Apple Cider Gingerbread

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Apple Cider Gingerbread

November 22, 2011 by Magpie

For some reason, plain water in a recipe just seems to offend my creative instincts. I’m always doing things like saving the juice drained from canned tomatoes to cook my rice in, and when I see water among the ingredients of a recipe, some tiny part of my brain always goes, “Water? That’s so boring. I wonder what would happen if I add…[insert some other liquid with more flavor here] instead?” So, it’s no surprise that I decided to substitute apple cider for the hot water in my favorite gingerbread recipe once, and it turned out so well that I’ve been making it that way ever since.

My well-worn copy of The Southern Living Cookbook.

The original recipe in question was “Old-Fashioned Gingerbread”, from The Southern Living Cookbook. Specifically, from the 1987 edition, which, it turns out, is a bit of a story unto itself. My copy has seen years of faithful service, and it shows. It was branded by a burner on its back cover one time when I got a little too distracted (also the reason the dust jacket is no longer with it), and it’s bristling with loose papers and post-it notes—like the one for the apple cider substitution, stuck beneath the gingerbread recipe. It lives in my kitchen. But when I went looking for an online copy of this book to link to, I got a couple of surprises…

For starters, I found that the edition I have is no longer available new, and the first used copy I ran across was going for $99. After picking my jaw back up off the floor, I found that a newer version was available (with “Ultimate” grafted into the name) at a non-jaw-dislocating price, and a quick peek at the index showed that the Old-Fashioned Gingerbread recipe was still included. Right next to a recipe for Apple Cider Gingerbread.

Naturally, I was curious to see how the official version compared with my post-it note write-in, so, at the first opportunity, I checked out the All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook from the local library. The Apple Cider Gingerbread recipe adds a few more alterations than I made—the addition of crystallized ginger and brown sugar, among other things. What was more surprising (to me, at least) was that the Old-Fashioned Gingerbread recipe is no longer the same as the one I’ve been using all this time; it has twice the sugar and no cloves. To me, the cloves are part of the “Old-Fashioned” appeal, and “this needs more sugar” has never crossed my mind in all the time I’ve been baking it. So, I probably won’t be giving the All-New Ultimate Old-Fashioned Gingerbread a try, but I may try their take on Apple Cider Gingerbread some time.

For now, I’m pretty happy with the earlier version of the Old-Fashioned recipe, complete with my one substitution: one cup of hot apple cider in place of one cup of hot water.

Start by creaming together the butter and sugar; beat in the egg, then stir in the molasses. I like to add the molasses by weight—why sticky up a measuring cup when you could add it right into the bowl?

Next, add the dry ingredients alternately with the hot cider. As with any cake, you want to avoid over-mixing.

The original recipe calls for baking 35-40 minutes at 350°, but I’ve found that the cider consistently adds at least 15 minutes to the baking time. Be careful also that the rack that you position your pan on is no higher than midway in the oven—otherwise, the top may get overdone before the center is ready.

I served it with fresh pears and a dollop of whipped cream (and a hint of nutmeg) this time. Some of my other favorite accompaniments are lemon curd or stewed apples—and it’s really good with pumpkin ice cream, too.