Gingerbread

Holiday favorites

In my mind, nothing heralds the start of the holiday season quite like the smell of freshly baked gingerbread! Something about the special blend of spicy ginger and clove with hints of fragrant nutmeg and cinnamon just makes us feel comforted and warm.  This recipe produces a loaf of moist, cake-like gingerbread.

This recipe is relatively low in sugar, calling instead for black strap molasses. Unlike refined sugars, molasses contains trace amounts of vitamins and significant amounts of several minerals. Blackstrap molasses is a source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron; one tablespoon provides up to 20% of the daily value of each of those nutrients. The fact that this recipes calls for no egg or dairy products also makes it entirely vegan. The addition of it being infinitely simple to make is a great holiday bonus.

Gingerbread

Ingredients:      

1 Cup dark molasses

                ½ Cup brown sugar

                ½ cup Canola oil

                ½ teaspoon cinnamon

                ½ teaspoon ground clove

                ½ teaspoon nutmeg

                1 teaspoon ground ginger

                1 Cup boiling water

                2 ½ Cups Flour

                1 teaspoon Baking Soda

Method:

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.       In a mixing bowl, blend together the canola oil, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, brown sugar and molasses.

3.       Stir in boiling water.

4.       Mix in flour.

5.       Dissolve the Baking Soda in 2 tablespoons of hot water and add to the batter.

6.       Pour the batter into a greased 8x8x2 inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.