Eggnog and Gingerbread Surprise Loaf

 

So Sue and I heard about this contest over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups and knew we had to come up with a really fun Christmas entry.

We are entering this Eggnog and Gingerbread Surprise Loaf in the Creative Holiday Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups!

It is so cute and, believe it or not, is super easy.

The only thing that might be an issue is that you have to take 2 days to make it. You make the inside loaf one day, let it cool overnight so you can slice it, and then make the remainder of the recipe the next day. Other than that I promise this is so easy and so fun that you will be making this over and over.

If you can make a loaf, you can make this impressive looking holiday treat.

Sue and I were searching for something original to make. We saw cupcakes and cookies and squares and cakes and pies...and we saw pies baked in cakes and candies baked in cupcakes... and so on.

We thought - why not bake a loaf in a loaf?

Tah-dah...the Eggnog and Gingerbread Surprise Loaf was born!

 

 

Eggnog and Gingerbread Surprise Loaf

 

Ingredients

Gingerbread Pumpkin Eggnog Loaf

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch sea salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

dash of allspice

1 cup heated eggnog (just so it is warm to the touch)

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 5 loaf pan with a strip of parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. (Parchment paper should hang over the edge to form "handles".)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine eggnog, molasses, oil, pumpkin, and eggs. Whisk until well blended.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for approx 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. (If loaf is browning too much but not done in the centre you can tent tinfoil over it until it is cooked)

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for about 5 - 8 minutes. Remove from pan and let it finish cooling on wire rack.

 

 

In order to be able to slice it without it crumbling you want to let it cool completely. At least a few hours or overnight.

When completely cool, slice into several thick layers and cut with a gingerbread man cookie cutter.

Stack the gingerbread men on top of one another using a thin layer of molasses between them as "glue".

 

 

Prepare the batter for the Eggnog Loaf

 

Eggnog Loaf

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup eggnog

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 5 loaf pan with a strip of parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. (Parchment paper should hang over the edge to form "handles".)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In another bowl, Whisk together eggs, eggnog, sugar, butter, and vanilla until well combined.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

Place a thin layer of batter on the bottom of the pan. Just enough to coat the bottom.

Place the stacked gingerbread men in the prepared pan.

 

 

Scoop the prepared dough into the pan, around the gingerbread men. (You can see from the photo that Sue didn't put a thin line of the batter on the bottom of the pan. It worked out fine this way too except the gingerbread men were left with a little empty gap between their legs. If you put the batter on the bottom of the pan it will fill that gap!)

 

 

You can see that the their heads peek out, this is okay as the batter will rise to cover their heads. Alternately, if you are worried about this, you could use a smaller cookie cutter so the men will be shorter. As is, it works fine.

Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted near centre (but not in the direct centre because that is where the men are!) comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 - 10 minutes in the pan. Use parchment paper and remove loaf from pan and let finish cooling on wire rack.

 

 

Let it cool completely before slicing. It will crumble if you do not let it cool completely.

Slice and serve.

 

 

Be prepared for the Oooohs! and Aaaaaaahs!

 

 

A couple of notes about this:

1. Remember to line the bottom of the pan with a little of the batter to stand the gingerbread men in.

2. Only use a teeny tiny bit of molasses to stick the men together. We painted a thin layer over the entire little man BUT you really only need a dab. You could probably do 3 little dabs on their bellies to look like buttons.

3. This looks so cute when it is sliced. The possibilities are endless for the combinations of flavor and shapes. Ie: red heart inside a white loaf for Valentine's Day, Green shamrock in a white loaf for St. Patrick's Day, etc, etc...

4. I was going to put a brown sugar type frosting on this but didn't want the flavor competing with the gingerbread and eggnog. I think this would also look great with frosting on top as well.

Sue and I figured you can't get much more Christmas-y then eggnog and gingerbread and the combination of the two in this moist loaf works really well.

 

Be sure to visit Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons and Six Sister's Stuff and Adorned From Above and Hungry Little Girl for some great links!