Recipe of the Week

On Highway 126 between Eugene and Florence, Oregon, just west of the tunnel at the summit of the Coast Range, lies a small restaurant that has become something of an institution here in Western Oregon. The Gingerbread Village has been there since 1966, before I was born, and makes some of the yummiest gingerbread you’ll ever have, both traditional cake-like gingerbread as well as gingerbread pancakes. My parents used to love to go there as a young couple, and now so do the Feared Redhead and I. Whenever we go to the coast, we stop on the way.

I created this recipe some time last year, after our last visit to the coast. The Village sells it’s gingerbread recipe dry ingredients as a mix, and we had picked some up. I was making gingerbread pancakes, and wanted something a little more special than straightforward maple syrup, so this is what I concocted. I didn’t have a name for it, but based on the flavors, the Feared Redhead says I should call it Harvest Syrup, so, there you go.

Brian’s Harvest Syrup

1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Dark Rum
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp. Honey
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1/4 Tsp. Powdered Ginger
1/4 Tsp. Allspice
1/4 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Cinnamon Stick
Juice & Zest from 1 Lime

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, simmer until the syrup is reduced to the desired consistency (This is a personal preference. I like mine thicker than maple syrup but thinner than honey). Serve over pancakes, waffles, crepes, or best of all, gingerbread.