Happy President’s day.

Today is President’s Day and here in the Northeast it’s cloudy with a sleet, rain mix, the roads are slick and walking around town can be a little slippery too, so that makes me want to stay inside. Given that a lot of places are closed that’s not such a bad thing. On days like this what could actually be better than staying home and baking cookies? Ok so a lot of things could be better, but hey this is a food blog.

Did you know that Abe Lincoln was very fond of gingerbread cookies? Lincoln recalled a story from his childhood, in the book,”The Prairie Years”, by Carl Sandburg, who states that this is the story that Lincoln told in his senatorial debates with Stephen A, Douglas in 1838. Lincoln said, according to Sandburg:

“When we lived in Indiana, once in a while my mother used to get some sorghum and ginger and make some gingerbread. It wasn’t often and it was our biggest treat. One day I smelled the gingerbread and came into the house to get my share while it was still hot. My mother had baked me three gingerbread men. I took them out under a hickory tree to eat them. There was a family near us poorer than we were and their boy came along as I sat down. ‘Abe,’ he said, ‘gimme a man.’ I gave him one. He crammed it into his mouth in two bites and looked at me while I was biting the legs off my first one. ‘Abe, gimme that other’n’. I wanted it myself, but I gave it to him and as it followed the first, I said to him, ‘You seem to like gingerbread.’ “Abe’, he said, ‘I don’t s’pose anybody on earth likes gingerbread better’n I do-and gets less’n I do..”

Apparently, the original recipe was lost, so I’m going to give you one that has been in my family for years. I know that some of you think of gingerbread as a holiday thing, but I love gingerbread anytime of year. Shape them into a cookie and not a house or a gingerbread man and it’ll lose that holiday feel.

• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons cold water

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the molasses and lemon juice and beat some more. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix throughly. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend until crumbly. Add the cold water and mix until a dough is formed, you may need a little more water. Knead the mixture by hand about a minute or so to make sure the dough holds together. You should have a good sized dense lump of gingerbread dough. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out circles using a small juice cup or round cookie cutter. Place on a non stick cookie sheet or parchment paper on a regular cookie sheet. Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn brown. Let cool slightly before serving.

As this is presidents day and we’re celebrating both Lincoln and Washington’s birthday’s I’d be remiss in not adding a little something about our first president. It has been said that Washington wasn’t very keen on dessert, though he did love cherry pie. However there is something that he ate almost everyday of his life, hoe cakes. These are basically corn pancakes that were cooked on a garden hoe or shovel over an open fire. Washington would eat them with honey and butter. Here’s a modern recipe that is probably pretty close to how Washington would have made them except in his day the cakes would have been leavened with yeast and not used the baking powder.

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 ½ cups cold water or milk

Sift all dry ingredients together.  Whisk the liquid, melted butter and egg together and add to the dry ingredients.  Fold in gently only until all dry ingredients are moistened.  Lumpy batter is O.K.  Over mixing will result in tough cakes.  Use about 1/4  cup of batter for each cake and bake on a heated heavy skillet or griddle just like making pan cakes.  Serve with butter and honey, syrup or molasses.

I hope you give one or both of these recipes a try and as always please send in your comments or questions below. Until next time Boone Appétit!