Laura's Gingerbread

I am a big Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. I grew up reading her books, and I learned so much from them. So when my mom recently gave me a collection of books about her life, I was thrilled. In one of them there is a recipe for gingerbread which Laura was famous for later in her life. I knew I wanted to try it, and when we set up our Christmas tree this afternoon, I was in the mood to do some baking. Her recipe was a bit cryptic for me, but I managed to whip up a batch that was very yummy. I know this sounds corny, but it gave me pleasure to enjoy this small part of her life across the years.

LAURA'S GINGERBREAD

1 cup brown sugar blended with
1/2 cup lard or other shortening.
1 cup molasses mixed well with this.
2 teaspoons baking soda in 1 cup boiling water
(Be sure cup is full of water after foam is run off into cake mixture).
Mix all well.

To 3 cups of flour have added one teaspoon each of the following spices: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves; and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sift all into cake mixture and mix well. Add lastly 2 well-beaten eggs. The mixture should be quite thin.

Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.

Raisins and, or, candied fruit may be added and a chocolate frosting adds to the goodness.

Note: I just made the plain gingerbread and cooked it at 350 degrees since I have no idea what a "moderate" oven is. At this temperature it took an additional 20 minutes to finish baking. So perhaps moderate is closer to 375 degrees?