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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can describe your Christmas menu. I actually would be interested to know what you have for breakfast and the main meal.Anyway, my point is that the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:
Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.
Food on Fridays with Ann
Next Friday is Christmas Day. If I think of it, I’ll toss up a Christmas greeting with a Mr. Linky for super-motivated foodies, but don’t hold me to it.When I was visiting some of last week’s Food on Fridays participants, I was particularly intrigued by the very first link.Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker linked to a recipe for Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce.I’ve never made gingerbread before. The kids have never tasted it.So I decided to give it a try.Yum!Some of the kids weren’t too keen on the lemon sauce, but they’re picky eaters. So we won’t count their votes.Most of us devoured our first serving and helped ourselves to a second.She described this gingerbread as a cake-y, warm, “Old World” version that she found in a 1936 Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook. The lemon sauce recipe comes from the 1945 American Woman’s Cook Book.Click on THIS LINK for her recipe.Here is a brief pictorial of my first experience making gingerbread.First I was startled by the amount of molasses required. One whole cup used up half the bottle. It smells a little weird, too, so I was glad none of the kids wandered in at this point.
What is molasses, anyway? I wondered this, and in the spirit of lifelong learning, I looked it up. Unlike my industrious son who heaved open the giant Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, I simply clicked on Merriam-Webster online.
What is molasses? Click HERE for dictionary definition. Click HERE for Wikipedia explanation. Click HERE to read about the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919.
One of the kids came into the kitchen and asked what I was baking.
“Gingerbread,” I answered.
“Oh! Is it gingerbread cookies?”
“No, it’s gingerbread.”
“Can we make it into a gingerbread house?”
“No, it’s just gingerbread. It will be like cake.”
“Oh.”
I repeated that exchange almost verbatim three times with three different kids.
Never made lemon sauce before. I think it turned out right.
Most of my baking takes place at night when there’s no natural light, so these pictures never turn out all that great.
Nevertheless, here it is. A slice of gingerbread with lemon sauce.
I don’t really have a particular holiday treat that everyone waits all year for me to make. I thought this could be the thing. I loved it and would make it again and again.
I suspect that the kids, however, would prefer that I try making the dough for a gingerbread man, instead.
Anyone have a good gingerbread cookie recipe for me to try?
May you enjoy many delicious Christmas memories!
Get ready … Mega Memory Month returns January 2010!
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Yum! That looks fantastic =D. Congrats on your first gingerbread!
I made cookies and “tried” a house, but have never made Gingerbread like this. It looks yummy! Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
I have a gingerbread cookie recipe that is FAB. For whatever reason, this has been *the* year for us and gingerbread. Two different kinds of cookies–made more than once, nomnomnom.
If I don’t link up, I’ll make sure you get the recipe one way or another. 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed the gingerbread. Not all of my kids enjoyed the lemon sauce, either. They took their gingerbread plain and gobbled it up.
Got my cookie recipe linked up!
I had no idea what molasses was. Is that crazy or what?
My mom always topped her gingerbread cake (from a mix) with cool whip. It didn’t taste right without it. 🙂
On January 15, 1919, there was an explosion of a molasses storage tank that killed 21 people and injured 150. The molasses was gushing through the streets of Boston at 35 mph. I think of this every time I use molasses.
Read more in Wikipedia.com.
I had this treat in New York City at a wonderful authentic english tea shop.
They serve it with hot custard on top!
Tea & Sympathy’s Spicy Ginger Cake
2 c. all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1 stick butter, softened
1 ½ c. golden syrup
Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Butter and flour a 13 ½ x 4 ½ x 4-inch loaf pan (I baked this in a 13×9 pan). Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add butter, followed by golden syrup. Bake 40-45 minutes. The cake may sink slightly but will still taste fantastic.
To Linda Bannister: The English serve EVERY dessert with a custard sauce!
To my daughter: I feel bad you never had gingerbread before. It was one of my grandma’s specialities, and I am pretty sure lemon sauce was part of it. i ate it with or without. Somehow, though, I never got around to making it myself; my mom nor my aunt never made it either, so I am sure Grandma’s recipe is gone…..
Glad you have one you like!
We always had sorghum molasses, right from the field refinery, and I think it made the gingerbread darker than yours…..
Wow, this is the molasses-gingerbread comment bonanza! So much great information and a bonus recipe right there for me to try!
Many thanks to all who took time to comment.
Sandra has left me with quite a crazy image of a molasses river running down a street after the molasses factory explosion she described.
Stretch Mark Mama has given me a Ginger cookie recipe (and the Cool Whip trick that my kids will LOVE) and Linda’s given me an alternate gingerbread recipe to try.
And Mom has felt obliged to apologize for not making me gingerbread. Mom, I’ll bring a piece this weekend for you to try. Maybe I can pick up the family tradition again?
Ann,
The Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce looks wonderful. I used to make gingerbread in the fall or winter for my family and it was always gone quickly. Usually, I’d just dust powdered sugar on top, which looked nice and gave it a pretty touch, but next time I’ll use this Lemon sauce.
Here is the link to my Gingerbread cookie recipe: it’s the only one I’ve ever used and it’s pretty good. Rolled out thicker, they stay soft, rolled out thinner, they’re crunchy. We like them both ways.
Several years ago I read that brown sugar was simply white sugar mixed with molasses. Brown sugar was always frustrating to me because it hardens out if you don’t so something special. So now I just keep molasses in the cabinet and add a little of it to whatever I’m baking that requires brown sugar. It helps keep chocolate chip cookies soft longer, too.
Haven’t seen Brer Rabbit brand around here for years. Wish I could get it at our local store.
http://carlahoag.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/gingerbread-men/