Gingerbread Syrup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is gingerbread syrup made of? ›

1Peel the ginger and slice it into ⅛-inch thick coins. 2To a small saucepan, add the molasses, brown sugar, 1 cup of water, ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved.

It also makes for a top-notch swap for molasses. It tastes almost like a mix of malt and caramel, with an even level of sweetness. Like molasses, it comes in a variety of shades. Just note that maple syrup is a lot thinner than molasses, so you might want to use a 3:4 ration in baked goods.

Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle. Honey will also work, but the cookies will spread out a touch more and not have the same deep flavour (but still very, very good!). Maple syrup is no good, it's too thin. Brown sugar – I've used ordinary brown sugar here.

Molasses tend to have a slightly bitter note so are not great as a substitute for golden syrup (which tends to have a sweet but fairly neutral taste).

Safe to say, we recommend you use sugar cane molasses in our gingerbread cookie recipe! Helpful Hint: Have you ever found yourself without brown sugar when baking? Add (sugar cane) molasses to white granulated sugar and voila, brown sugar!

Brown sugar is actually a combination of granulated sugar and molasses, so it's a good substitute for molasses. While measurements may vary per recipe, you can generally replace 1 cup molasses with 3/4 cup packed brown sugar.

Molasses is the essential ingredient in gingerbread cookies, providing the chewy texture and almost burnt sugar flavor that characterizes the treat.

Dark Molasses Gingerbread Cake

In place of the 1 ½ cups molasses, you can swap in ½ cup dark brown sugar, mixed with 1 cup honey, sorghum, or golden syrup.

In Britain there are two types of glucose syrup under the treacle category: golden syrup (light treacle) and treacle (dark treacle). Both are high in glucose and sucrose. (None as historic as honey of course.) They're sort of analogous to light & dark corn syrups in the US as well as molasses.

The Best Molasses Substitutes

Honey, dark corn syrup, and maple syrup can also be used to replace molasses in recipes.

What is the American version of golden syrup? ›

In the U.S., golden syrup is usually sold under the name of light treacle, but it's not readily available in many grocery stores. In cooking recipes, molasses and light treacle are often used interchangeably because their textures and flavor profiles are similar.

All three are sugar syrups, the difference between them is how much they are cooked down, which then changes both the viscosity and taste of them, along with the acidity (with golden syrup being the least acidic and molasses being the most).

Karo^® Pancake Syrup can be equally substituted for maple syrup, honey or molasses in most recipes and when used as a topping. Recipes using Karo^® Pancake Syrup will not be as sweet, and the finished products will have different flavor characteristics.

Gingerbread is enjoyed in many countries. But while each place may have its own take on the confection, the one thing that remains consistent is the spices they include – the key ingredient being ginger.

Texturally, gingerbread cookies are usually a bit thinner and less soft (depending on the recipe). One of the more obvious differences here is that gingerbread cookies are typically rolled out and cut into shapes and iced while molasses cookies are rolled in sparkling sugar.

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

Gingerbread came to the Americas with settlers from Europe. Molasses, less expensive than sugar, soon became a common ingredient and produced a softer cake.