10 Ways to Eat Gingerbread This Season

As soon as the first wintery nip hits the air, my serious, unrelenting craving for gingerbread begins. I’ll take it in any form, from cookies shaped and decorated like little men to a thick piece of cake with my coffee or eggnog. As long as it’s extra spicy and fragrant with winter spices, I am happy.

If you find yourself with the same hankering that I have, here are 10 tasty ways to get your fix all holiday season long — and beyond.

Everyone needs a classic gingerbread cookie recipe in their repertoire for the holiday season. This one’s a dream to roll out, and can and should be cut out into festive shapes and decorated with icing.

Get your gingerbread fix first thing in the morning with these tender whole-grain muffins, made with a hearty mix of spelt and buckwheat flour, along with flavorful hazelnut meal.

Use a mix of dried fruits, like currants, raisins, chopped figs, or dried cranberries, for this showstopping gingerbread Bundt. Or skip the fruit entirely and toss in some chocolate chips to really please the crowd.

Here’s how to transform simple chocolate chip cookies to ones worthy of a holiday cookie plate. A little ground white pepper in the dough gives them an extra layer of spice, while a sprinkle of coarse turbinado sugar on top before baking dresses them up for the season.

Granola makes a great holiday food gift, as it keeps well and looks sharp packaged in a Mason jar. This one has all the flavors of the season, plus it’s gluten-free.

Gingerbread can’t get more holiday than this cake with its festive red hue. The cake layers can be made up to a week in advance, wrapped, and frozen so you can get ahead of dessert before your party or dinner.

This unique gingerbread swaps out the usual molasses for Golden Syrup, which makes for a cake that’s lighter in both color and texture, but just as spicy and warming.

These cocoa powder-rich and chocolate chunk-studded gingerbread cookies stay incredibly soft for days, thanks to plenty of brown sugar in the dough.

A mix of millet and teff flours, potato starch, and ground flax seed are the secrets to a successful gluten-free and vegan cake that’s equally as moist and rich as the original.

This cake is for the deepest of gingerbread-lovers. Using unsulphured blackstrap molasses makes for a cake that’s incredibly dark and intense, and in perfect contrast to the sweet cream cheese frosting that tops it.