Guinness gingerbread

If you have Nigella Lawson's cookbook Nigella Kitchen and you have not made her Guinness gingerbread yet, well, after you read this post, you should do so immediately! If you are looking for a holiday treat that is different from the usual cookies, look no further. This gingerbread (which is really a cake) is so good - it's moist, sweet, spicy, and just all around good. Plus, it gets better as it sits for a day or two - so try not to eat it all on day one! I served up a piece with some vanilla ice cream while it was still warm, but I thought it was better plain (for breakfast) the next day after the flavors continued to develop.

I did change the recipe ever so slightly so what I've posted below is a little different than in the cookbook. For one, I added molasses, so mine is a bit darker. I combined the molasses with the golden syrup that Nigella has in her recipe because I like my gingerbread to have that molasses flavor in it. The golden syrup is nice because it is made with cane sugar rather than corn syrup that is made with corn sugar. I found it in the European section of my grocery store (if you can't find it though, I would use a combination of molasses and corn syrup). I also added a bit more ginger because I knew her two teaspoons wouldn't be enough for me. There were a few other changes I made including adding some salt and decreasing the brown sugar. It was splendid. Depending on how small or large you cut your gingerbread, you should get between 16 and 24 pieces.

Guinness gingerbread
1-1/4 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for greasing 
1/2 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle's)
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup Guinness
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/4 cups sour cream
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease your baking dish (13"x9") very well (or line with foil and grease that - I found the baking dish without foil to be fine).

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, syrup, molasses, brown sugar, Guinness, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and salt. Melt, stirring often, over low heat until combined.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour and baking soda until it is thoroughly combined and there are no flour lumps.

Whisk the sour cream and eggs together in a small bowl. Then whisk into the gingerbread mixture until combined and smooth.

Pour into your baking dish. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, until the edges begin to pull away from the pan and an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.

Let cool and then cut into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.