Hydrogenated Oil Free Gingerbread

Picture my mom sent me of her cookbook

As Christmas makes it way closer in my world so does Christmas baking. My partner’s sister messaged me the other day asking for a Gingerbread recipe. I sent her my mom’s as it is absolutely the best. I realized though that it had Shortening in it. Where my sister in-law lives I wasn’t sure if it would be available so I recommended vegan butter (which is basically the same thing) or just butter in general. But what is shortening and why do so many of my mom’s nostalgic recipes call for it?

The most repeated definition I could find is as follows:

shortening, fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin used in most doughs and batters to impart crisp and crumbly texture to baked products and to increase the plasticity, or workability, of doughs.

-Britannica

My mom’s version was always the vegetable kind, chemically altered into a firm butter like brick that was shelf stable. It makes these wonderfully light tasting American frostings, her crumbly biscuits that go with beef stew and of course cookies. It is made by a process called Hydrogenation. Vegetable shortening is typically made from hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHO). In 2015 the Food and Drug Administration of America first started the process of eliminating PHO’s in food production. Canada has a full ban and the EU has general health regulations that include limiting PHO’s but there is no outright ban.

I am not certain but this panic around seed oils being bad seems to have it’s origins in the fact that PHO’s are made with seed oil, but it should be clear that the process of turning seed oil into a firm format through this particularly process is where the danger has been researched. Seed oils in the natural form are an entirely different food and by most experts understanding they have a safe place in the kitchen.

I wrote a modified version of my mom’s recipe here: I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

500 g white flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (Natron in Germany)

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons powedered ginger (my mom always put in extra so I increased the amount here)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

150 g white sugar

95 g butter OR beef tallow (from leaf lard only for a cleaner taste) OR margarine (vegan butter, made with fully hydrogenated oil not partially, preferably no palm fat for ethical reasons)

250 g molasses

120 g milk + 1 teaspoon white vinegar (mix and let curdle for 1 minute, then add to the mix)

Directions:

1. Mix milk and white vinegar, set aside

2. Whip sugar and fat of choice until light and fluffy

3. Sift all dry ingredients into a separate bowl

4. Add milk mixture, molasses and sifted dry ingredients alternately into the fat and sugar mixture

5. Mix until just incorporated

6. Chill overnight before rolling out, shaping and baking

7. Bake cookies in preheated oven at 380 F or 190 C for 7-10 minutes

Optional: Decorate with raisin eyes and buttons before putting the cookies in the oven for an authentic Paige’s mom’s cookie.