I was racking my brain (that's a nice image!) for a classic Christmas dessert and I thought, "oh yeah, gingerbread!" I get asked about gluten-free recipes, so I decided to deliver. Plus there weren't any gluten-free gingerbread mixes out there or any gingerbread recipes with just 4 ingredients! So, of course I made one up. What else is new?
Have you ever thought about what makes that gingerbread taste? It turns out that besides ginger spice, it's molasses! Molasses is what makes it dark, not the ginger! Here's what you'll need:
A box of Gluten-Free Spice Cake Mix. (Namaste makes a very good double recipe one.)
4 eggs (Or the eggs required for the cake mix you are using.)
2/3 cup of water (or the water required for the cake mix you are using)
2/3 cup of molasses (you will be substituting molasses for the oil in the recipe.)
2 teaspoons of ground ginger for Namaste mix (For regular sized spiced cake mix-1 &1/2 teaspoons of ginger)
Then you simply follow the directions on the cake box. (If your oven runs hot, bake closer to the minimum time and visa-versa.) Make sure you slowly open your oven door at the end of the baking time to help prevent the gingerbread from sinking in the middle. The gingerbread comes out really scrumptious! A bit spongy perhaps, but hey, it's gluten-free.
*If you don't want to go the gluten-free route, just use any spiced cake mix, substitute molasses for the oil and add the ginger.
Cooking Tidbit: How does ""Black Strap Molasses" differ from regular "molasses"? Regular molasses is made by boiling down cane juice twice, and Black Strap is a result of a third boiling. As a result, Black Strap is more concentrated, darker in color and more bitter. So, making "Black Strap Molasses" has nothing to do with a black strap at all. (How boring!)
Looking Back
When we think of Gingerbread we think of gingerbread houses! My daughter, Abbey, who is a gingerbread house expert, shared some of the tricks of the trade in a blog post last Christmas called: "Christmas Crafts and Other Stuff". Check it out!
Dress up your Christmas table with these elegant Christmas napkins and napkin rings!
If you want to know the steps for making these napkin rings and how to fold napkins this way, check out the Thanksgiving blog post from a few weeks back called "Goat and Blue".
* World Market is a great place to buy very affordable, solid colored napkins and TJMaxx has good deals on printed napkins. I pulled out my Christmas stuff this year and realized I had like 30 red and green napkins. Oops! I guess I need to have a big party!
Back By Popular Demand!
People LOVED the Christmas Tree napkin fold last year, so I decided to feature it again. This napkin fold is very easy to do and the post actually comes with a "How To" video starring Yours Truly. Check it Out!