Gingerbread with Diced Crystallized Ginger

Do you like super-gingery gingerbread? We do, and I entered this recipe for the county fair - it won the blue ribbon! It is a combination of several different recipes, found online and in cookbooks.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

 1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

 1/4-1/2 cup finely diced crystallized ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Fold in chopped ginger. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Adapted from allrecipes.com