Gingerbread II

1/2 cup sugar

2 heaping Tbsp. shortening

1/2 cup molasses

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (1/2 sour cream, 1/2 milk)

2 tsp. soda

1 egg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. each cinnamon and allspice

1/2 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

Flour for medium batter

Combine sugar and shortening.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bake in an 8-inch square pan until pick inserted in center comes out clean.

None of my grandmother Bertha Martin’s recipes say how much flour to use or what temperature to set the oven.  She baked with a wood or coal stove, so she didn't have a thermostat and the texture and moisture of flour in her day was probably a lot less reliable than it is now.  She knew how warm the oven should feel and how the batter should look.  Hope you do too.