Gingerbread for the Holidays
For many of us, gingerbread is a favorite holiday treat…albeit a very buttery, sweet one. But it doesn’t have to be that way! For this tweak, I’ve substituted unsweetened applesauce for some of the sugar and butter, used sucanat and dark molasses instead of white sugar and light molasses–this means more iron and more flavor–and used a blend of agave nectar and honey rather than just honey. (The less-dense agave helps balance the heavier brown sugar.) I’ve also used a variety of flours, from wheat to spelt to almond. Now you’ve got gingerbread that can go two ways–serve it alongside ice cream or drizzled with honey for a delicious dessert, or have it for breakfast along with a sliced apple! Bananas go well with gingerbread, too.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8×8 baking dish and set aside.
Whisk together in a medium bowl:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup spelt or kamut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
Whisk together in a small bowl:
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup hot water
Whisk together in a large bowl:
1/4 cup (or 4 T.) melted butter (preferably organic)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup sucanat
1 egg
Add dry and wet ingredients to the butter mixture in alternating batches, mixing well after each addition. If you are really a fan of ginger, you can stir in 1/4 cup of finely-chopped crystallized ginger pieces at this point.
Bake for 1 hour, then test with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean. If it does not, bake for another 5 minutes.
Enjoy!
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Tags: applesauce, baking, gingerbread, molasses, substitutions, sucanat
