Gingerbread Blossoms Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between ginger snaps and gingerbread? ›

Both are spiced cookies. The main differences are that gingersnaps are typically rolled into balls, while gingerbread is rolled out and cut into shapes. Gingersnaps are also baked slightly longer, which is where they get their snappy crispiness. Gingerbread is typically a little chewier.

When baking gingerbread cookies, we experience the lovely smell of cinnamaldehyde, the molecule that gives cinnamon its amazing taste and scent. You can see its chemical structure here. Try to spot the benzene ring. In order to have a scent, aromatic molecules must also be small.

Some gingerbread recipes require some time to soften after baking because they are initially firm. Gingerbread is made harder by molasses and honey, but it becomes softer when water is absorbed by the sugar.

The deep, caramel-like sweetness of molasses pairs perfectly with the warm spices of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, creating the iconic flavor profile of these classic treats.

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

Try adding molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves & allspice to make the house smell like gingerbread cookies!

“Edible” is a loose term, apparently. A gingerbread house is about as edible as play-dough—you can eat it, but should you? These houses are usually left out for days (more on that later), drying out and crusting over. Yum!

Surprising benefits

Research shows it may aid in digestion, reduce nausea and help fight the common cold and flu. It's also believed ginger may support weight management, help manage arthritis and may also alleviate menstrual symptoms. Molasses is another ingredient sometimes found in gingerbread.

Golden Syrup

With its golden, amber color, it is lighter than molasses, though the two are similar in their thickness. Golden syrup also a liquid sweetener, so 1 cup of golden syrup can replace 1 cup of molasses. Golden syrup has a unique flavor, so it may alter the flavor of your recipe slightly.

Should gingerbread be refrigerated? ›

Not so much. To achieve crispy, sturdy gingerbread, Lomas recommends letting the baked gingerbread pieces dry out for a day or two. Don't put the pieces in the refrigerator or keep them in a closed container, as this keeps the moisture in.

Too much butter made for sticky dough, but delicious cookies. I had to use a spatula to lift these people-shaped cutouts from my flour-dusted countertop and onto a baking sheet. The dough was sticky, which resulted in slightly swollen cookies, but the finished product was nearly perfect.

Molasses – Essential for that rich, caramel gingerbread flavour! Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle. Honey will also work, but cookie will spread a touch more, not be quite the same deep golden colour and not have the same rich flavour (still very, very good!).

Blackstrap Molasses

Though it's ideal for savory foods such as barbecue sauces and stews, Bourdon cautioned against choosing blackstrap for cookies. “Please avoid this dark and bitter molasses for your baking recipes,” she said. “It will make your cookies dry and quite frankly inedible.

Medium Or Dark Molasses

“It adds enough bold flavor and sweet notes with a hint of bitterness to any recipe, which is exactly what you want for making gingerbread cookies.”

Ginger Snaps are simply a variation of the traditional Gingerbread cookie. They're known for their crisper quality; their “snap” if you will.

Around the middle of the nineteenth century, however, gingerbread nut was superseded by ginger nut. The element nut presumably refers to the biscuits' smallness and roundness (ginger nuts seem originally to have been smaller than their twentieth-century descendants).

A gingersnap, ginger snap, ginger nut, or ginger biscuit is a biscuit flavored with ginger.

In Medieval England, the term gingerbread simply meant “preserved ginger” and wasn't applied to the desserts we are familiar with until the 15th century. The term is now broadly used to describe any type of sweet treat that combines ginger with honey, treacle or molasses.