Gingerbread Molasses Scones

Gingerbread Molasses Scones

I'm finally acknowledging that it's fall. Los Angeles is filled with Santa Ana winds (which translates into very hot, dry conditions) and no rain ever (huge drought). By the way, all those covered in snow? California will totally trade you some sunshine for some of your snowpack! :) Now that I see Christmas lights on homes (still too early), I'm finally starting to believe that it really is fall and Thanksgiving is only a week away.

So, to celebrate fall and all its wonderful spices, here are some gingerbread scones.

I found this recipe on the Grandma's Molasses website. It only uses 1/2 stick of butter and regular milk, so it is "lighter" then the usual cream and hella butter scones (not that these scones are health food, but I have a baking blog so what do you expect?!) ;)

Sorry for the photos, I had to use my cell phone and it was dark in the kitchen.

The flour, sugar and spices are combined in a large bowl, and the cold butter is cut into the flour.

In a separate bowl, the molasses,milk and egg yolk are combined. The liquid and dry ingredients are quickly combined until just moistened, and then the dough is kneaded a few times. I should have kneaded mine a little more on the floured surface, because my dough was a little too wet.

The original recipe calls for one circle cut into 12 wedges. I made two circles and cut each into six wedges. (Those white pieces in the dough are small pieces of butter)

A quick brush egg white wash and a sprinkle of sugar completes the scone. The original recipe uses granulated sugar, but I substituted sanding sugar for a little extra crunch.

These were a hit with my coworkers at our morning meeting. Next time, I might add some diced crystallized ginger. I hope you make some for your friends and family this autumn.

Gingerbread Molasses Scones
Adapted from the Grandma's Molasses website (Their scones are much lighter colored compared to mine)

2 cups (280 g) flour
3 tablespoons (38 g) brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup cold butter (1/2 stick)

1/3 cup molasses (Grandma's recipe uses the Robust Molasses, but I used the Original Molasses)
1/2 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)
1 egg yolk

Topping:
1 egg white
Sanding sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F.
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
2. Cut butter into dry ingredients using to knives, pastry cutter or your fingers until butter is the size of peas.
3.  In a medium bowl, combine the molasses, milk, and egg yolk until blended.
4. Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir with a fork until just moistened.
5. Turn the mixture onto floured surface and knead 6 - 8 times. Form the dough into a circle. I divide the dough into two balls and made two circles. Cut into wedges. I cut each of my circles into six wedges for a total of 12 scones.
6. Beat the egg white until frothy. Brush the scones with the egg white, and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
7. Bake at 400° for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Gingerbread Scones

Gingerbread Scones

One of my favorite cookbooks is the Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet and Sur la Table (find it on Amazon or your library) and they have a great basic scone recipes with lots of variations. I saw that Tracey's Culinary Adventures made the Gingerbread Scones and topped it with a maple glaze. Sign me up!

It's really easy to make. I used a food processor, but you can totally do this by hand too. See the little bits of butter? That's really necessary for good scones. If I remember all the stuff I learned in my baking class...when the dough hits the oven, water contained in the butter steams up and causes the flakey goodness of scones and yummy stuff like pies and croissants.

I made the scone dough the night before my work meeting. I cut them into squares and placed them onto a baking tray, covered with plastic wrap and then popped in the freezer.

In the morning, I pulled them out of the freezer and placed on the countertop. I preheated the oven and then popped them into the oven. If you are going to glaze them, be sure to give yourself time to let them cool off before glazing them.

I followed Tracey's lead and topped the scones with a maple syrup and powdered sugar glaze.

These were enjoyed at the meeting. It's a lovely taste of the holidays.
Gingerbread Scones. Make them today!

Gingerbread Scones
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

Scones:
2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz) cold buttermilk
2 tablespoons molasses

1 egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)

Glaze:
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

Place flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients. Scatter the butter pieces on top of the flour and pulse 5 times until the butter pieces are the size of peas. Whisk the buttermilk and molasses together in a measuring cup. Pour into the food processor (all at once) and pulse until the dough comes together (it took me about 20 pulses, but don't overmix the batter).

On a lightly floured work surface, turn the dough out. Quickly, but gently, bring the dough together into a square that is 1" thick. Of course, you can also shape into rounds to make triangle scones. Use a sharp knife to cut the scones. Transfer to a baking sheet.

At this point, you can freeze the scones and bake at a later time. When you bake them, allow them to sit on the counter while the oven is preheating.

Brush the tops of the scones with the lightly beaten egg wash. Bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until they are golden brown and firm to the touch. Move onto a cooling rack and allow scones to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze: Whisk the maple syrup and powdered sugar in a small bowl until combined. If you need to, add more maple syrup or milk to thin. Drizzle over the scones. Let icing set for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Pancakes - Mark Bittman

Gingerbread Pancakes

I woke up craving pancakes the other day. And gingerbread. Thus, gingerbread pancakes!

This recipe is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. It's a great book that I need to use more often. Are you a food blogger? I've finally started taking a photo of the recipe I'm using so I can keep track of things!

These pancakes are fluffy and have a hint of molasses and spices. Fresh minced ginger is added to the batter. When I make these again, I might also add some ground ginger to the mix to amp up the spices.

The liquid includes milk (I used almond milk), molasses and egg yolks. The egg whites are beaten until stiff and folded into the batter.

When you wake up with a craving for pancakes and gingerbread...make these!

Recipe:
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Base: Light and Fluffy Pancakes (page 202) + Gingerbread ingredients


1 cup milk
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoon peeled and minced fresh ginger, or 2 teaspoons ground ginger, or 2-3 Tablespoons minced crystallized ginger (I used fresh ginger)
4 eggs, separated
1 cup all-purpose flour
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves

1. Preheat griddle or pan. Cook these pancakes more slowly than others as they can burn.
2. Beat together the milk, egg yolks, ginger and molasses in a measuring cup or bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer until stiff but not dry.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and milk/yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites but don't overmix...you can leave streaks of the egg whites.
6. Butter or oil the pan and add batter. Flip when the pancake shows some bubbles, and cook through.

The Mochi Factory...in Gingerbread by JustJenn

The Mochi Factory Gingerbread House

I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas! My December consists of:
Dec 7th - My Birthday. Yes, you may have heard about that! :)
Dec 25th - Christmas
Dec 26th - Mochi Making with the family
Dec 31st - New Year's Eve

Every year, my family makes tons and tons of fresh mochi (pounded rice cake) for a Japanese American New Years celebration. I'll post about this year's mochi making next...but on Christmas, my friend JustJenn dropped off the most awesome gingerbread masterpiece! Check it out!

Since she was a little girl, Jenn would make elaborate gingerbread houses with her mom (a librarian). And you wonder how Jenn grew up to become an architect, huh?! Now Jenn makes them with her boys!

See the Mochi conveyor belt in the window! Too cool. The mochi pieces are represented by cut marshmallows.

You can see thru the window and the conveyor belt goes up the side of the house! Jenn draws out ARCHITECTURAL plans for her gingerbread homes. Yes, gotta use that degree for good and yum.

The mochi conveyor belt climbs up the side of the house. The lamp post is a lollipop! The top of the house is covered with chocolate licorice. Awesome!

Did you see this detail? The fish pond is sprinkling sugar and the goldfish is, naturally, a cheese goldfish. Everything is edible! Jenn uses royal icing as her glue.The walkway is a fruit leather and the railings are pretzels.

My whole family was in awe during mochi making! And the kids were good that they didn't pick off all the pieces. Thank you sooo much Jenn for including our family tradition in your gingerbread tradition!!!

** Updated to add JustJenn's post about her Mochi Factory...you have got to click here and see it. It includes the behind the scenes architectural drawings, paper mock up and hints for making your own masterpiece! **
Next post, Mochi making!

Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake

Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake

The other day I asked my friend what food should I wave in front of her in case she falls into a coma. You know, just regular lunch time conversation. Hey, come on, it can happen...look at soap operas!

She instructed me to wave little squares of Scharffen Berger chocolate in front of her.

Dear friends, please take note. Please present the following to me should I have a medical emergency (Treats listed in no particular order):

a. Fresh lemon tartlets
b. Mochi (especially kinako and pink with white beans)
c. Wasabi mashed potato salad from Delica in San Francisco (I also think the powerful smell of wasabi might help wake me too)
d. Carnitas burritos. Hello, wouldn't you wake up for this?
e. Pumpkin bread
f. Kettle Corn (only made a Farmer's Market, not from the store. Dude, I'm in a coma and only want the best :)
g. This Gingerbread Apple-Upside Cake

Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs mentioned this cake to me and she had me at Ginger. I'm all about the Ginger. And Apples. And Cakes without Frosting. And Cakes that are upside down.

I found that Smitten Kitchen adapted the recipe. She cut the molasses and added honey in the cake, and caramelized the sugar for the topping. I just cut the molasses some, but followed her technique for the topping. That change added a really nice caramel flavor to the apples.

After pouring the brown sugar/butter topping on the bottom of the pan, Fuji apples were placed on top.

This has a LOT of batter. The recipe calls for a 10" pan. I baked it in a 9 x 3 inch pan, and I think it would go way up to the top (if not overflow) a 9 x 2 inch pan. So, if you don't have the recommended 10" pan and use a 9 x 2, I wouldn't add all the batter (make a little mini cake to go along with this cake!)

I actually made it twice. The first time I put it into a 10" cast iron skillet, added all the batter and it way, way overflowed. Luckily I had some foil under the skillet!

Because I was using a 9" pan, I had to bake it a lot longer than the recipe...65 minutes.

This cake is delicious! It takes like fall on a plate. I loved the gingerbread cake so much I could just eat that without the apples...but that would be silly because the apples rock it too.

Recipe:
My adaptation - click here for printable recipe
Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from Karen Bates at the Philo Apple Farm via the New York Times (published: October 27, 2009) and Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake (blog post: Monday, November 23, 2009)

Topping
2 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing pan (This is different than NY Times and Smitten Kitchen's versions)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
4 apples (about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch wedges

Batter
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup molasses (This is less than NY Times version)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Note: This has a LOT of batter. The recipe calls for a 10" pan. I baked it in a 9 x 3 inch pan, and I think it would go way up to the top (and might overflow) a 9 x 2 inch pan. So, if you don't have the recommended 10" pan and use a 9 x 2, I wouldn't add all the batter (make a little mini cake to go along with this cake!)

Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (I used a 9" x 3 cake pan). Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring until thick. I forgot to add the salt but Smitten Kitchen says to swirl it in. The New York Times recipe doesn't caramelize the sugar and butter in a pot; I really liked the nice caramel flavor. Remove from heat and pour into the bottom of your cake pan. Make circles of overlapping apple slices on top of the caramel.

Make the batter: Using a mixer with paddle attachment, beat 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and the sugar on medium-low speed. Increase the speed to high and cream until light and fluffy.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg, molasses, honey and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Alternate mixing the flour and molasses mixtures into the butter mixture, adding the next once the last has been incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan. New York Times says to bake for 45 to 50 minutes (in a 10" pan) or until a wooden tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (It took me 65 minutes in a 9 x 3" pan.) Let cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a platter.

NY Times suggests serving warm or cool with very softly whipped cream. (I didn't top it with anything...and it was still delicious!!!)

You may be interested in:
Smitten Kitchen's recipe (adapted from NY Times)
New York Times recipe ("Ginger-Apple Upside-Down Cake" Adapted from Karen Bates at the Philo Apple Farm, Published: October 27, 2009)

Gingercake from the Culinary Institute of America

Gingercake

As part of the tuition for my Pro Baking 1 class at the New School of Cooking in Culver City, we got a chef's coat and the book: Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America

The instructor doesn't assign any of the recipes, but we are encouraged to make similar recipes to the week's topic. She picked this book because the recipes have been tested by the CIA...the Culinary Institute of America, not the bunch of spies. I made this gingerbread awhile back and found the photos in my Flickr account, and thought, "Oh, I forgot to post that." Does that happen to you too?!

This recipe is easy to assemble. The middle of my cake fell (see here), but I'm sure I must have done something wrong in the mixing or baking.

I like to bring in treats to my co-workers in easy to grab/carry/eat sections. I buy these cupcake cups in bulk at Surfas! :)

It was a nice cake...soft and moist. It goes well with tea or coffee...and perhaps a cold day. Which, by the way, is something we haven't had that much of in Los Angeles. It has been in the 70's this January (especially for the Rose Parade, Rose Bowl and BCS Championship...it is all part of the tourist industry's plan to keep the visitors coming ;)

P.S. And if you are a fan of Gingerbread, tune in next week for a post about a delicious Gingerbread Apple Upside Cake that is sooooo good you must make it! Really. It was yummmmmmy.

Recipe:
Gingercake
Adapted from Gingercake on page 85 of Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America. Purchase here or see if your library has the book here on Worldcat

Printable Recipe here

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 t ground ginger
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
1/2 c molasses
1/2 c buttermilk
2 large eggs (I always use room temp eggs for baking....leave out for awhile or place in warm water for 15 minutes before using)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. (I place a piece of parchment in the pan and spray with Pam with Flour).
2. Sift together flour, ginger, baking powder & soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar in stand mixer with paddle attachment until light in texture, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the molasses and buttermilk and beat until evenly blended, about 1 minute.
5. Increase speed to medium and cream until smooth and light, about 2 more minutes.
6. Add eggs one at a time on medium speed.
7. Add the sifted dry ingredients on low speed until evenly blended and smooth.
8. Pour into cake pan and bake until center springs back when pressed lightly, about 45 minutes.
9. Let cool on wire rack. Slice and serve...dust with powdered sugar.

Gingerbread Cupcakes - MS Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club, Kayte from Grandma's Kitchen Table chose Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cookie Cutouts on page 246 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book

You were supposed to top these with Royal Icing, but I couldn't find my meringue powder...and thus you get a quick powdered sugar glaze instead! Where could that meringue powder be...

Thank goodness the Gingerbread cutouts were optional. I'm just not a cut-out cookie kinda gal right now. So, using Flickr's holiday collection (click on Edit Photo and Create), I put this gingerbread man on my cupcake. Honestly, I haven't been feeling the holiday spirit. It is more like, as a friend says, holiday panic.

When these came out of the oven, I thought the spices were kinda weak, and the flavor more butter than molasses. I tried them this morning and still aren't that crazy about them. But aren't these cupcake wrappers cute? Little snowmen! :)

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Gingerbread Cupcakes, page 246

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection (I need to put the Librarian in the Food Librarian sometimes! :)

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! I'm sure better bakers made the Gingerbread people!

Chocolate Gingerbread Bars - Everyday Food

It's Fall.
As in the season that follows Summer.
How in the world did that happen?!

Granted, Los Angeles doesn't "do" seasons too well. Today is was burning hot with Santa Ana winds (where the hot air from the desert in Vegas and the like come into Los Angeles...it is payback for all the smoke we sent them last month during our fires). Anyway, I flip the calendar to October and I freak out. I see Christmas decorations up and hyperventilate. Wasn't it just Y2K?! Oh, time is flying by.

So, I'm trying to embrace the season. Here's to Fall!

Chocolate Gingerbread Bars. Yes, you heard that right. Chocolate + Gingerbread = Yum.

This recipe is from Everyday Food and gets thrown together in a flash. You just need two bowls and don't even need to get things to room temp. My kind of recipe!

I used mini chocolate chips instead of regular size semi-sweet chips, and reserved some to sprinkle on top.

Get your Fall started and make some chocolate gingerbread bars.

Recipe:
Chocolate Gingerbread Bars, Everyday Food

Gourmet's Gingerbread for June Gloom

June Gloom Gingerbread

Los Angeles is having a major case of June Gloom. In the last couple weeks we have had overcast skies, rain, foggy days, and even lightening. That marine layer just won't go away. There is only a 58% chance of sunshine in June in LA and I'm beginning to wonder if I need to take Vitamin D supplements instead of my daily dose outside. And perhaps a few hours in front of my Lowell Ego lights. Sigh. Just kidding...sorta.

This may sound very pathetic to some, but these lower temperatures and cloudy skies make me think of FALL. And what's the flavor of fall? Gingerbread.

I'm always looking for gingerbread recipes. I love ginger. I love unfrosted cakes (yeah, JustJenn, I'm not a member of Frosting Nation or "Legalize Frostitution" campaign). Gingerbread is the perfect combo of not too sweet cake, moistness, cinnamon and ginger.

This is Gourmet's Gingerbread from February 2009

Recipe by Ruth Cousineau

One of my co-workers said it tasted like little Ginger People chews were in the cake. Sorta like a soylent green ginger cake! :) This cake only uses ground ginger, ground cinnamon and molasses for the spice - making it really easy to assemble!

I dusted my squares with powdered sugar but a dollop of whipped cream would be nice too.

I find that cutting everything and putting them in cupcake holders makes for easy grabbing by co-workers and less mess. Good thing I picked up 1,000 of these at Surfas recently! :)

Hopefully the sun WILL come out tomorrow! :)

Recipe: Gourmet's Gingerbread

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, Heather of Sherry Trifle chose Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread on page 212 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Recently, I confessed that The Real Housewives of the OC (the original is best, and so scary close to my home in LA) is on my DVR.

There are two types of shows in my life: Live and DVR. I must watch Top Chef live because I need to discuss it with Kathy at work the next day! Okay, that one isn't embarrassing...but this next one is:

Randy Jackson's America's Best Dance Crew

Oh dear. I'm a 38 year old librarian and I craft my schedule so I can watch and VOTE (yes, vote) for America's Best Dance Crew. Am I a secret hip-hop dancer? No. This is the best description of my dancing abilities:

I have so little rhythm that I can't even do the rhythm method.

However, I just love this show. Those youths of today are pretty talented. Check it out - even if you are way too old for it. And don't forgot to txt in your vote. :) My favorites are Los Angeles based, Beat Freaks and Quest Crew. Whew, I feel better getting that confession off my chest. Alright, what's on your DVR? (Yes, Linda, I'm asking you! :)

Okay, back to the baking. Quite simply, it's yum. Not much else to say. If you like holiday spices, make this. If you like ginger, make this. And chocolate, well, you get the idea. I picked up this bittersweet chocolate at Trader Joe's...it's pretty inexpensive and good when chocolate isn't the center of attention.

Gotta run. House and The Closer are on tonight! :) Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Whole Food's Double Gingerbread Squares - It's Gingerific!

Double Gingerbread

Remember my earlier trip to Whole Foods? I picked up a couple recipe cards in the bakery. I made the Cranberry-Orange Muffins earlier, and now it was time for the Double Gingerbread Squares. You can find the recipe online here.

This includes a yummy assortment of fall flavors and textures. It's called "Double Gingerbread" because it has both crystallized ginger and ground ginger. It's also dairy free (yippee), and has a couple of eggs.

I made a dozen small cupcakey-like cakes (yes, I have way too many molds in the house) and three mini-bundts. The instructions say to place the batter in a 9x12 pan (Do you think they mean 9 x 13?)

This has a nice crumb and great holiday scent. This is my natural potpourri and air freshener! :)

Find the recipe from the Whole Foods Marketplace website here, or perhaps they still have some cute recipe cards in their bakery!

And it's December 4th - Happy Birthday Helen and Rose! Decemberist are good people! Upcoming December b-days include: Jamillah (6th), My very own!!(7th), Diane (11th), Gary (12th) Cyndi & Lorraine (13th), Finnegan (14th), Lucia (20th), Jami (24th)! I also found out that Vibi of La Casserole Carree and I share the same birthday! Whoo Hoo!

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies (Martha Stewart)

Martha Stewart's Chewy Gingerbread Cookies includes fall spices and freshly grated ginger. They are, like the name implies, chewy! :)

These cookies contain the yummy ingredients of gingerbread: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, dark brown sugar and molasses.

The flavors are very fall and gingery. I love ginger so they weren't strong to me, but some people thought they were a bit too gingery (as if that could ever happen! :) It has both ground ginger and fresh ginger.

I rolled them in a combo of granulated sugar and sanding sugar. I just purchased Sugar in the Raw so I want to try that next time.

Find the recipe for these fall and intense cookies here on Martha Stewart's website!