My aunt said my great-grandma's gingerbread was too hard to chew

I made the recipe exactly as written, using the old molasses tin from her pantry. She tried a piece and told me straight up, 'Honey, this could break a tooth.' I looked back at the notes and saw it called for baking soda but no liquid besides the molasses. I tried adding 2 tablespoons of warm water to the mix last time and it came out soft, just like she remembered. Has anyone else had to fix a dry old recipe like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

harperjackson4d ago

That's a really good point about the biscuits. Sometimes those old recipes were written for ingredients that acted differently, like lard or a specific brand of flour. My grandma's cookie dough always needed a bit more egg than the card said because her chickens laid smaller eggs. You kinda have to play around with the liquids until the dough looks and feels right.

harperjackson4d ago

Oh man, my buddy had the same thing happen with his grandpa's biscuit recipe. He added a splash of milk and it totally fixed it.