EMILY DICKINSON'S GINGERBREAD

The great American poet Emily Dickinson was born on this day, 1830. Obliged to spend most of the day at home, she was also busy with housework that she even described in verse. Unlike her poems talking of fate, illness & death, those inspired from everyday life were surprisingly light and fresh -even amusing. The following lines compare the household to Nature:

She sweeps with many-coloured brooms,

And leaves the shreds behind;

Oh, housewife in the evening west,

Come back and dust the pond!

You dropped a purple ravelling in,

You dropped an amber thread;

And now you've littered all the East

With duds of emerald.

And still she plies her spotted brooms,

And still the aprons fly,

Till brooms fade softly into stars-

And then I come away.

But did she write this poem after doing the chores herself? We can hardly tell since Emily's family obviously used domestic help. Perhaps sweeping floors was far less interesting than baking, which is known to have been a favorite pastime of hers. A perfectionist by default, Miss Dickinson was not satisfied until the bread was just right. She even joined competitions in the hope of winning first prize -or nothing.

Unauthorized portrait of Emily Dickinson (ca. 1850)

There are several food references in her correspondence with other ladies, including Ms. Elizabeth Holland to whom Letter#369 was addressed. Written in late November 1871, this letter features a recipe which must have been a huge success. "I am glad the gingerbread triumphed," she writes before changing the subject. As for Emily's recipe, it's no more than a list of ingredients:

"1 Quart Flour,

 1/2 Cup Butter,

 1/2 Cup Cream,

 1 Table Spoon Ginger,

 1 Tea Spoon Soda,

 1 Salt,

 Make up with Molasses,-"

The Emily Dickinson Museum website shares a transcription from Brose, McGovern Dupre, Tocher Kohler & McClure Mudge, Emily Dickinson: Profile of the Poet as a Cook (Amherst, Massachusetts 1976), in which culinary experts give directions on how to use these ingredients. Their recipe yields a stiff dough that is pressed into a square tin and cut after baking.

I have a different way of making Emily Dickinson's gingerbread: instead of whipping butter and cream, you heat in a saucepan (with molasses & brown sugar) and then combine the mixture with flour. The resulting dough is soft enough to roll out and shape as you like.

 

EMILY DICKINSON'S GINGERBREAD

This is the cookie version of the famous recipe, slightly adapted from the original that appears in Letter#369.

I n g r e d i e n t s
500g plain flour

1tbsp ginger

1tsp baking soda

1/4tsp salt 

125g butter

150g heavy cream

230g molasses

50g molasses sugar

M e t h o d
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 2. Sift the flour, ginger, soda and salt in a bowl. 3. Place the butter, cream, molasses and sugar in a saucepan and heat until bubbling. Remove from the stove and leave to stand for a while. 4. Combine both mixtures and knead by hand until you get a soft dough. Roll out on a table, about 1cm thin. Cut out shapes that you like and place on the baking sheets. 5. Bake separately in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on the texture you like. Cool on wire racks.

V a r i a t i o n

To make square cookies, bake the dough in a 20x20cm tin for 30-35 minutes. Leave to cool for a while, then cut into squares with a knife.