Fun with Ginger

Ginger. What comes to mind?

For me, and probably many of my generation, it could be Ginger Grant, the movie star castaway on the 60's sitcom Gilligan's Island.

I also think of Ginger as a nice dog's name, because I met a lot of canine Gingers when I was growing up. None specifically come to mind, although their owners most likely enjoy fond memories.



Zingaber officinale, a rhizome, lays claims to medicinal value in treating nausea, vomiting, and inflammation in either fresh root or powdered form. The active ingredients are volatile oils and phenol compounds. How many times were you given a glass of ginger ale with a bendy straw when you were a kid with a tummy ache?

There's the powdered spice used in cooking and baking, made from Zingaber officinale, and the fresh root of this plant. That's what we're talking about today.
I've already shared my grandma's ginger cookie recipe, and today I want to tell you about a gingerbread recipe I made up recently. The recipe was inspired by one I bumped into that called for fresh ginger. This makes the gingerbread extra-zingy, and a wonderful accompaniment to a cup of coffee. Add side orders of enthralling book and comfy chair and you are ready to sit a spell, especially if you can talk someone else into fetching coffee refills.


Zingy Gingerbread
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger (you can use more)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

Sift together the dry ingredients, and set aside. Preheat oven to 350.
Cream the butter. Slowly pour in oil while beating. Beat in sugars. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat until fluffy. Mix in molasses and fresh ginger.
Add some of the dry ingredients to the butter/oil/egg stuff and mix briefly. Mix in milk. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix just until blended. If you beat the hell out of it, you'll have tough gingerbread. Bake in a 9x13 lightly greased or non-stick pan at 350 for 50-60 minutes (or until it tests done). Cool in pan, then cover with foil or plastic wrap, and forget about it until the next day. Unless you are me, and you have to have some while it's warm from the oven. The texture really does improve overnight, though, take it from me. The top gets kinda crusty-chewy, and the inside gets nice and moist. This is good plain, or with whipped cream, lemon sauce, or vanilla ice cream. Or, heck, try all three. Live on the edge. Let your hair hang down.


As far as baking time goes, anything you read in a recipe can vary depending on thickness of the pan, accuracy of your oven thermostat, humidity level, sea level, your mood, lighting, political climate, moon phases, and position of stars and planets. Don't let this discourage you...just test your cakes and quick breads before you yank them out and sell the oven. I use wooden appetizer-size skewers that are a bit thicker than a toothpick, because they're long enough to get down into the middle of a pound cake, if that's what you're baking. Toothpicks aren't long enough for most things. Some folks use broomstraws, and I sure hope it's not from a broom they use for bathroom floors and outdoor decks. If the skewer comes out wet with batter, guess what? You need to bake it longer and test it again in another spot. If it pulls out basically dry with just a crumb or two clinging to it, it's done. Things can look done on the outside while they're still like lava on the inside, especially if they have dark spices or ingredients like molasses. Note: this testing method does NOT work on homemade brownies.

I made some purportedly chewy brownies recently whose recipe said to test with a toothpick in the center when the brownies had started to pull away from the edge of the pan. These brownies were not chewy unless they meant you had to masticate them until your jaws ached and had worked up enough saliva to help them make it down the hatch. And these were the center pieces. The outer pieces are being used as paving stones out back.

Another thing, start cleaning up as soon as you pop your pan in the oven. You're already in "go" mode, and I promise it will take you half the time to do it now instead of later. You'll enjoy the finished product more, too, when you don't have dirty dishes staring at you balefully. All will be sweetness and light. Birds will sing. The Publishers' Clearinghouse van will pull up in front of your house. The gingerbread will taste better. Convinced yet?
Baking isn't difficult, you just need to use common sense. If the smoke alarm is going off, but the recipes is saying 30 more minutes, something's amiss. Maybe the recipe has a typo; maybe it was written by a spiteful submitter. You will find that whatever you make will turn out great 99.9% of the time, and will be welcomed by those you share it with. Have fun!