Gingerbread Recipe

I made a resolution of sorts to "bake more" this year.

I'm starting to think that wasn't such a good idea.

After all, baking more means eating more.  And eating more means--well, we all know what that means.

Sigh.

If I do gain 10 pounds this year, at least I can say I kept my resolution to bake more.  And life will be a whole lot more delicious in the process, so it won't be all loss.

At least that's what I kept telling myself every time I shoved another piece of this amazing gingerbread in my mouth.  My mom and I baked it this past weekend and I couldn't not share the recipe with you.  It's from my new favorite cookbook, The New Best Recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

Please go bake some for yourself.

Because I desperately need company in my journey to gain weight in the name of "baking more."

Here is the recipe, with a few notes from me in italicized brackets:

Gingerbread

 2-1/4 cups sifted (9 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa [I left this out since chocolate and I are not friends]

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

3/4 cup mild or light molasses [I only had "full flavor" molasses on hand, so I used that instead]

3/4 sugar

1/2 buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the bottom and sides of an 11 x 7 inch baking dish; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and cocoa in a medium bowl.
4. Beat the butter, molasses, sugar, buttermilk, milk, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and beat on medium speed until the batter is smooth and thick, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.  (Do not overmix.)
6. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
7. Bake until the top springs back when lightly touched and the edges have pulled away from the pan sides, about 40 minutes.
8. Set the pain on a wire rack and cool for at least 10 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.
9. Gingerbread can be wrapped in plastic, then foil, and refrigerated up to 5 days.  [This makes me laugh because mine was all gone within 48 hours]

Editor’s Notes:

• If you don’t own an 11 x 7 inch pan, you can bake the batter in a 9-inch square pan.
• For a stronger ginger flavor, replace the ground ginger with 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger and 3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger.  [I'd like to try this variation next time]
• This gingerbread is moist and delicious on its own, but it can be served with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.  [I agree wholeheartedly with this statement]

Now go bake some!