Classic Gingerbread

How much more Christmas can you get?

It's no lie that anything with the word gingerbread screams Christmas and I always enjoy the little gingermen and gingerlady cutouts this time of year, but I was itching to make some of the classic stuff...just good 'ol fashioned gingerbread.  It pairs nicely with a hot cup of apple cider on a cold winter's night (which we've finally seen a couple cold nights this week, however hello 80's!...again...yes, I'm talking about the weather...again).

But just because it feels like summer doesn't mean I'm not thinking 100 percent Christmas.  Driving back from Oklahoma to Texas last weekend began my kick-off to officially tuning into the Christmas songs 24/7 radio stations.  You see there's this little stretch when you're close to the borders where there is literally nothing to listen to except spanish channels and country music.  PASS.  I usually end up sliding in an incredibly out-dated, dusty CD that skips every twelve seconds (I always forget my ipod dang it!), but this trip I got lucky.  I found some carols to sing to...in the privacy of my car.

So in keeping with the holiday spirit, the next afternoon I made a pan of gingerbread, dusted it with powdered sugar, and brought it to work to spread some holiday cheer :)

Classic Gingerbread

Makes one 9x9-inch pan

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves, and sugar in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

In separate, small bowl (I used a 2-cup glass pyrex) combine buttermilk, molasses, oil, and eggs; stir well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Pour batter into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Adapted from Cooking Light.