candied ginger

Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Glaze and Candied Ginger

, , , , , , 0 Comments

During Top Chef season 5, I absolutely loved Carla Hall.  I thought she was the sweetest chef to ever grace the show, and her quirkiness was so endearing.  She seemed like someone I’d like to cook with, unlike some of the people on the show.  She’s now on The Chew, a daytime foodie talk show that I almost never watch, mostly because if my television is on when my kids are awake we are watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Peppa Pig or Umi Zoomi.  I happened to catch a part of an episode recently where she made gingerbread sandwiches, a gingerbread loaf with a couple of different fillings, lemon cream cheese and a cranberry compote.  The next day I bought the necessary ingredients.  But it took me a while to actually make the gingerbread.  I finally got around to it this week.

gingerbread2

This gingerbread isn’t sweet.  There’s no sugar other than what’s in the ginger beer and the molasses.  It’s very spicy and dense, so it pairs well with the light and sweet cream cheese glaze.  The candied ginger provides texture and makes the mini muffins especially lovely.  While this wasn’t what I was expecting when I made this bread, it is a nice cold weather treat and would be perfect paired with hot chocolate and eaten in front of the fire.  Have I mentioned that it’s 76 here with 80% humidity?  I won’t be sitting in front of a fire anytime soon, but if your weather permits it, please sit in front of a fire and drink hot chocolate for me.

I ran into some issues when I made this bread, so be warned.  If you go to The Chew’s website and follow the instructions for this bread without reading the comments you will be a sad and sorry baker.  And possibly an angry baker, if you’re anything like me.  Shouldn’t they have people whose job it is to read and test the recipes they post on their site?   After mixing up the batter I thought that it looked like an awful lot for one 9 inch loaf pan (which is what the original recipe calls for).  So I filled my pan about 3/4 full and still had a ridiculous amount of batter left.  I could have easily filled another loaf pan, but instead opted to make some mini muffins.  Then I looked at the comments and realized that almost every person complained about the same thing, way too much batter for 1 loaf.  I still had some batter left over, but had made such a mess of my kitchen by this point that I didn’t want to get another thing dirty.  Remember to ALWAYS read comments on a recipe before you make it.  I’m glad I read them before pouring all the batter into one pan.  It would’ve been a disaster.

gingerbread3

 Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Glaze and Candied Ginger

From Carla Hall on The Chew

Makes 2 9-inch loaves or 1 9 or 10-inch loaf and 24 mini muffins

Ingredients

For the Gingerbread

  • 2 cups dark molasses
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup strong Ginger Ale or Ginger Beer
  • 4 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sour cream or buttermilk
  • 4-5 pieces of candied ginger, chopped, for garnish

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 4 ounces of softened cream cheese
  • 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
  • 3-4 tablespoons of milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

For the Gingerbread

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour your pans.
  2. Combine butter, molasses and ginger ale in a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture boils.  Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
  3. Sift flour, salt, spices and soda together in a large bowl and set aside.
  4. Transfer the molasses mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if you’re using a handheld mixer.
  5. Beat the eggs into the molasses mixture until well combined.
  6. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream/buttermilk in 5 total additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Continue to mix on medium low speed until thoroughly combined.
  7. Bake loaves for 45-55 minutes.  A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.  Bake mini muffins for 10-12 minutes.
  8. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

  1. Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth.
  2. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
  3. Spread onto cooled gingerbread loaves or mini muffins.
  4. Use candied ginger to garnish loaves and muffins.

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Candied Ginger and Sea Salt

, , , , , 3 Comments

Cravings are not something I get very often, but I had a serious craving for a nice fudgy brownie a few weeks ago.  I am going to blame (and thank) my pregnancy for this.  My pantry just so happened to be stocked with the perfect ingredients.  A bag of candied ginger, some Lindt 70% cocoa chocolate bars (thanks, Lindsey!) and my newly purchased Maldon flaked sea salt that I had been very anxious to use.  After adding some butter, sugar, eggs and flour, I had these bites of chocolatey goodness that perfectly satisfied my chocolate craving.

In searching for a recipe I found the sweet and salty caramel brownie in this Baked cookbook which is now on my list of things to make and not share with other people.  Since I didn’t have everything to make the caramel brownies, I used the basic brownie recipe and then added in some chopped candied ginger, chopped dark chocolate and sprinkled the brownies with some flaked sea salt before and then right after baking.  I didn’t measure my salt.  Use a light hand when sprinkling because a little goes a long way.  The salt with the dark chocolate is so wonderfully perfect.  And the ginger.  Oh, the ginger.  Leave it out if you really hate it, but it is subtle and delicious.  I love the interest it added to this simple brownie.

These brownies are very fudgy and dense, making them less than easy to remove from the pan.  I did not use parchment in the bottom of my 9×13, as suggested.  I just greased the pan generously thinking this would surely be enough to guarantee quick and safe removal.  I let the brownies cool, and then chilled them in the fridge so they would be easier to cut.  I think this little trick does make removing gooey brownies easier in general, but maybe they were a bit too cold.  I had a few casualties that weren’t pretty enough to be served and had to be eaten…what a shame.  It was kind of like cutting the first piece of pie that almost always falls apart and looks ugly.  After you clear up that first row, things do get easier to cut and remove.  Now, do not let all my negative talk deter you from making these!  The little frustration involved in cutting these is definitely worth it in the end.  Just use parchment, remove the whole pan of brownies once they’re cool, transfer it to a cutting board and use a large chefs knife to cut them.  I still thing chilling them for a little bit helps, but it’s up to you.

Other Tips

  • Use good chocolate, the chocolate is the main attraction.
  • Cut these into small squares, they are rich.
  • Give some away, or you’ll get sick.
  • Store them in the fridge and let them warm up for a few minutes before enjoying.

Dark Chocolate Ginger & Sea Salt Brownies

Adapted from Baked Explorations

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 11 ounces good dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 5 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces chopped dark chocolate
  • 4 ounces chopped candied ginger
  • Flaked sea salt, fleur de sel

Directions

  1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Grease sides and bottom of 9×13 inch pan.  Line the bottom with parchment, leaving a little overhang on the short sides if desired, and grease the parchment.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
  4. Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of a double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are melted.  Turn off the heat and add both sugars.  Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan.  Let cool for a few minutes.
  5. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Add the remaining eggs and mix to combine.  Add the vanilla and stir.  Do not overbeat at this point.
  6. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold it a few times.  Add the chocolate and ginger and fold until a slight trace of flour remains.
  7. Spread batter evenly into the 9×13 pan, then sprinkle lightly with flaked salt.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.  Stick a toothpick into the center to check for doneness, only a few moist crumbs should attach.
  9. Sprinkle immediately with a little more salt (a little goes a long way) and let brownies cool in the pan, then cut them into squares and serve.