flipMolasses Gingerbread Men
Molasses Gingerbread Men
Why this dish? During an 1858 debate against Stephen Douglas, Lincoln recounted that as a poor child, his mother once made him gingerbread men; an even poorer boy traded his own, saying he loved gingerbread more than anyone yet received so little. The famous anecdote ties this cake to his childhood.
Small dark dough figures, spiced with ginger and sweetened with molasses, baked until tender-firm. A frontier child's treat, made with almost nothing.
When I was a boy, receiving gingerbread men was a whole celebration. My mother would knead flour with a little molasses and ginger, and shape little men that we children held like treasure. I remember a boy poorer than myself who traded me his, saying he loved gingerbread more than anyone in the world — and received less than anyone. Those words I never forgot.
- •Wheat flour — full bowl (base)
- •Molasses — a good splash (sweetener)
- •Ground ginger — a spoonful (signature spice)
- •Saleratus (baking soda) — a pinch (leavening)
- •Lard or butter — a walnut-sized piece (tenderness)
Molasses Gingerbread Men
Small dark dough figures, spiced with ginger and sweetened with molasses, baked until tender-firm. A frontier child's treat, made with almost nothing.
Why this dish? During an 1858 debate against Stephen Douglas, Lincoln recounted that as a poor child, his mother once made him gingerbread men; an even poorer boy traded his own, saying he loved gingerbread more than anyone yet received so little. The famous anecdote ties this cake to his childhood.
When I was a boy, receiving gingerbread men was a whole celebration. My mother would knead flour with a little molasses and ginger, and shape little men that we children held like treasure. I remember a boy poorer than myself who traded me his, saying he loved gingerbread more than anyone in the world — and received less than anyone. Those words I never forgot.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wheat flour — full bowl (base)
- Molasses — a good splash (sweetener)
- Ground ginger — a spoonful (signature spice)
- Saleratus (baking soda) — a pinch (leavening)
- Lard or butter — a walnut-sized piece (tenderness)
Ingredients
- Flour — 300 g (base)
- Molasses — 120 g (sweetener)
- Ground ginger — 2 tsp (signature spice)
- Baking soda — 1 tsp (leavening)
- Softened butter — 80 g (tenderness)
- Cinnamon — 1 tsp (additional spice)
Method
- Cream butter with molasses until smooth.
- Add flour, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda; knead into a firm dough.
- Chill for 30 min.
- Roll out to 5 mm thick, cut into gingerbread men shapes.
- Bake at 180°C for 10 to 12 min, until edges are set. Let cool; they firm up as they cool.
How it was made : On the frontier, refined sugar was expensive: sweetening came from molasses or sorghum syrup. Leavening was not modern baking powder but saleratus (potassium bicarbonate), sold in blocks. Spices like ginger, imported, made gingerbread an affordable luxury.
The contemporary twist : Decorate with white royal icing to draw a top hat and bow tie: a nod to the presidential silhouette.
Sources : Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858 (gingerbread anecdote recounted by Lincoln) · Rae Katherine Eighmey, Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen, Smithsonian Books, 2014
Abraham Lincoln · Charactorium
