Nineteenth-Century Gingerbread @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, except today I'm wearing my other name tag, which reads Edith Maxwell. Yes, we are the same person!

As Edith, the name I've had my whole life, I've written seven historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries set in my northeastern Massachusetts town in the late 1800s. Five were nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel, and Charity's Burden (#4 in the series) won that prestigious award in 2020. 

In addition to the novels, I wrote a number of short stories that were published in various anthologies and magazines. I'm delighted to announce that a collection of those stories, A Questionable Death and Other Historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries came out last week! It opens with a brand-new story, which precedes the books. "In Pursuit of Justice" shows Rose as an apprentice midwife in her first sleuthing adventure.

Two of the included stories were nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Short Story. The Kitchen's own Leslie Budewitz offered some lovely words:

Edith Maxwell’s Rose Carroll is more than a Quaker midwife in late 19th century New England. She’s a moral compass, an astute observer, and a staunch advocate for women in a time when women’s rights were more trampled than honored—and a fine detective who uses her ability to go where the police can’t to work tirelessly for justice. The compact, compelling stories in A Questionable Death will satisfy the mystery lover and the history lover alike.

I'd be delighted to give away a copy of the book to a commenter here today.

So what would Rose Carroll have cooked and eaten when she wasn't catching babies and hearing secrets? She baked in a wood stove, which makes creating desserts and breads a little tricky. You have to remember to turn the pan regularly so it doesn’t burn on one side. Luckily our modern ovens are more forgiving.

One of the reference books I like to use is Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide from 1880. It includes all kinds of tips for kitchen hygiene and equipment. For example, in the section on Cooking Utensils, Miss Parloa tells us this: “The essential qualities in a utensil are that it shall be substantially made; be smoothly finished and without grooves or joinings; and that it shall be free from deleterious substances.” I agree.

But when you get to the recipes, they are all really large. “Pluck two chickens,” starts one. A cake might have a pound of butter in it. Her recipe for Soft Gingerbread reads, “Six cupfuls of flour, three of molasses, one of cream, one of lard or butter, two eggs, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger. This is excellent.” I suppose it would be – but I don’t have any saleratus around the house, and if the end product turns out not to be excellent, I’ve just wasted a heck of a lot of flour, molasses, and butter.

So I turned to the Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book (reissued in 2011). 

Her recipe for gingerbread is somewhat more restrained in the amounts. And who doesn’t love a nice moist piece of gingerbread – with whipped cream or ice cream on top, of course!

Here’s the recipe, adapted slightly.

Hot Water Gingerbread

Ingredients:

1 cup molasses

½ cup boiling water

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ginger

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Butter a square pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add the water to the molasses. Mix the dry ingredients. 

Combine the mixtures, add the butter, and beat vigorously.

Pour into the pan and bake thirty-five minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

(The original recipe includes this tip: “Chicken fat tried out and clarified furnishes an excellent shortening, and may be used in place of butter.” Not in my kitchen!)

Top with ice cream and enjoy with tea, coffee, or a spot of sherry.

Readers: What old-fashioned recipe do you like to use? Do you have one that’s been handed down in your family? Include your email address so I can contact the lucky winner of A Questionable Death. 

My most recent releases are Four Leaf Cleaver, which came out in January, 2023,

and A Questionable Death and Other Quaker Midwife Mysteries, out in April 2023.

The next book out will be Murder at a Cape Bookstore, releasing in August, 2023.

Following that in quick succession will be "Murderous Mittens" in Christmas Mittens Murder and Murder Uncorked, both featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.