SweetSugarBelle's Favorite Gingerbread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What kind of molasses is best for gingerbread? ›

“Light molasses is the sweetest and mildest out of the bunch because it is made from the first boiling cycle,” she said. “I like to use this type of molasses because it adds moisture to cookies, resulting in a soft and chewy texture.”

Using Molasses in Baking

It's dark, dense, and comparatively dry, thanks to the lower moisture content of blackstrap. It's also bitter and salty, so there's nothing to temper the heat of the ginger, making it all but inedible.

Speculoos, the cookie family to which Biscoff belong, are often described as a type of gingerbread, but that's a little misleading. Aside from their use of caramel sugar, speculoos don't have quite the same bite; their spice blend tends toward aroma rather than heat.

Light or regular molasses is produced after the second boiling. Blackstrap molasses is what comes from a third boiling, and it's very bitter. You'll usually see it used in baked beans or barbecue sauce.

Grandma's Molasses is made of the highest grade sugarcane molasses that is unsulfured and contains no preservatives, artificial flavors or artificial colors. It's the secret ingredient for baking and cooking. Grandma's Molasses is a nutritious alternative to refined sugar that is also Kosher and gluten free.

Victorian cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread® in 1854 in the English Lake District village from where it gets its name. A unique, spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and cake, its reputation quickly spread and it is now enjoyed by food lovers all over the world.

​Superstitions about gingerbread flourished in the 17th century. Witches supposedly made gingerbread figures, ate them, and thereby caused the death of their enemies. Dutch magistrates went so far as to declare baking or eating molded cookies illegal.

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

Blackstrap molasses has a lead warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because the processing of molasses infrequently involves using a direct flame with coals that may contain a high amount of the caustic substance potash. The soil in which the sugar cane grows may also contain lead.

Is molasses or golden syrup better for gingerbread? ›

Molasses – Essential for that deep, rich, caramel-like gingerbread flavour! It also helps hold the dough's shape. Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle. Honey will also work, but the cookies will spread out a touch more and not have the same deep flavour (but still very, very good!).

Blackstrap Molasses contains more minerals than Supreme Baking Molasses because it is more concentrated as more sugar has been removed. Some of the minerals found in molasses are potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium as well as trace amounts of manganese, copper, and zinc.

Unsalted butter adds flavor while shortening helps these hold their shape and the combination of the two gives the best texture. Salted butter will work in place of unsalted (skip the salt in the recipe), but the shortening is needed for the right texture on these cookies.

Both are sweetened with a mixture of sugar and honey/syrup, flavoured with warm spices and often use the same technique to make the dough. The difference, as you may have guessed from the name, is the primary flavour. Whilst pure gingerbread uses only ground ginger, pfeffernüsse use a full quintet of spices.

WHAT IS ON THE BOTTOM OF LEBKUCHEN? Oblaten Lebkuchen are distinguished by a signature edible wafer (collectively called Oblaten in German) on the bottom.

Blackstrap Molasses contains more minerals than Supreme Baking Molasses because it is more concentrated as more sugar has been removed.

Light molasses is the liquid that remains after the first white sugar is extracted from cane juice. The flavor is lighter and has more fruity notes to it, in the same way the first pressing of olives makes a lighter, fruitier olive oil. Light (sometimes called "fancy") molasses is ideal for baked goods and candies.

What is the difference between sulfured and unsulfured molasses? Sulfured molasses is made from immature green sugarcane that is treated with sulfur fumes during the sugar extracting process, whereas Grandma's unsulfured molasses is made of the finest quality pure unsulfured liquid of sun-ripened sugarcane.

Crosby's Cooking Molasses

It's darker than fancy molasses and is less sweet, with a more “full-flavoured” taste. Cooking molasses is a common substitute for fancy molasses in many recipes and the finished product will have a much more robust molasses flavour than if fancy molasses is used.