Is there a smell of a certain food that brings you back to a memorable time in your life? It could be the smell of cinnamon, bringing you back to those delicious CinnaStix you downed from Dominos during your late night munchies. For me, this smell is gingerbread. It was my great grandmother’s staple to make this gingerbread loaf recipe, so much so, that she was given the nickname of Gingerbread Nana.
It was an extremely rare occasion to walk out of Gingerbread Nana’s house without a loaf of gingerbread and not drenched in sweat. Her house was one big sauna, as she would always have the fireplace and oven roaring, even in the heat of summer. Over countless glasses of milk and warm slices of gingerbread loaf, the abundance of fond memories formed are treasured forever in my heart.
Gingerbread Nana unfortunately passed away last January at the age of 100, but her gingerbread loaf legacy still lives on. I now walk into my grandmother’s house and my nose and emotions are pleasantly surprised by the sweet smell of gingerbread on rare occasions. The memories all come flooding back.
Gingerbread Loaf
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325ºF. In a large pan, place the butter, molasses, and brown sugar. Heat until melted and combined and then let it cool.
While that’s cooling, get another bowl and mix the flour, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
Add the cooled molasses mixture to the flour mixture.
Whisk the eggs, then add to the flour mixture. Add in raisins if you’re using them.
Pour the batter into a sprayed non-stick 8×4†loaf pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Dive in! Wrap leftovers with Saran wrap or Aluminum foil and leave at room temperature.