Showing posts with label gingerbread recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gingerbread recipe. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie—Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread: A Warm, Spiced Treat Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

"Someone is speaking well of you at this very moment."
I love fortune cookies. They make me feel like a child hoping I'll get a good fortune that will come true. Each New Year's Eve, I pass around fortune cookies to everyone at the table, and we all read them out to each other, always adding "in bed" at the end and giggling like teenagers.

"You will inherit a large sum of money."
One year, I cracked opened my fortune cookie and it was empty. It turned out to be a tough year! This year, the fortune cookies I bought were dipped in white chocolate and all contained two or three fortunes in each. Before photographing this cake I noticed there was one fortune cookie remaining in the container on the counter from the holidays. And since it was Chinese New Year yesterday, I cracked it open to find four fortunes!

"Someone is watching you from afar."
I baked this cake in my cast iron pan that I found several years ago at a garage sale where a retired foodie was selling many of his prized cooking items. This was a great buy since I've used it often, but never for something sweet. Now I have a list of treats I want to bake up in my pan.

Recipe: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Makes: 1 9-inch square pan or 1 10-inch diameter cast iron pan (bake longer if using this size of cast iron pan and check the middle to ensure the cake is done)

Ingredients for Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 tablespoons finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed, light brown sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup molasses
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (2 ounces melted, 4 ounces finely chopped)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon finely chopped stem ginger in syrup

For the icing:
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon strong coffee
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar (sifted)

You can find the recipe for Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan or here. Dorie also wrote about this cake on Serious Eats and on her blog she recommends freezing this cake to have on hand. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Heather of Sherry Trifle who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate GingerbreadTasting Notes
I love ginger, and I love chocolate. Together, the taste was interesting. The cake was moist and the stem ginger added a little zing to some bites. Although it's not my favorite cake, it was fun to use my cast iron pan in this way. And Dorie says this cake freezes well, iced and all. So, I'll probably pop half of it in the freezer to pull out and share with friends and family.
"You tend to think things out thoroughly and seriously.
Recipe for Next Week (February 3)
World Peace Cookies on pages 138-139 chosen by Jessica of cookbookhabit.

Other gingerbread and cast iron baking ideas
• A review of The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook: Recipes for the Best Pan in Your Kitchen from Baking Bites
• Gingerbread cookies and cookie cups
• Swedish Apple Cake from Dorie at Serious Eats
• Cherry Clafoutis from Mark at No Special Effects
• Homemade Fortune Cookies from Kristen at Dine and Dish

Happy New Year!
新年快乐




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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Gingerbread Cookie Cups

Gingerbread Cookie Cups - A Fun Holiday Treat Gingerbread Cookie CupsEvery year starting December 1st, I prepare daily Advent boxes for the kids. I bought a little box from the dollar store for each of them and glued a small piece of chalkboard paper to the top to countdown the days. I fill their boxes each day with a little treat, usually a piece of candy like a lollypop or a chocolate. My youngest reminds me everyday about the Advent boxes, and today as I was writing "4" on the top of each box, I was amazed at how close Christmas is and how quickly this time goes by.

Lately, I've been enamored with little edible liqueur or candy cups. I even found some peppermint candy cane cups this year. When I was making gingerbread cookies earlier this week, I thought I'd try turning some of the dough into cups for holding eggnog or Baileys. So instead of dipping your cookie in milk, you can pour some milk into your cookie!

Tip: You must make the bottom of the shot glass cookie thick so that the beverage doesn't seep out. Of course, the cookie will disintegrate the longer the drink sits in the cookie so it's best to serve the cookie from frozen and drink it soon after pouring.

Recipe: Gingerbread Cookie Cups

From Epicurious

Makes: about 50

Ingredients for Gingerbread Cookie Cups

Ingredients:

6 cups (about) flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cloves
¾ teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1½ teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 large egg
¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon soda

Instructions:

Whisk 5¼ cups flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a bowl.

Using a stand mixer, blend the butter and shortening. Add sugar, molasses, and lemon peel and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and buttermilk.

Blend 2 teaspoons water with soda. Beat into butter mixture. In two additions, beat in the flour mixture. Add more flour, ¼ cup at a time, until the dough feels slightly firm.

Divide the dough into three equal disks. Wrap them and chill until firm enough to roll at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften slightly before rolling out.)

Roll out one disk of dough at a time, between sheets of waxed.
Either cut the dough using boy and girl gingerbread cookie cutters (or another shape) or press the dough into a heat-resistant shot glass or silicon shot glasses. Chill the dough again before baking. (Cutout cookies can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, turning the pan halfway through the baking time.

If you made shot glasses, once the cookies have cooled, put them in the freezer. After they have frozen, remove them from the shot glasses. You may have to trim the bottom so that it sits level. Store them in the freezer until ready to fill with your beverage of choice.

Gingerbread Cookie CupsOther ideas for filling the cups:
• Spiked White Chocolate Cappuccino
• Holiday Irish Coffee Eggnog from Lori at RecipeGirl.com




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