"Baked With Love" and a bucketload of ginger, preferably.
August 30, 2011 5:15 AM Subscribe
I've done heaps of ginger cakes, ginger biscuits, ginger slices and gingerbread... what other gingery stuff could I make or bake for my grandmother for her 90th birthday this weekend?
I've bought two cute cake-tins emblazoned with "Baked With Love", with a view to giving her more of my much-loved home cooking, but I've done the cakes/slices/biscuits to death. She's in a nursing home, so marinades or anything else she could use in a kitchen is kinda out of the question. It needs to be ready-to-eat, and it needs to be relatively long-lasting (a week or two would be fine - she will be 90 years old in 5 days, I want her to enjoy it now, not save it, for obvious reasons).
I'd love to find recipes for home-made, longer-lasting-than-cake yummy stuff for her. Some obscure ginger candy-type thing, perhaps? It's almost become a tradition that I give her something home-made and gingery for each birthday, Christmas, etc, and I know she loves everything I make for her (and it's a marathon to get through the home when we visit, because every second resident says "oh, you're the one who made the cake/slice/biscuits? They were delicious!" so we're compelled to stop and chat).
(I've got this question favourited and will probably make Martha Stewart's Ginger Simple Syrup for her when the weather warms up and she would enjoy a cold drink.)
Any suggestions/recipes/links to recipes that google doesn't throw up?
I've bought two cute cake-tins emblazoned with "Baked With Love", with a view to giving her more of my much-loved home cooking, but I've done the cakes/slices/biscuits to death. She's in a nursing home, so marinades or anything else she could use in a kitchen is kinda out of the question. It needs to be ready-to-eat, and it needs to be relatively long-lasting (a week or two would be fine - she will be 90 years old in 5 days, I want her to enjoy it now, not save it, for obvious reasons).
I'd love to find recipes for home-made, longer-lasting-than-cake yummy stuff for her. Some obscure ginger candy-type thing, perhaps? It's almost become a tradition that I give her something home-made and gingery for each birthday, Christmas, etc, and I know she loves everything I make for her (and it's a marathon to get through the home when we visit, because every second resident says "oh, you're the one who made the cake/slice/biscuits? They were delicious!" so we're compelled to stop and chat).
(I've got this question favourited and will probably make Martha Stewart's Ginger Simple Syrup for her when the weather warms up and she would enjoy a cold drink.)
Any suggestions/recipes/links to recipes that google doesn't throw up?
Ginger marmalade (perhaps with accompanying scones/biscuits)
posted by rebekah at 5:27 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by rebekah at 5:27 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Homemade ginger beer/ale?
posted by kitkatcathy at 5:39 AM on August 30, 2011
posted by kitkatcathy at 5:39 AM on August 30, 2011
Best answer: What about ginger ice cream? Does she have a freezer to keep it in?
I once made caramel corn and added ginger (and cloves and cinnamon and cardamom) to the syrup, to make it taste like gingerbread. That was pretty delicious. It keeps okay in air-tight containers. Not great if her teeth are bad, though.
And ginger fudge is always pretty good, but maybe too similar to what you've made before.
posted by lollusc at 5:43 AM on August 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
I once made caramel corn and added ginger (and cloves and cinnamon and cardamom) to the syrup, to make it taste like gingerbread. That was pretty delicious. It keeps okay in air-tight containers. Not great if her teeth are bad, though.
And ginger fudge is always pretty good, but maybe too similar to what you've made before.
posted by lollusc at 5:43 AM on August 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
I was going to suggest ginger fudge too.
Chocolate-dipped ginger dates? Or you could just skip the dates and dip the ginger directly in the chocolate.
Looking at your profile, you've probably already tried ginger flapjack, but for posterity, I'm going to link to the BBC's recipes for a chocolate and ginger flapjack and a gingerbread flapjack anyway.
Someone's already suggested ginger marmalade. I found a recipe for ginger jam (scroll down to "Gini's Apple Ginger Jam") that might make for good jam tarts. I'm not sure how well jam tarts keep, though.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:19 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Chocolate-dipped ginger dates? Or you could just skip the dates and dip the ginger directly in the chocolate.
Looking at your profile, you've probably already tried ginger flapjack, but for posterity, I'm going to link to the BBC's recipes for a chocolate and ginger flapjack and a gingerbread flapjack anyway.
Someone's already suggested ginger marmalade. I found a recipe for ginger jam (scroll down to "Gini's Apple Ginger Jam") that might make for good jam tarts. I'm not sure how well jam tarts keep, though.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:19 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Memail me if you want a recipe for upside-down pear gingerbread. I know you've done gingerbread, but I modestly assert that if my gingerbread and your gingerbread got into a fistfight, mine would win.
posted by tel3path at 6:20 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by tel3path at 6:20 AM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Pão de mel - Brazilian honey cake or Brazilian version of gingerbread.
Memail me if you's like the recipe. :)
posted by Neekee at 6:36 AM on August 30, 2011
Memail me if you's like the recipe. :)
posted by Neekee at 6:36 AM on August 30, 2011
Ginger syrup to mix for drinks or to drizzle over fruit. It is a very tasty, and handy item to have.
posted by jadepearl at 8:25 AM on August 30, 2011
posted by jadepearl at 8:25 AM on August 30, 2011
Dorie Grenspan's molasses spice cookies are phenomenal. My mom replaces the black pepper with turkish urfa biber -- it's so good.
posted by novalis_dt at 9:49 AM on August 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by novalis_dt at 9:49 AM on August 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
After spending a long time thinking that ginger cakes were like my gran's gingerbread, dark and molassesy and spicy - okay but nothing that really rang my bells - this ginger cake recipe totally changed my outlook. It's a blonde chewy cake (no chemical leavening, relies on whipped egg whites) that contains a whole 12-oz package of Trader Joe's candied ginger chunks, whirled in the food processor.
(I served it at Thanksgiving last year, a thick slice tucked into each dessert cup of pumpkin mousse. Fantastic!)
posted by aimedwander at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2011
(I served it at Thanksgiving last year, a thick slice tucked into each dessert cup of pumpkin mousse. Fantastic!)
posted by aimedwander at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2011
Best answer: If you make a standard pear and almond tart, but poach the pears in ginger-laced syrup first, it's pretty awesome. Ditto simple chocolate truffles with Buderim crystallised ginger in the centre. Finally, we lurve ginger-studded nut brittles - make a standard brittle toffee, but pour it over diced up crystallised ginger chunks as well as the nuts, then sprinkle with a little flaked salt before it sets completely.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:46 PM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:46 PM on August 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Going to buy ingredients now for ginger fudge, ginger peanut brittle and upside-down pear gingerbread. Perfect suggestions.
(And I'll pop back here for Christmas, Mothers Day, and any other I-need-to-make-something-for-Nanna days to try some other suggestions.)
Thanks, y'all.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2011
(And I'll pop back here for Christmas, Mothers Day, and any other I-need-to-make-something-for-Nanna days to try some other suggestions.)
Thanks, y'all.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2011
Response by poster: Nanna was in one of those grumpy old lady moods. She loudly announced that "Stacey has been cooking again, she does that INSTEAD OF BUYING ME A PRESENT" and didn't open the tins. My heart broke, my favourite aunt realised and made Nanna open the tins. You know? The tins with "BAKED WITH LOVE" emblazoned on them?!?
She lives in a nursing home, doesn't have room for crap presents, she normally loves my home-baked stuff but she wasn't in the mood... but other guests raved about the ginger fudge and ginger nut brittle, they didn't eat it, just opened the tins and said how lovely it looked/smelled. Thank god I didn't fuck around creating the upside-down pear gingerbread, although I bought the ingredients, thanks for your recipe tel3path.
She'll get the pear gingerbread for Christmas, if she likes it or not.
FFS, I was the only grandchild to even turn up at her party and not start a food fight. And I also threw in $100 that I couldn't afford so she could finally get a gold bracelet which she greeted with "well, it only took me 90 years to get one!".
Insert deep breathing here. In and out. In and out.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 4:50 AM on September 6, 2011
She lives in a nursing home, doesn't have room for crap presents, she normally loves my home-baked stuff but she wasn't in the mood... but other guests raved about the ginger fudge and ginger nut brittle, they didn't eat it, just opened the tins and said how lovely it looked/smelled. Thank god I didn't fuck around creating the upside-down pear gingerbread, although I bought the ingredients, thanks for your recipe tel3path.
She'll get the pear gingerbread for Christmas, if she likes it or not.
FFS, I was the only grandchild to even turn up at her party and not start a food fight. And I also threw in $100 that I couldn't afford so she could finally get a gold bracelet which she greeted with "well, it only took me 90 years to get one!".
Insert deep breathing here. In and out. In and out.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 4:50 AM on September 6, 2011
Response by poster: Nanna eventually got out of her grumpy old lady mood, and every phone call/visit since, I've been told what a great cook I am, how much she enjoyed the fudge and ginger peanut brittle, and how she appreciates me making these delicious treats for her.
If she keeps this up, I'll be inclined to make her the upside-down pear gingerbread just for the hell of it, and not wait 'til Christmas!
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:59 PM on September 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
If she keeps this up, I'll be inclined to make her the upside-down pear gingerbread just for the hell of it, and not wait 'til Christmas!
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:59 PM on September 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
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posted by joannemullen at 5:20 AM on August 30, 2011