# Classic Gingerbread.. how do you like it?



## harpua (May 4, 2005)

Hello all!

I'm on a gingerbread kick.. I can't get enough of that smell when it's in the oven. 
Just wanted to see what y'all are into out there. Do you add oj zest? 5 spice? Buttermilk? Fresh ginger?

I'm serving it soon with a lemon cream and thinking about making the cake itself more intense. I also never grew up with it so it isn't clear to me what the "old fashioned" version is. 

How would a little squirt of Trablit do in there?


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## azenjoys (Jun 28, 2017)

I'm doing gingerbread mini biscotti for the holidays - so not exactly classic - and the flavor profile is loosely based on 'classic' gingerbread but also influenced by German lebkuchen.

Spice mix is cardamom, cloves, white pepper, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, allspice seeds, star anise, nutmeg, lots of cinnamon, and dry ginger. I also add orange oil and candied ginger.

I like your idea of lemon cream - for me, all those spices really need that brightness that citrus gives. I've never used Trablit - but I imagine a little coffee flavor could definitely deepen some of those other flavors - I would want to keep it light enough not to overpower them. I also love lemon and espresso flavors together so it might play really nicely with the cream.


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Hard gingerbread or soft gingerbread. Both are classic and traditional, depending on location.


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Old fart. Just curious. Is Bakers ammonia or ammonium carbonate still being used in recipes for cookies, gingerbread, etc.?
Decades ago, I used to make a gingerbread whoopie pie with a pear/apricot filling. Good combo, made a few rags at the time.


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## chefpeon (Jun 14, 2006)

panini said:


> Is Bakers ammonia or ammonium carbonate still being used in recipes for cookies, gingerbread, etc.?


The only time I've ever used ammonium carbonate was in pastry school so that we'd know about it and how it was used. In the 
26 years since then, I've never used it in any pastry shop I worked in.


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## harpua (May 4, 2005)

It's on the menu for December now. Oh man is it tasty!

Went with the usual Spices, with added fresh ginger, a little orange zest and a squirt of coffee extract. We were eating the scraps all morning!


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

@chefpeon, then I take it you never had the pleasure of opening a can of it and taking it over to one of the (know-it-all) Pastry chefs you might not be so fond of,(in my era, usually French) and asking, "does this smell fresh to you?). 
A little chuckle and a smirk as you walked away and heard the commotion of others behind, catching or helping to pick them up off the floor.


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## chefpeon (Jun 14, 2006)

panini said:


> @chefpeon, then I take it you never had the pleasure of opening a can of it and taking it over to one of the (know-it-all) Pastry chefs you might not be so fond of,(in my era, usually French) and asking, "does this smell fresh to you?).
> A little chuckle and a smirk as you walked away and heard the commotion of others behind, catching or helping to pick them up off the floor.


Actually that was done to ME, as a baking student, by my chef. He did it to EVERY new baking student....it was our hazing. He'd come up to the unsuspecting student and say, "Hey, you ever smell Chinese sugar?" And of course we'd say, "Chinese sugar? What's that?" And we'd stick our head in the can and take a good whiff. Most of us recoiled across the kitchen immediately and he always got a huge kick out of it.


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