What's in a Name?
Any way you define it, gingerbread has been pleasing palates throughout the ages.
 
Recipes by Victoria Abbott Riccardi, Text by Patrick Earvolino - Cooking Light, November 1998

The word gingerbread evokes some of the sweetest memories of youth, from pungent holiday cookies shaped and decorated like little people to fluffy birthday cakes topped with whipped cream. At the same time, the term is something of misnomer because few of gingerbread's countless variations resemble what we usually think of a bread. According to the history books, gingerbread may have been loaflike in medieval times, when damsels would present hard-baked rounds flavored with ginger and honey to knights headed off to the battlefield. But centuries of modification changed it drastically - both in Europe, where it was first made into cookies shaped like people as part of Christmas celebration, and in the New World. By the 19th century, "gingerbread" in the United States had come to include both the thin, dense, cookielike form familiar on the Continent as well as a new, softer version akin to cake.

Today, it seems, just about any recipe that calls for flour, sugar, and ginger is known as gingerbread. Does it matter? Do we appreciate an upside-down, ginger-spiked cake topped with pears any less because of muddled etymology? Take a bite, and get back to us.
 

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour and next 7 ingredients (flour through cloves) in a bowl, and set aside. Combine granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer 5 minutes. Add molasses and egg white; beat well. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed until well-blended. Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Working with 1 half of dough at a time (keep remaining half chilled until ready to use), roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a heavily floured surface; cut with a 2 1/2-inch boy or girl cookie cutter. Place gingerbread cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Arrange currants on cookies as buttons. Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks.

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl. Spoon into a decorating bag or a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag with a tiny hole snipped in 1 corner of bag, and decorate as desired.

Makes 4 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie).

Calories 59 (15% from fat); Fat 1g (Saturated 0.2g); Protein 0.7g; Carbohydrates 11.9g; Fiber 0.2g; Cholesterol 0mg; Iron 0.5mg; Sodium 38mg; Calcium 13mg.

OLD-FASHIONED CIDER-GINGERBREAD BUNDT CAKE

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup egg substitute or 1 egg white
1 1/3 cups shredded peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 apple)
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour and the next 5 ingredients (flour through salt) in a bowl. Combine granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (granulated sugar through egg substitute) in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; beat until well-blended. Add apple; beat well. Pour batter into a 12-cup bundt pan coated with cooking spray. Bake cake at 350°F for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert cake onto a wire rack, and cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over cake.

16 servings (serving size: 1 slice).

Calories 219 (16% from fat); Fat 3.8g (Saturated 0.7g); Protein 2.5g; Carbohydrates 44.6g; Fiber 0.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Iron 3.8mg; Sodium 210mg; Calcium 141mg.

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