1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoonfuls butter

Bacon fat

1 cup black molasses

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful cinnamon 1/2 teaspoonful allspice 1/2 teaspoonful ginger 1 cup boiling water 1 teaspoonful cooking soda

Teaspoon

Tablespoon

Wooden stirring spoon

Measuring cup

Two mixing bowls

Egg-beater

Flour sifter

Saucepan

Baking pan

Spatula

Take a fresh egg and break it carefully into a large bowl. Beat it with an egg-beater until it is very stiff.

Pour half a cupful of brown sugar into the egg and mix well.

Put 2 tablespoonf uls of butter and some bacon fat into a pan and melt them together on the stove. Use enough bacon-fat to give you, with the butter, a half-cupful of melted grease.

Stir this in with the sugar and egg.

Before you do anything more, be sure that the oven is hot, and that you have ready a good-sized shallow baking-pan, smeared on the inside with butter.

Put a cup of black molasses into the mixture and beat for two minutes with a wooden spoon.

Take another bowl and sift into it with a flour-sifter 2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, one heaping teaspoonful of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoonful of allspice, and 1/2 teaspoonful of ginger; stir this slowly into the mixture in the first bowl, and beat for three minutes, if it is not thick and stiff, sift a little more flour, perhaps 1/4 of a cup, and add it, mixing well.

Dissolve a teaspoonful of cooking soda in a cup of boiling water, put this quickly into the other mixture and beat again for three minutes.

Now pour it all into your buttered pan, and set it carefully into the hot oven. Don't leave the oven door open longer than you can help.

Bake for about 12 minutes and use the straw test to see if it is done.

Gingerbread should be carefully loosened from the pan with a flexible knife, called a spatula, and turned on a big plate to cool. Do not cut it, but break it.

Gingerbread Pudding

Bake some gingerbread according to the preceding receipt, but use a small deep tin so that you will have a thick loaf. Serve this fresh and hot, with a vanilla sauce. The sauce is made as follows: