A tale of three gingers

Having gone through most of the Thanksgiving leftovers, I had a hankering for something that could be enjoyed right out of the oven. An e-mail link to a recipe for three-ginger gingerbread had me wondering if I could create something similar that Mom and I could enjoy.
The online recipe called for beer, so I substituted white wine. With eight inches of snow blanketing everything and a sheen of icy silver thaw building, plus a furnace on the fritz, there was no way I was getting out of the driveway. And so, with nothing better to do, I improvised on the online riff and came up with:

Three-Gingerbread
(Low-fat, Sugar-free)
Set oven at 350 F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together:

1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup low-fat Bisquick
3/4 cup erythritol (I suppose another sugar substitute would also work)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ginger
Finely chop small piece (1" by 1/2") sugared ginger

After thoroughly stirring together the above ingredients and fluffing them a bit, add:
1/2 cup blackstrap or dark molasses
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Eggbeaters (or two eggs)
2 T. canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup white wine or good beer
2 tsp. grated fresh (I use frozen) ginger root

Stir together until ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix. Spray two cake pans and distribute batter equally. Bake about 30 minutes. Check center for springiness before removing from the oven.
Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Alas, we were out of anything cool and white to throw on top, but it was quite good served warm out of the oven. I woke up in the middle of the night tasting a bit of ginger at the back of my throat, although I had brushed my teeth. That was not necessarily a bad thing, particularly with the furnace out.

While I was the baker at Kantishna, I often made my grandmother's recipe for gingerbread. It was especially good topped with whipped cream spiked with some of my vanilla bean brandy, kept hidden on a back shelf from the chefs, who would have snagged it in a heartbeat.

Grandma Smith's Gingerbread

Pour one cup boiling water over 1 cup shortening. Add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sorghum molasses, 2 well-beaten eggs and beat well.
Add 3 cups of flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. soda, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1-1/2 tsp. ginger, 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Beat smooth, and bake in greased rectangular cake pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Serve warm with whipped cream.

These day, shortening is verboten. I don't think it would be the same with butter; I suppose canola would work. The recipe card for this is properly stained and spotted, so it has made the rounds.