Spiced gIngerbread

Blackstrap molasses is a wonderfully nutritious, yet often overlooked ingredient: Packed with minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium as well as vitamins B6 and antioxidants. It’s a low GI sweetener so shouldn’t create huge blood sugar spikes. My top tip to get the molasses out of the jar without getting into a sticky mess is to heat your spoon in a mug of boiling water before scooping out the sweetener. Reheat the spoon in the water as many times as you need to. You’ll find the molasses just slides off!

Ingredients

75g dried dates

75g butter (dairy/ vegan butter or coconut oil)

50g coconut sugar or unrefined sugar

75g blackstrap molasses

1 heaped tbsp ground ginger

1 level tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground or freshly grated nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

pinch of salt

125g plain flour ( I used Dove’s Farm gluten-free)

50g ground almonds

½ tsp bicarbonate soda

1 egg, beaten with 3 tbsp milk (I used almond milk)

Vegan option: swap ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 egg for 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, 2 tsps cider vinegar and 3 tbsp plant-based milk.

Method

  1. Grease and line a loaf tin. Heat your oven to 170 C/ GM 3.

  2. Add butter, molasses, dates and sugar to a pan with 75ml of water. Heat until butter has melted and dates are soft. Leave to cool.

  3. Add dry ingredients to a bowl, combine with the cooled sweet mixture and stir through the beaten egg. Pour mixture into your prepared loaf tin.

  4. Bake for around 45 minutes to an hour (or when your skewer comes out clean). Leave to cool before turning out and storing in a tin. Always better the next day if you can wait!

Anna Firth