Megs Fresh Ginger Gingerbread Recipes

CRYSTALLIZED GINGER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Line a 9 x 4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, crystallized ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg).
• In another bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar until fluffy, then stir in molasses. Add eggs one at a time, beating continuously.
• Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt/buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour; mix until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the pan and spread until even and sprinkle with raw sugar.
• Bake 50 minutes or just until the gingerbread is golden and springy to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let the loaf stand for a few minutes, then turn the loaf out and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Serve warm, or later!

HOMEMADE GINGERBREAD WITH FRESH GINGER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease (with butter) and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Tap out excess flour.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and salt. Stir well and set bowl aside. In a separate small bowl, stir together buttermilk and vanilla and set aside.
• Combine butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and light in color, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in molasses and ginger until combined and then one at a time, add in the eggs, beating in until well incorporated. Once everything is mixed in, scrape down bowl and paddle. add one third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until incorporated. add half of the buttermilk mixture and beat until the batter looks smooth, add in another third of the flour mixture. add remaining buttermilk and then the remaining flour mixture. the batter should be nice and smooth.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and place on the center rack of your oven. bake for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan before removing.
• While the gingerbread is cooling, prepare your icing. Make the icing by stirring the vanilla and the powdered sugar together in a small bowl. Stir the milk, 1 Tbsp at a time until you get a pourable consistency. We used about 4 1/2 Tbsp of milk for this.
• When the gingerbread is cooled and removed from the pan, evenly pour on the icing. You may not need all of it. Let the icing set before slicing and serving.

FRESH GINGER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 mini (5 3/4x3-inch) loaf pans.
• Combine flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in bowl.
• Combine molasses, milk, 1/3 cup sugar, butter, ginger and egg in bowl; beat until well mixed. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well mixed.
• Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 28-33 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely. ,
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar before slicing, if desired.

REAL GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl.
• Beat together butter, molasses, brown sugar, eggs, and ginger in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture until smooth, then add hot water and mix until combined (batter may appear curdled).
• Pour batter into pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool to warm in pan on a rack.

EXTRA GINGERY BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour a 10 inch springform pan.
• Stir together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt.
• In a large bowl, mix sugar with oil, juice, molasses, eggs, and fresh ginger in a large bowl. Mix in crystallized ginger. Stir in flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake for 1 hour, or until cake tester comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge to loosen cake, and release pan sides. Serve warm.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Steps:

• Make half of the batch: In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together half the butter and half the sugar for 5 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down sides.
• Meanwhile, sift together the dry ingredients - the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt - and set aside half.
• With mixer running at low speed, add two eggs, one at a time. Mix in 1 cup molasses. Scrape down bowl.
• In 3 batches, add half the dry ingredients, mixing just to combine. To prevent any flour from flying out, make sure the mixer is off when adding each batch, and drape a towel over it when mixing. Mix in zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange.
• Pull dough out of mixer, and wrap in plastic wrap, or transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Repeat Steps 1 to 5 to make the remaining dough. Refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Roll out dough: For each square, weigh out about 20 ounces of dough. The goal is to end up with five 9-inch squares, so you'll roll them out a bit larger, bake them and trim off the edges.
• Lightly dust a large piece of parchment paper with flour. Place the chilled dough on top. Roll side to side and up and down to make a rough square shape. While you roll, make frequent quarter-turns so that the dough remains even.
• Roll until dough is about 10 by 10 inches and a generous 1/4-inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. (Any dough left after the squares have been prepared can be rolled out 1/4-inch thick and used for cookies.) In the oven, the slab will rise to about 3/8- or 1/2-inch thickness, which will make the house extra sturdy.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until even and firmly set. Place pans on racks to cool. To prevent bending and cracking, carefully transfer to racks by lifting parchment paper. When completely cool, stack the slabs, still on parchment, and set aside to dry out at room temperature for 3 to 7 days. (When ready to assemble, see How to Make a Gingerbread House guide for full instructions.)

MOIST GINGERBREAD CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch springform cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, turbinado, ginger, zest of 1 lemon and oil. Beat in egg.
• Place beer, molasses and coffee in a deep pot, at least 3 quarts. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mixture will bubble up. Allow to cool 5 minutes.
• Whisk flour mixture alternately with beer mixture into brown sugar mixture, in 3 shifts. Pour batter in pan and bake 40 minutes without opening oven. Give pan a 180-degree turn and bake another 15 minutes, until cake is springy and a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. When cool, remove sides of pan, invert briefly to remove bottom of pan and paper and set upright on a plate.
• Place confectioners' sugar in a bowl, whisk in remaining zest and salt, then lemon juice (add up to 2 additional tablespoons to moisten if necessary). Spread over top of cake, allowing glaze to drip down the sides.

BEST-EVER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Set oven to 350°.
• In a bowl, combine sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
• Stir in the oil, then the molasses, mixing well.
• Mix soda with boiling water and immediately stir into the mixture.
• Gradually blend in the flour, to prevent lumping.
• Then mix in eggs.
• Turn into greased 9 x 13x2-inch pan and bake in a 350° oven about 40-45 minutes.

CHEWY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium, melt butter until foamy, about 3 minutes. Continue cooking butter, stirring and scraping frequently with a stiff silicone spatula, until the sputtering has subsided and the butter solids look deeply browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, then whisk in the fresh ginger and ground spices. Scrape the butter and any brown bits at the bottom into the bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Set aside until cool, slightly solid, but still creamy, about 20 minutes in the refrigerator or 2 hours at room temperature.
• Add confectioners' sugar, molasses, vanilla, salt and baking soda to the cooled butter. Mix on low with the paddle attachment, stopping once to scrape the bowl and paddle, until creamy and combined, about 1 minute.
• Add the egg and mix on medium until pale and fluffy, stopping once to scrape the bowl and paddle, about 2 minutes. Add flour and mix until evenly combined, about 30 seconds. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days before baking.
• Prepare the sugar coating: In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and ground ginger. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper, arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Using a #40 cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon portions (30 grams). Roll the portioned cookie dough into balls and coat in the ginger sugar. Arrange on the sheet tray at least 1 inch apart and bake until set and lightly browned around the edges, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

FRESH GINGER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Graduall add the sugar and continue beating well after each addition. Add the molasses and beat until well blended. Add the ginger, zest, and spices. Add salt. Mix the soda with the vinegar in a small bowl and add to the batter. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Add the flour by hand alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. After each addition stir only enough to combine. Spread the batter evenly into dish and bake for 55 to 60 minute.

SPARKLY GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand-held electric beaters, beat brown sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses and fresh ginger, and mix until well combined.
• Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
• Divide dough in half and scrape onto two pieces of plastic wrap, wrapping each piece separately into a flat disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days.
• When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Use parchment paper or nonstick liners to line 3 baking sheets, or lightly grease them with nonstick cooking spray. (You may need to bake the cookies in batches.)
• On a clean, lightly floured work surface, roll one disk of dough 1/8-inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out all the dough. With a small metal spatula, place the gingerbread cut-outs onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough. You can reroll the scraps once. Collect them from both pieces of dough, smush them together into a disk and chill before rerolling again.
• Bake small cookies for 8 to 12 minutes, and larger ones for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cookies are firm to the touch and their edges are slightly darker in color. Rotate cookie sheets halfway through for even baking.
• Let cookies cool on baking sheets until firm enough to lift, about 5 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• To decorate, thin the royal icing with water until it's as thick as heavy cream (thinner than you'd use for piping). Divide it into small bowls (or a muffin tin), and use food coloring to tint it different colors. Use a brush to paint the cookies with icing, and, if you like, use toothpicks to apply more icing to make patterns. Sprinkle with colored sugar or other decorations, if you like, while the icing is still wet. Put the decorated cookies on baking sheets to set, then move them to tins or other airtight containers with parchment between the layers.

MEG'S FRESH GINGER GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Grease an 8x8 cake pan. This recipe uses 2 mixing bowls, 1 large and 1 medium.
• Peel an grate your ginger if not using ginger paste.
• In the large mixing bowl, create together the butter and brown sugar. Add molasses, syrup, egg and salt, beating after each addition. Beat mixture on low speed until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, soda, & spices.
• Mix half the dry mix into the sugar mixture. Beat until smooth
• Mix in 1/4 cup buttermilk. Beat until smooth.
• Add remaining flour, then the remaining buttermilk, beating after each addition.
• Use a large spoon to stir in the ginger. Mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into a well greased 8x8 cake pan and back 35 - 40 minutes or until the toothpick jabbed in the middle comes out clean.