The writer Laurie Colwin had an obsession with gingerbread, publishing a few different essays and recipes exploring its charms In the essay that precedes this moist, cakelike rendition, from her book “Home Cooking,” she writes that it is “home food” — not fancy restaurant food, that is, but soothing cold-weather food that is simple to make, ideal for an afternoon spent holed up indoors The essay is also a paean to Steen’s cane syrup, from Louisiana, which comes in cheerful yellow cans