Gingerbread

Ahh, the holidays. A time to fellowship with family you don't see very often, eat way too much food and fall into a turkey coma watching football. And when the tryptophan wears off, it's time to go back for seconds - this time to the dessert table. At my family's holiday celebrations, sometimes it seems like there are more desserts than anything else - chocolate cake, fruit pies, chess pies, cookies and brownies. Oink. But this gingerbread recipe would really set the tone for the holidays. Now this is not a cookie, but it's actual gingerbread. Moist, rich, dense and downright delicious.

Gingerbread

1 C granulated sugar
½ C applesauce
¼ C butter
¼ C molasses
2 C all-purpose flour
4 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking soda
¼ t salt
1 C fat-free buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Whipped cream, optional

Beat the first four ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended.

Stir together flour and next four ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and eggs in a separate bowl. Add both mixtures alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Pour batter into a lightly greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet.

Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

First things first - I will definitely cook this again and I will proudly put my name all over it. It's so good, and even better after a few days because the top of the gingerbread gets kind of sticky. It comes together very easily, so no problems there. When I cooked it, I did not use a cast iron skillet and here's why: we have two cast iron skillets, one for cornbread that belonged to the Husband's great-grandmother and one miscellaneous one that is possibly as old as the former, but it is most certainly not for sweets. I used it before for fried chicken. If I were to put gingerbread in either of those skillets I would never hear the end of it. So I used a 9x9 silicone baking pan lined with parchment paper, which worked wonderfully. The gingerbread lifted right out once it was done with no cleanup necessary.




One error I made was simply a result of how eager I was to try the gingerbread - I cut it too soon before it cooled down enough. That resulted in some crumbly pieces, but they didn't go to waste (translation: I ate them). This recipe filled up the entire 9x9 pan so there was a lot to go around. I took about 10 pieces to work and my hungry co-workers did their part to make sure the Husband and I weren't tasked with eating the entire batch, though we certainly could have. And if you add whipped cream, whoa nelly. You're in for a real treat.




This was a delicious recipe that will certainly become a favorite for us.