GINGERBREAD HOUSES
Photos from Gingerbread Houses Classes of previous years.
GINGERBREAD APPLESAUCE CAKE – Culinary Makeovers
Here we go again! Remember the Gingerbread Waffles made from the leftover pieces of Gingerbread Houses? Well, with only a 2 person Household, you can only eat Gingerbread Waffles so many days in a row and since I hate to throw good food away, I did it again! I decided to make cookies with the Waffle Batter and wouldn’t you know, I did not think about putting extra sugar into it – Waffles don’t need a lot of sugar since you usually pour syrup on them or top with sweetened fruit and when we tasted the cookies – uh oh! They tasted like Gingerbread Biscuits – not very palatable – so instead of throwing the cookies away, I just dried them out and pulverized them again just like I did with the leftover House pieces. I then used my Zucchini Bread Recipe as a guide and made a delicious moist Gingerbread Applesauce Cake with Raisins. This was a delicious and satisfying Breakfast Delight!
So here is how I made the Gingerbread/Applesauce Cake. The recipe can be adapted for use without the leftover Gingerbread pieces. Just let me know and I will change it for whoever would like it.
Pictured below are the cookies – i left them uncovered for a couple of hours to dry them out – they were a moist cookies and would have been really good with some sugar and maybe some raisins added to them.
Gingerbread Waffle Cookies
Place the cookies in your Food Processor and chop them up, using the PULSE BUTTON at first; once they are broken up, then turn it on and run just until they are a fine crumb – not more than a couple of seconds at a time.
Measure the crumbs – if you do not have 2 cups of crumbs, adjust the other ingredients accordingly
Gingerbread Crumbs
The remaining ingredients that you are going to need are:
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground Ginger
1/4 tsp. ground Cloves (optional)
3 large Eggs
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Applesauce
1/2 cup Raisins
The Applesauce pictured below was homemade chunky Applesauce
Applesauce
This cake was all made in the Food Processor, but if you don’t have one or prefer not use it, you can do this with a Portable Mixer, Standing Mixer, or even with hand implements.
Once you have your crumbs, Applesauce and Rasins prepared and measured, begin making your cake.
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat to 350 degrees.
- Butter, or spray an 8 or 9″ round or square pan and set aside.
- Combine the Flour, Salt, Baking Soda and Spices in a medium size bowl.
- Place the Eggs in the Food Processor and run until they are well mixed.
- Add the Brown Sugar, Butter and Vanilla and mix again.
- Add the Applesauce and Pulse until it is well distributed.
- Add the Flour Mixture and run until well – mixed. (DO NOT OVERMIX!)
- Add the Raisins and pulse, just until they are distributed throughout the batter.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan; tap lightly to level and then bake for 45 minutes or until a pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack before inverting onto a serving platter.
Baked Cake
Serve warm or at room temperature with Vanilla Ice Cream or top with a Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cake Portion with Ice Cream
Categories: Baking, Cookies, Dessert Ideas, GINGERBREAD HOUSES, Main Tags: Apples, baking, Cookies, Dessert Ideas, family dinner, Fruit, kids cooking
GINGERBREAD WAFFLES – A Culinary Makeover
Baking is one of my favorite things to do and during the Winter Holidays I make Gingerbread Houses and I teach other people how to make Gingerbread. This past December, in addition to my classes I baked and built four different houses. One for the Cancer Support Community’s Holiday Boutique, one for a sample for my class, one for home and one as a gift. There are two ways to bake the houses – one is to cut out the pieces from the unbaked dough and the other is to bake the dough first before cutting out the pieces. The advantage of the second method is that the pieces will all fit together without additional trimming after the baking process. The disadvantage is that there are going to be a lot of sections of cookie that will not be big enough for any house, except for the chimney and how many of those do you need? Now we do love to eat the leftovers but when there are a lot of leftovers, you can only so much.
As I said, Baking is one of my favorite things to do, but another one of my favorite culinary activities is to turn leftovers into new products and that is what I did with the leftover Gingerbread pieces. I pulverized them to a fine crumb in my Food Processor and turned them into a Waffle Batter. If you like Gingerbread, then you certainly will like Gingerbread Waffles. Here is how I did it.
- Break up the leftover Gingerbread pieces into sections that will fit in your Food Processor that has been fitted with the Chopping Blade. Use the Pulse Button to break up the pieces into small pieces and then turn it on to finely chop the Gingerbread pieces. You should end up with a medium to fine crumb.
- Measure the Crumbs – 2 cups of Gingerbread Crumbs will make enough waffles for 3-4 people.
Gingerbread Crumbs
- Use your Food Processor (do not wash out the bowl) or a large mixing bowl. Beat 3 Eggs until well mixed and then add 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk and blend together.
- Combine the Gingerbread Crumbs with 1 1/2 cups of All-Purpose Flour, 1 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger and 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda. Add to the Buttermilk/Egg mixture and Pulse, just until mixed. If doing in a bowl, with a whisk, just mix until the Ingredients are blended – DO NOT OVER-MIX! (Over-mixing Waffle, Pancake or Muffin Batter will make the product tough.
- Stir in 1/4 cup Melted Butter.
Gingerbread Waffle Batter
- Heat your Waffle Iron until the indicator light tells you the Iron is hot. If necessary, lightly oil or spray the surface of the Iron.
- Pour approximately 1/2 cup of Batter on each section of you Waffle Irons Grids (this will vary, depending on the size and shape of our Waffle Iron)
Batter on Grids
- Close and Bake until the steaming stops. Keep the baked Waffles warm in a low oven until you are ready to serve them.
Baked Waffles
- Serve with Fruit Compote and or Maple Syrup and melted Butter. The Waffles in the Feature Photo are served with crisply cooked bacon.
- For the Fruit Compote,I melted about 2 Tbsps. of Butter along with Brown Sugar (2-4 Tbsps.). I then added pitted and halved Cherries, Blackberries and fresh Pineapple pieces. This will work with just about any fruit – Apples are great with Gingerbread as well as Bananas, Mango or Papaya.
Making Fruit Compote
And this is how you use leftover Gingerbread to make Waffles! As a convenience, I have also listed the ingredients below.
2 CUPS Gingerbread Crumbs
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground Ginger
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
3 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
1/4 cup melted Butter
Categories: Bread, Breakfast Ideas, Cooking for Kids, GINGERBREAD HOUSES, Holiday Meals, Main Tags: Apples, baking, butter, Buttermilk, Eggs, family dinner, Fruit Compote, gingerbread, holiday recipes, kids cooking, Waffles
