'Tis the Season for Gingerbread

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, don't care for all the sale-shopping, tree-lighting, and sleigh-bells-ringing bunga-bunga, you're still going to want to make this gingerbread and intoxicate your anti-consumerist sensibilities with the heady aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove and ginger.

DISCLAIMER: Preparing this recipe will put you in the holiday spirit.


Spiced Ginger Cakes (adapted from this post on Roost)
Makes 2 tea loaves or 1 standard loaf


1-1/2 cup oat flour (simply grind rolled oats finely in the food processor)
1 cup brown rice flour (or use wheat flour if you aren't worried about gluten)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 eggs
1/2 cup molasses (I highly recommend the Wholesome Sweeteners brand)
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup melted butter (or your preferred baking oil, ie. coconut)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and lightly grease your baking pans.

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.  (Note: wait until melted butter cools to room temp before mixing with eggs.  You don't want scrambled eggs!)  Add wet ingredients to the dry and combine with a few swift strokes.  Immediately pour into loaf pan(s) and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow gingerbread to cool at least an hour before attempting to remove from pan(s).  Can be refrigerated up to 4 days, or frozen up to 3 months.

Quick Pear Crumble

Last night I made dinner and had a few people over to help me pre-celebrate my birthday (actual day is Tuesday the 15th).  I was really excited to be serving up a new braised short ribs recipe I'd come up with, and some really tasty kalamata olive-sage polenta fries -- so excited, in fact, that I forgot that no birthday bash would be complete without some vehicle for some drippy wax b-day candles.

The mission: to come up with a dessert that is easy, made up of ingredients I mostly already have stocked, and that you can hold a candle to (literally) - or 26 candles, to be precise!

The result: Melt-in-your-mouth success!  Pear crumble to the rescue...


Easy Pear-Ginger Crumble (printable version)

(serves 8)

Filling:
3 lb. pears, ripe but firm, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 half lemon)
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Crumble:
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter
birthday candles (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly greasy a 9 by 13 in. baking dish (or some equivalent).  Combine the ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl, mix well, and pour into the baking dish.  Cover the surface with plastic wrap while you prepare the crumble so the pears don't turn brown.

In another bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender, or two knives (or just your hands).  Combine until the butter is mixed in and resembles little pebbles.

Uncover the filling and cover the top completely with the crumble.  Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until the topping is a golden brown and crunchy and the pears are soft and cooked through.  Serve warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.