Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Okay, so the above photo is mostly the cream cheese frosting part. I'll eat a piece today and take a photo of the piece of cake itself for your viewing pleasure.

So, last night about 4:15 I was really jonesing for some gingerbread. Why? I have no idea. But I was. So, I made some gingerbread. This recipe is straight out of the Good Housekeeping cookbook I've had for a few years. My favorite modern cookbook, by far. I've never made a recipe out of this cookbook that was a loser. If you don't already have one, you should buy one. This recipe is on my favorite page of the cookbook, right next to the best carrot cake I've EVER had.

All that to say, the gingerbread turned out exactly the way I like it. Moist, flavorful, a little chewy, but not too strongly "ginger-y". Rob loved it and I now have permission to make it whenever I want. :) I'm not going to list individual costs on this recipe because I didn't have to buy anything and I don't recall the original prices on everything. Probably less than $3.00, though, without the frosting.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons groud ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup light molasses
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into 3 pieces
3/4 cup boiling water
1 large egg, lightly beaten

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour (or use Baker's Joy) 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir until blended.
3. In small bowl, combine molasses and butter. Add boiling water and stir until butter melts (you may need to pop this into the microwave to finish the butter melting. My water cooled down pretty fast.) Add molasses mixture and beaten egg to flour mixture. Whisk until smooth.
4. With rubber spatula, scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake gingerbread nutil toothpick insterted in center comes out clean - 45-55 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Serve warm.

Note: I frosted this with Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Cream Cheese frosting. You can make your own or just leave the frosting off all together. It also goes great with lemon curd, poached pears, or just a sprinkle of coarse sugar on top before baking.