilla. Gradually add the flour and mix into a soft dough. Roll thick and cut into large round cakes. Bake at 400° F. ten to fifteen minutes.

New England ginger snaps have been famous for many generations. The story is told that the first commercial ginger snaps baked and sold in a public bakery in America were made from a recipe furnished by a housewife in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Sift together

3 cups flour 1 cup molasses

1 tbsp. ginger 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup lard

Cream the fat and sugar together. Add the molasses and mix well. Gradually add the flour and knead to a smooth dough. Roll thin and cut into three-inch squares. Bake at 400° F. until light brown. These cakes keep well.

Sift together

6 cups flour 1/2 cup butter

1 tsp. cloves 1/2 cup lard

1 tbsp. Jamaica ginger 1 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt 1 cup dark molasses

Dissolve

1 tsp. soda

1/3 cup ice water

Cream the sugar and fat together. Add the molasses and water. Gradually mix in the flour and knead into a smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into small round cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

These cookies are a favorite in New Hampshire house holds where the women pride themselves upon the shine of their pots and pans and the excellence of their gingerbread. The recipe was passed along as a very special concession.

Sift together

5 cups flour 2 cups molasses

11/2 tsp. soda 1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup butter

1 tbsp. Jamaica ginger 1 cup sour cream

2 eggs unbeaten

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add the molasses and the sour cream. Mix in the flour and knead into a smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into large cakes, sprinkle with sugar and bake at 350° F. until light brown.

Sift together

11/2 cups flour 1 cup butter

1/2 tsp. soda 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. each: ginger and salt 1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs well beaten

Cream the butter and sugar together. Stir in the eggs, flour and molasses. Knead into a soft dough. Roll one half inch thick. Place in a well greased baking pan and bake at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes. Cut into small squares while still warm.

Seed cakes were very popular in colonial America. The recipes were brought from England and were used both in New England and the Southern States. But during the Revolutionary period, when America had to do without most luxuries and many necessities, seed cakes became almost unknown, and they have never been commonly used since.

Sift together

8 cups flour 11/2 cups butter

1/2 tsp. soda 2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

6 eggs unbeaten

1 tbsp. coriander seed

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the coriander seed and the eggs and mix well. Add the flour and milk alternately and knead into a smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into large round cakes and bake at 450° F. until light brown.

Sift together

8 cups flour 1 cup butter softened

1 tsp. soda 4 cups sugar

1 cup milk

Add 2 eggs well beaten

1 cup caraway seed 1 tsp. lemon extract

Beat the butter, sugar and eggs together. Add the lemon extract. Add the flour and milk alternately and knead into a stiff, smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into large round cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

Plum cakes were as popular in colonial New England as they were in England. These are the typical plum cakes of the past.

Sift together

4 cups flour 3/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. mace 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. allspice 3 eggs well beaten

Add

1 lb. currants

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix well. Add all of the flour at once and stir up quickly. Drop into small cakes. Bake at 450° F. until light brown. Reduce the temperature to 350° F. and finish baking.

Raisin Cakes Sift together

1 cup flour 2 cups flour sifted

1 tsp. soda 1 cup brown sugar

2 cups molasses

1 cup butter

1 cup raisins

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix the butter, sugar and molasses together and heat slowly. Add the salt and spices and let come to a slow boil. Simmer for five minutes. Remove from the fire and gradually stir in two cups of flour. Add the raisins and the flour and soda and mix into a stiff dough. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown. Reduce the temperature to 350° F. and finish baking.

Sift together

3 cups flour 1 lb. brown sugar

tsp. soda 1/4 lb. citron cut thin

tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 cup nuts chopped

1/2 tsp. nutmeg 4 eggs beaten ten minutes

tsp. cloves

tsp. cinnamon

Add the sugar, nuts and citron to the eggs and mix well. Fold in the flour, stirring it in as quickly as possible. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. for ten to fifteen min utes.

Sift together

21/2 cups flour 1 cup butter

1 tsp. mace 2 cups brown sugar

tsp. cloves 2 cups raisins

tsp. cinnamon 1 cup black walnut meats 1 tsp. soda chopped

1 tsp. cream of tartar 3 eggs

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs together. Add the flour, nuts and raisins and stir up quickly. Drop into small cakes and bake at 450° F. ten to fifteen minutes.

Sift together

4 cups flour 11/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup molasses

1 tsp. ginger 1/2 cup hot water

1 cup butter

Mix with 3 eggs

1 cup raisins 1 tsp. soda

1 cup currants

1 cup chopped nuts

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs together until light. Mix the molasses, hot water and soda together and when it foams add it and the flour alternately to the butter mix ture. Spread one inch thick in well buttered baking pans and bake at 350° F. for about thirty minutes. Cut into small squares when cold.

Fruit Oatmeal Cookies Sift together

1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. soda 13/4 cups oatmeal

1 tsp. cinnamon 5 tbsp. buttermilk

1/2 tsp. cloves 1 egg well beaten 1/2 tsp. mace

Mix

1 cup flour

1/2 cup walnuts chopped

1/2 cup citron sliced

1/2 cup raisins chopped

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg, buttermilk and one-half cup of flour and mix well. Add the oatmeal and mix well. Then add the fruit and blend in as lightly and quickly as possible. Drop into small cakes and bake at 450° F. until light brown. Reduce the temperature to 350° F. and finish baking.

Sift together

2 cups flour 2 cups oatmeal

1 tsp. soda 1 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt 3/4 cup butter softened

1 tsp. cinnamon 2 eggs unbeaten

Mix with

1 cup raisins chopped

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs together. Add half of the flour and mix well. Add all of the oatmeal and mix well. Add the remainder of the flour, mixing it in

just enough to blend it in thoroughly. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. for ten to fifteen minutes.

Sift together

4 cups flour 31/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 tsp. soda 2 cups sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 cup lard softened

1 tsp. salt 11/2 cups sour milk (butter-milk)

Mix with 4 eggs

1/2 lb. seeded raisins

Cream the sugar, fat and eggs together. Add the milk and half of the flour alternately. Mix in all of the oatmeal. Add the remainder of the flour and mix in quickly. Drop into small cakes and bake at 450° F. for twelve to fifteen minutes.

Sift together

2 cups flour 2 cups rolled oats

1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup butter

1 tsp. soda 1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 cup sour milk

Grind the rolled oats through the food chopper and mix with the flour. Cream the butter and sugar together until very light. Add the flour and milk alternately and knead into a soft dough. Roll thin, cut into large cakes and bake at 400° F. for ten to fifteen minutes.

Sift together

4 cups flour 1 cup butter

1 tsp. cinnamon 11/2 cups soft brown sugar

1 tbsp. ginger 2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt grated rind of 2 lemons

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until very light. Add the lemon rind. Gradually add the flour, kneading the dough until it is smooth. Roll thin, cut into small cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

Mix together cream

1 egg well beaten 4 cups flour sifted

1 tbsp. rose water 1 cup powdered sugar

sifted

1/2 cup butter 1 cup currants

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Work the butter into the flour until the mixture is mealy. Add the powdered sugar and nutmeg. Mix the egg into the flour, adding cream as needed to make a smooth dough. Work in the currants. Roll medium thin, cut into small squares and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

Sift together Mix

8 cups flour 4 eggs well beaten

2 cups sugar 3 tbsp. cold water

1/8 tsp. salt

Mix with

2 tbsp. caraway seed

Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour and knead into a stiff dough. Roll very thin, cut into large round cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

While the cakes are baking boil 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to the soft ball stage. Dip the hot cookies into the hot syrup and return them to the oven for five min utes. Turn off the heat and leave the cookies in the cooling oven to dry out.

These cakes will keep several weeks if put away in a tightly covered crock, and kept in a cool dry place.

Farmwives of New England have always been famous for their sour cream cakes. This recipe is very old and very choice. It is from a hand-written cook book owned by a woman noted far and wide for her sour cream cakes.

Sift together

4 cups flour 1 cup butter

1/4 tsp. salt 2 cups sugar

1 tsp. soda 1 cup sour cream

2 eggs unbeaten

1 tsp. lemon extract

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until light. Add the flavoring. Add the flour and cream alternately and mix into a soft dough. Handle the dough lightly while rolling it thin and cutting it into fancy shapes. Sprinkle the cakes with sugar and bake at 400° F. until pale brown.

Sift together

6 cups flour 2 cups dark molasses

1/2 tsp. allspice 2 cups sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon 3 tsp. soda

1 nutmeg grated 1 tbsp. dried orange peel

1/2 tsp. cloves grated

Mix the sugar, molasses and orange peel together and bring it to a boil slowly. Add the soda and mix well. Add the hot foaming syrup to the flour and mix into a smooth dough. Knead thirty minutes. Roll to one-inch thick ness, cut into small round cakes and bake at 350° F. for about twenty minutes.

Sift together

21/2 cups flour 1/2 cup butter

1/4 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. lard

1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup sugar

1 egg unbeaten

Dissolve in 2 squares chocolate melted

2 tbsp. cold coffee 1/2 tsp. soda

Cream the butter, lard and sugar together until light. Add the chocolate and the egg and blend in thoroughly. Add the flour and coffee alternately. Have the dough as soft as it can be handled. Roll thin, cut into small cakes and bake at 400° F. six to eight minutes.

Fruit Snaps Sift together

4 cups flour 1 cup butter

1/2 tsp. allspice 11/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon l1/2 cups molasses

Mix

1/2 of the flour 2 cups currants

1 cup seeded raisins

Dissolve in

2 tbsp. milk 1 tsp. soda

Cream the butter and sugar together and add the mo lasses. Add the first half of the flour and mix well. Add the fruit mixture and milk alternately. Knead to a smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into small cakes and bake at 400° F. until brown.

Black walnuts are without equal for cakes, in the opinion of some New England housewives. They are distinctive in flavor and unusual enough to be rated an excellency in food.

Sift together

3 cups flour 1 cup butter 1/2 tsp. soda 11/2 cups sugar 1 tsp. cream of tartar 1 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt 3 eggs unbeaten

1 cup black walnut meats

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the flour and milk alternately. When all

of the flour is added mix in the nuts lightly. Roll the dough to one-fourth inch thickness, cut into small squares and bake at 450° F. until slightly brown. Reduce the temperature to 350° F. and finish baking.

Sponge cakes are favorite cakes the world over, and have been for many generations. Hot syrup sponge cakes are ancient in their origin. They were baked both as loaf cakes and as small cakes long before the evolution of Mod ern American cookery.

4 cups cake flour sifted 8 egg whites beaten stiff

five times 8 egg yolks well beaten

2 cups sugar sifted three 1 cup hot water

times 1/4 tsp. almond extract

Boil the sugar and water together until the syrup spins a thread. Fold the egg whites into the yolks. Gradually add the hot syrup and continue beating until the mixture is cold. Gradually fold in the flour and add the almond extract. Fill small buttered moulds three-fourths full and bake at 325° F. for eighteen to twenty minutes.