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.

Five Minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Don't laugh. You know you want to make this yourself. That's a pretty tempting title and now you're intrigued, aren't you? Of course, you could have been one of the 2,394,042 people who received this recipe in an email forward and a message something along the lines of, "OMG you have to try this! It is SOOOOO cool and it really works!!" Normally when I get an email with a message that sounds like a chain letter, I delete it. But naturally, I was drawn to the recipe because I'm a sucker for chocolate, and especially chocolate that can be made into cake form in less than five minutes AND doesn't even require an oven. I'm all about simplicity. And somewhere deep inside, I secretly hoped this recipe wouldn't work. I don't need to be five minutes from a hunk of chocolate cake. It's not good for the waistline. But after trying this, I am sold. And I may need to invest in some pants with an elastic waistband.

Five Minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug

4 tablespoons self rising flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa (regular or dark)
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a splash of vanilla extract (optional)
cooking spray for easy clean up
1 large coffee mug or hot chocolate mug


Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add vanilla extract and coat the chocolate chips with flour (if using, this will prevent the chips from collecting on the bottom.), and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes in a 1000 watts microwave. Adjust time if needed. The cake will rise over the top of the mug a little, but don't be alarmed. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

*snort* Like chocolate chips are ever optional. Whatever. That's funny. So anyway, I was chuckling to myself as I put this concoction together. I kept thinking that there was no way this would work out - it was just too simple! But as the ingredients gradually came together I realized this was starting to resemble actual cake batter. It was precisely at that moment that I knew I was in big trouble if this actually creates an edible cake. And did it ever. I am so in trouble. It's really, really good.

Don't you just want to jump through the computer screen and take a huge bite? Yes, you do. Because there is easily enough for two (or three) people to dive into this thing. I did coat the chocolate chips with flour but they still sunk to the bottom of the mug after cooking. And regarding the mug, I used the biggest one I have. It's probably 5.5" tall with about a 3.5" wide mouth. I'm just estimating here, but it's bigger than your run of the mill coffee mug. When it was baking, the cake rose up over the top by about an inch, but there were only those small drips down the side. And you'll see there is a mention of cooking spray in the ingredient list but no mention of applying said cooking spray to the inside of the mug before you add the ingredients. I think the spray would work, although I didn't use it and all I had to do was run a knife around the outside edge of the cake to loosen it enough for the cake to plop out (with the exception of the chocolate chips). I think I would apply the cooking spray, mix the ingredients in a separate bowl and then pour into the mug. That might work.

The texture of the cake was pretty spongy and not quite as moist as a box cake mix would be. The taste was good. Like, really good. For the minimal effort that goes into the recipe, the taste delivers tenfold. No, it's not Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, but it works well in a pinch. If you need a quick chocolate fix or you have a birthday girl/boy coming over on short notice, whip this up. You can even throw on some icing and pop a candle in the top. Make it. You know you want to. I'll even share my elastic waistband pants with you.