Laura Ingalls Wilder - Happy Birthday

Celebrating Laura Ingalls Wilder's Birthday

(Originally shared on her birthday in 2009.)

A post from Sharron who is eating gingerbread with chocolate icing -- but alas no lemonade; only hot tea.

Today is Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday or rather anniversary of her birth - born Feb. 7, as she died in 1957.  Laura Ingalls Wilder was born on February 7, 1867, near Pepin, Wisconsin. She was a teacher in South Dakota from 1882 to 1885, when she married Almanzo Wilder.   There is much discussion about the worthiness of her books given the image of Native Americans that is given throughout the books. There are indeed arguments both ways -- I prefer to say that they should always be used in the context of history and with much discussion about the times during which they were written. Actually I prefer the collections of stories that Harper has been putting together on thematic issues - dog stories, Christmas etc. With the addition of the wonderful illustrations these make great reading and do eliminate much of the stereotypic images that were in the novels themselves.

But it is her birthday and she traditionally served gingerbread with a chocolate icing, and often with lemonade, when company came.

Check out her own gingerbread recipe on the Hornbook site -- http://bit.ly/LIW-letter.  Scroll down and you will also see her recipe for gingerbread.  But here it is for those who want to bake it now.

LAURA'S GINGERBREAD

1 cup brown sugar blended with
1/2 cup lard or other shortening.
1 cup molasses mixed well with this.
2 teaspoons baking soda in 1 cup boiling water
(Be sure cup is full of water after foam is run off into cake mixture).
Mix all well.

To 3 cups of flour have added one teaspoon each of the following spices: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves; and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sift all into cake mixture and mix well.  Add lastly 2 well-beaten eggs.

The mixture should be quite thin.

Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.

Raisins and, or, candied fruit may be added and a chocolate frosting adds to the goodness.

Enjoy.
Sharron