{"id":2033,"date":"2023-03-07T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T14:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2023-01-07T14:51:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T19:51:01","slug":"sue-makes-mothers-best-gingerbread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/07\/sue-makes-mothers-best-gingerbread\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Makes Mother’s Best Gingerbread"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On the last Saturday of March, we find Sue and Ruth Ann busy at work on their 19th cooking lesson. This week Sue makes Mother’s Best Gingerbread, with more ingredients than any she’s used before. This is the 19th lesson from the 1924 book When Sue Began to Cook<\/a><\/em>. If you’re just finding the series, click the book title to see the first installment. This is the third in a series of cookbooks that tell a story. Known as the Bettina series, in this third and final cookbook-storybook we follow Bettina’s young daughter Sue as she learns her way around the kitchen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not surprising that Sue makes Mother’s best gingerbread at the beginning of Spring. Gingerbread was incredibly popular in the United States; in fact, one 1934 article in Woman’s Home Companion<\/em> listed enough variations that cooks could make a different gingerbread every week of the year! That’s a lot of molasses and ginger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gingerbread Notes from Sue’s Kitchen Diary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, the McCarthy children had the best lunch today that they’ve had in a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When our gingerbread was all hot and fresh and perfect, just out of the oven, Ruth Ann decided to cut up hers into big delicious wedges for the McCarthys. (Mine was to be saved for dinner tonight. Father likes it for dessert with whipped cream on top.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You want to have a regular orgy<\/a> of giving, do you?” smiled Mother. (I looked up the word in the dictionary and I know what it means now but I didn’t then.) [Note<\/strong>: if you click the link, it refers to definition 2.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Well, you certainly may do just as you like, Ruthie. I’m sure our gingerbread won’t hurt those children one bit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Because it won’t much more than go around,” I said sadly. “It would be fun really to fill them up<\/em> for once, but I guess we can’t.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Still, we can cut it into pretty big pieces,” said Ruth Ann eagerly. “And who knows? Maybe it will taste so good to Gladys and Maxine and Hazel that they’ll long to become good cooks themselves. And maybe they’ll want to clean up the house too, and make their kitchen look as pretty and cosy as Aunt Bettina’s!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruth Ann thinks our kitchen is just perfect. She has often told me so, and I think it’s pretty nice myself. A pleasant kitchen is really the best part of a house. The McCarthy’s love to come here, and they were certainly glad to get the gingerbread (which disappeared in about the twinkling of an eye). However, I can’t say that Gladys or Hazel or Maxine showed any signs of wanting to improve their own condition any. Though Ruth Ann and I plan that as soon as we’ve learned all there is to know about cooking and keeping house, we’ll become neighborhood missionaries and teach it all to them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div>\n\t<\/g><\/svg><\/span> Print Recipe<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n

Mother’s Best Gingerbread<\/h2>\n
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from When Sue Began to Cook, 1924.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Course: <\/span>Bread, Snack, Tea time<\/span><\/div>
Cuisine: <\/span>American<\/span><\/div>
Keyword: <\/span>baking, Bettina, snack bread, teatime, Twenties<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/h3>