ginger + five spice powder + molasses
Growing up, we never really had gingerbread as one of our traditional Christmas cookies. Maybe they would show up at an extended family Christmas but if they did, they never spoke to me.
That’s different now – the deep dark flavors of a molasses ginger cookie just makes my holiday taste buds so happy. I have a chewy ginger molasses cookie that I found years ago (I wish I could remember who I got it from originally!) that is an absolute staple in our Christmas cookie tins.
When looking through the ginger section of the book, molasses was an obvious option so I couldn’t just stop there. However, when I saw five spice powder included in the list, my flavor brain in training went “oohh, I want to know what that combo tastes like!”
Five spice powder – this is a traditional spice blend used in Chinese cooking with documentation of it’s usage going back over two centuries. Used both medicinally and culinarily, the use of five spices was symbolic for both the five tastes (sweet, salty, etc) and the five elements.
In my personal research experience, I’ve found many recipes out there actually contain MORE than 5 spices, and almost all of them have different proportions of each. The five spices that are almost always included are:
- Star Anise
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Fennel Seeds
- Sichuan Peppercorns
Can you make your own five spice blend? Absolutely! There are no shortage of recipes out there to build and most of these spices are easy to find (Sichuan Peppercorns being the least available in a standard grocery store but you can frequently find at your local spice store!).
One spice that seems to be included about half of the time and excluded the other half is ground ginger. If you end up using a version that does include ground ginger, don’t worry about reducing the amount of ginger this recipe calls for – the amount of ground ginger included in a tablespoon of five spice powder won’t make much of a difference.
Now, onto the ongoing brownie debate – cakey or fudgy? I really wanted more of a cakey texture on these and I was so happy with how they turned out. More of a fudgy brownie person? Use one less egg in this recipe to get closer to that texture. Admittedly, I didn’t try that specifically in the testing of this recipe, however including more eggs in a brownie recipe increases the water content of the batter. The higher the water content, the more steam is released during the baking process, which aids in the rising of the batter and creating more air in the final product.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – When it comes to making cakes, brownies and cookies, I am a big fan of using a combination of extra virgin olive oil and butter. Extra virgin olive oil makes the mixture just a little bit lighter and more airy than using just butter alone. Combining them keeps all the deliciousness that comes with using butter but the EVOO just lightens it up in texture while still maintaining all the moisture.
Can you use just extra virgin olive oil when baking? Absolutely. You can substitute extra virgin olive oil 1 for 1 in any recipe that calls for vegetable or canola oil, or butter. The one watch-out is the intensity of the extra virgin olive oil – if you’re using extra virgin olive oil from a grocery store, you don’t have much to worry about with this as those are typically a very light flavor.
If you use a high-quality olive oil from an olive oil store (which I strongly recommend for the additional health benefits that are typically missing from the grocery store brands), then ask them for one of their more mild olive oils.
ginger + five spice powder + molasses
Now it’s your turn! What would you make with this flavor combination? Tell me in the comments!
Printfive spice gingerbread brownies
The spices in Five Spice powder enhance the sweet roasted flavor that naturally occurs in molasses and brings a slightly complex balance to these brownies.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 20 brownies 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 pan with cooking spray or butter.
Melt butter in saucepan and remove from heat. Add extra virgin olive oil, whisking until the fats are combined. Add both sugars and molasses into the fats and whisk carefully to incorporate the sugars and fats together – it may be a little stubborn so mix carefully to avoid splashing the oil/butter in the beginning.
Add eggs and vanilla extract – whisk again.
In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger and five spice powder. Add flour mixture to molasses mixture and stir gently with spatula until flour is just mixed in.
Pour batter into prepped pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with slight crumbs. Let cool before cutting.
Notes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – use a one that is lighter in flavor so you don’t have an olive oil flavor permeating your brownies. You can also choose to use an additional 1/2 cup butter instead of the olive oil.
