SOFT GINGER BREAD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl big enough to hold the entire recipe.

Dissolve the baking soda in about 1 cup boiling water. Add that mixture and the molasses, salt, ginger, cinnamon and flour to the butter-sugar cream. Mix only until moistened and evenly distributed.

Lightly beat the eggs, then add them to the bowl and beat the complete mixture well. Grease a 9 x 13 shallow baking pan (or a 10-inch round casserole dish). Pour the mixture into the dish. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a poked toothpick comes out clean.

Mix the powdered sugar and the diluted milk together to form an icing, and brush on to the gingerbread.

Serve warm! You can make a refreshing variation on this basic recipe by replacing about 1 cup of the flour with whole-wheat flour, reducing the sugar to about 1/2 cup and increasing the molasses to about 1 1/4 cups.

NOTES:

* Traditional gingerbread, soft and chewy — I got this recipe from a college roommate, who got it from her mother. Servings: makes 1 pan gingerbread.

: Difficulty: easy.

: Time: 20 minutes plus baking and cooling time.

: Precision: measure the ingredients.

: Loretta Guarino Reid, guarino@decwrl : DEC Western Software Laboratory : Palo Alto, California : Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust —–