For the holiday, I'm sharing a classic Christmas favorite... gingerbread. I made up a big batch before leaving Boston and have been taking a plate with me as a housewarming gift for my Christmas visits to friends. The flavors of ginger and molasses are two of my favorites, and from the looks of my Gingerbread Blondies, you agree that they are worthwhile! Molasses is rich in iron, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Ginger has potent anti-inflammatory properties, which can translate into reduced recovery time and therefore improved athletic performance. I think I'm going to take some of this quickbread on my next bike ride, I'll let you know how that works out!
Gingerbread
2 1/2c wheat flour
1/4c brown sugar
1T white sugar
1T ground ginger
1T cinnamon
1T pumpkin pie spice
1t baking soda
1/2c almond milk
1c water
1/2c molasses
1T apple cider vinegar
Few drops vanilla
Preheat oven to 325F. Mix wet in or glass (I use my measuring cup to mix them). Then mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Add to a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.
As a bonus, I bet it would be good to use the candied ginger from Trader Joe's like the Gingerbread Blondies. Use 1/4c, chopped up in a good processor or blender, and add it with the dry ingredients. Depending on your preferences, you could omit the white sugar if you add the candied ginger.
Enjoy! Have a great holiday!
Sad story with a happy ending:
ReplyDeleteThe first time I went to make this recipe, I was going down the list, adding ingredients to my bowl until I got to MOLASSES. I really thought that I had a jar of molasses in my pantry, but it was nowhere to be found. I ended up making the recipe sans molasses. It was gingery but kind of dry and did not taste like gingerbread. I bought a new bottle of molasses and tried the recipe again. And it was delicious. Moral of the story: check your cupboard and ingredient list before attempting to bake a new recipe.
Oh no! That happens to me a lot but often it's how a new recipe is born. =P If it happens again, I'd guess that you could use 1/3c maple syrup or 1/3c brown sugar +1/4c milk in place of the molasses to make a good almost-gingerbread. Glad it came out well in the end! :)
ReplyDelete