molasses |

Some people love ginger. Seriously love ginger. I would say my mother is one of those people. I REALLY like ginger. I like fresh ginger with my sushi, ginger crackers, ginger carrot soup, and ginger ale… but i’m not going to nom on some candied ginger anytime soon.

But I really LOVE gingerbread. Dense, moist, chewy, heavy, delicious gingerbread. Cake-like, full of flavor, full of molasses gingerbread. Whole Foods makes a gingerbread like this my dad used to bring home all the time. Mom would eat it with lemon curd. I’d microwave mine for 15 seconds and eat it warm. Now I have a recipe to make even better gingerbread. And it is so. damn. good.

It’s a perfect winter dessert. The cinnamon, ginger, black pepper and molasses give you this warm feeling inside that’s perfect against the cold weather. And the baking gingerbread makes your house smell like Christmas.

GINGERBREAD

Originally from Cook’s Illustrated

3/4 Cup Stout
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
2/3 Cup Molasses
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup White Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Finely Minced Ginger
1 1/2 Cups AP Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tbsp Ground Ginger
1/4 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper (optional)

To make gingerbread, preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 9in square baking dish.

Heat the stout over medium/high heat in a medium-to-large pot, until boiling. Add the baking soda & stir. The stout will foam up in the pot. Turn off the heat & remove pot from burner.

When foaming subsists add the sugar & molasses and stir until dissolved. Using a whisk is really the best way to go. Scramble the eggs in a separate bowl. When the mixture is no longer hot, add the eggs, oil, and fresh ginger. If the mixture is too hot, the eggs will begin to cook. Ew, you don’t want that to happen. So be patient.

Add the rest of the ingredients… aka all the dry stuff… the flour, the cinnamon, the dry ginger, the black pepper, the salt, the baking powder. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine. How easy is that?

Pour batter into prepared baking dish (I doubled the batch to make more than enough gingerbread for thanksgiving!). Bake in center of oven at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool & enjoy with some lemon curd, whipped cream, creme anglaise, milk, whatever tickles your fancy.

For the most part my relatives loved & raved about this gingerbread. Some were not so keen… my little cousin Ava adorably called it “too spicy.” But if you like ginger & love dense moist desserts, you will loooooove it. Omg, I need to go get a piece now. Ciao!!