Gingerbread Pudding Cake! But first, an announcement.

Please note the slight change in my blog address. It is now laramckenzie.blogspot.com because I'm reverting back to the legal spelling of my middle name. Apparently my mom forgot which spelling she chose, so I've seen my name spelled "Mackenzie" (the most frequent), "MacKenzie", "Mckenzie", and "McKenzie" (the legal and correct spelling). So if for some reason it says that my blog as been removed when you click on my link or something, just check the spelling. Exciting huh?

Just kidding. That's not exciting for anyone but me.

So now, the recipe you've all been anxiously awaiting! (Just go with it.)

This is the Gingerbread Pudding Cake that my mom started making for us eons ago. It comes form The Best Of Land O'Lakes Holiday Baking special from 1997. It's supposedly a dessert, but here in the Nelson residence we like to have serious amounts of sugar as often as possible, and especially for breakfast. We like to eat this plain, but some holiday pumpkin ice cream is so so so tasty on it when it's available(!). So from Land O'Lakes to us, and now to you, I present a Nelson Family Favorite. Enjoy!

Combine:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
(and I also add a dash or two of ground cloves because that stuff is just delightful, in case you were wondering)

Now mix that up with a whisk. It's faster and cleaner than sifting it (if you're a sifting kind of person), and the results are just about identical. Trust me.

Mix together:
1/2 cup softened butter (Land O'Lakes says to use their butter, but that's obviously not the best - haters gonna hate! - so we use Organic Valley cultured butter)
1/2 cup sugar

Beat the crap out of all of that (I'm dying for my own Kitchen Aid. DYING.). Add just ONE single egg to that creamy mess and beat it up till it's light and fluffy. The actually messy part is next.

Measure:
1 cup molasses (this dark stuff is straight from the gods, I'm telling you)
1 cup water

Now alternate those with the flour mixture from step 1, and beat it just until well mixed (I don't tolerate people who over-mix their batter after adding the flour).

Don't forget to taste the molasses. That's crucial.

It should look like this. If it doesn't I'd just throw it out and stick to grape nuts. And if it does, proceed to step 4. (This is the easiest and most forgiving recipe in the history of ever, so you should be fine.)

In a small pot, melt 1/3 cup butter in 1 1/2 cups of water. It looks nasty, but trust me on this one.

While that's on the stove, pour the batter into a greased (with butter or coconut oil- don't use that nasty stuff they call "PAM" unless you want to die) 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Sprinkle approximately 3/4 cup of brown sugar on top of that, and then pour the liquid fat (jk, this is a fat-free recipe! lol!) on top of all of that. 


Pop into a pre-heated 350 degree oven, and let it cook for 30-45 minutes. It completely depends on the oven, so just make sure to check it at the earliest possible time and pull it out once he knife comes out almost clean (it's so hot that it will keep cooking when you take it out).

While you're waiting, take shameless pictures of your outfits and walk around aimlessly while waiting for the food to be ready. 

When it's done, plate it! Then eat it! The batter cooked into a yummy gingerbread cake while the liquid and brown sugar sunk to the bottom and formed a gooey pudding, which is probably the best part (if you like fat, that is.)

Oh, and dont forget to share it. It makes about 8 really good sized servings if you're doing this for breakfast, but probably 12 for a dessert after dinner.


Aren't they cute? And yes, we did listen to Kenny G's Christmas Miracles album while baking this. It smelled like Christmas straight up, and it was early morning (7:30am!) and quite foggy and chilly. It called for it, okay? And yes, I get excited for Christmas every year about this time. No judging.