Gingerbread

Made Gingerbread today. The recipe I used to start with was from one by Ina Garten. I did some changing as she had done some with the original recipe that was from James Beard. Any way, this is just like I remember it tasting when I was a kid.

There are no eggs in it, not a mistake. This is Gingerbread not cake. Serve warm with whipped cream and it is to die for. My daughter and grandchildren stopped by when this was cooling and inhaled it. Sure hope you like it as well as we did.

Gingerbread

Bake Time: 35 min

Oven Temp: 350°

Serves: 9 servings

Ingredients

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter (I used regular butter)

1 cup unsulphured molasses

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup minced dried crystallized ginger (not in syrup)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 by 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Place the butter and molasses in a small pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cool for 5 minutes, then mix in the sour cream and orange zest.

Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a small bowl. Whisk until combined. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and mix only until smooth. Add crystallized ginger to the mixture with a spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan and then remove using the parchment paper. Cut the gingerbread into 9 squares.

We ate ours warm with whipped cream. I am sure it is good cold, but it didn’t get a chance to get there.

If using regular salt, use less salt. Kosher is larger grained and therefore there is less salt in a 1/2 teaspoon. Kosher salt is inexpensive and works well where ever a fancy salt is called for. I use it when salting meat and chicken.