Sugar and Spice

Comfort food, for me, is intensely spicy. The sweet heat of a jalepeno hot sauce brings life (and love) to a simple taco pescada, and the searing, complexly layered panoply of spices in each bite of a well-made thai curry brings me tears of joy.

No surprise, then, that I tend to opt for spicy in my desserts as well. Between a densely chewy, raisin-laced spice bar and a boring, milk chocolate brownie, give me the spice bar every time. Actually, give me 6.  I adore the spine-tingling acidity of a great lemon meringue pie, and would step over a stroke victim to take the lemon shortbread out of the oven. But for comfort, give me spice.

Hence this Spicy Gingerbread. A version of it appeared in my book (Apple Bottom Gingerbread) and it has appeared at my Christmastimes forever. So, what better way to soothe the stresses of the holiday season than a dessert with (quite) a kick?

Recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon dried valencia orange peel*
pinch fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 large egg
1 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup hot water

buttered (or sprayed) 9 inch loaf pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Add fresh ginger and stir briefly.
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add egg, molasses and applesauce. Mix until well combined. The batter will be quite stiff.
3. Last, add very hot water slowly, and stir just until combined in a nice, smooth batter. Do not over-mix, it will make your gingerbread tough.
4. Pour into prepared loaf pan, and bake in the middle of preheated oven for approximately 45-50 minutes, until a wooden skewer comes out with crumbs but no batter.

Let cool on a rack for five minutes. Gently turn out of pan and let cool before slicing.

This is so delicious right away, with a great wallop of creme fraiche or a dab of softly whipped cream, but it is even better if you can manage to leave it alone for a day or two, tightly wrapped, to let the spicy flavors bloom.

*Valencia Orange Peel is now fairly common. McCormack makes one that seems to be in every grocery store spice rack, and I have even seen it gracing the shelves at Walmart (dear god.) It adds a wonderful hit of fresh, vibrant, (slightly) bitter orange. But if you haven't got it, don't worry, you can make it without.