America Test Kitchen

I love Gingerbread because it has a unique combination of warm spices, rich molasses, and a moist, chewy texture. The distinctive ginger flavor and aroma bring back fond memories. It takes me back to sitting in the Inland Center Mall, savoring gingerbread with a mountain of whipped cream after shopping at Judy’s, a very hip and trendy store in the late 60s. In the 1990s I remember drinking hot cocoa and eating gingerbread from a pink  A-frame stand during the Festival of Lights, and the nostalgia of lobbying to have it for dessert at the end of family Christmas dinners.

Through the years, there have been efforts to customize this dessert. One year, Grammie Lambie and I made a Gingerbread and Lemon Curd Trifle with Blackberry Sauce. We had a lot of laughs while assembling this dish. But the recipe is just as complicated as the title. It was a lot of work and way too rich for my taste. I took it to the annual Wilkes Christmas Eve celebration, where I was told that around 2 a.m. when the munchies kicked in, it became the hit of the party.  

One year, Lorelei tried a new recipe for a ginger cake. After voting it an epic failure, we packed it up and sent it to Javi’s job (Where it was completely devoured by 11 a.m.) My word of caution: Keep it simple and use the recipe below. For our Christmas dinner, a large serving of gingerbread with a mountain of whipped cream is hands down my only choice for dessert. 

Ingredients

• 1¾ C Flour
• 2 t Ground ginger
• 1 t Cocoa powder
• 1 t Cinnamon
• ½ t Ground allspice
• ½ t Nutmeg
• ½ t Baking soda    
• ½ t Salt
• ¾ C   Molasses
• ¾ C Sugar
• 8 T Butter (1 stick) melted and cooled
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 C    Buttermilk

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8” square pan with parchment paper. 
• Whisk the flour, ginger, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• In a second large bowl, beat the molasses, sugar, and melted butter together with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, for three minutes. Beat in the egg, and then add the buttermilk until combined.  
• Beat in the flour mixture until the batter is smooth and thick. About three minutes. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for 1 hour.