A cake is not a cookie. I know this. Why, then, did I select a cake for my 12th and final cookie recipe?
It could be because snack cakes make a wonderful addition to any cookie tray. They are generally unfrosted and slice well, can be cubed and put in muffin liners for a cute/different addition to your cookie arrangement.
It could be because I tasted a sample of sourdough gingerbread over Thanksgiving and haven't been able to stop obsessively thinking about it since.
WE MAY NEVER KNOW FOR CERTAIN.
What I do know is that I was into sourdough before sourdough was cool. (Yes, deep down I do realize that sourdough has never been cool. Let me have my delusions.) What I mean to say is that I've been fermenting things since before the pandemic, am well acquainted with that frantic search for a way to rid yourself of sourdough discard. By now I have it down to a science and use it in our weekly homemade pizza crust. But this week I skipped pizza and made gingerbread. (Side note: did you know you can use your sourdough discard to make Amish friendship bread? Also, I have no idea why it's called that since I live in the middle of Amish country and have only ever seen this bread come from non-Amish people. If we were making true Amish friendship bread, it would be inexplicably soft and fluffy white bread, slathered with their secret peanut butter/molasses/marshmallow fluff schmear.)
This recipe is a fun, old-timey delight, one that inexplicably uses boiling water and heavy cream. I bake kind of a lot and only recipes from before the 1960's seem to contain the dubious addition of boiling water and heavy cream. (WHAT DID OUR ANCESTORS KNOW ABOUT BOILING WATER AND HEAVY CREAM THAT WE HAVE LOST??)
This is a spicy, not-too-sweet bread/cake that contains all the traditional Christmas flavors. (And it could totally go on a cookie tray!)
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