Triple Ginger Bars

I spent the day in the kitchen today, my favorite way to spend time. :)

I made cornbread, then cornbread dressing; also vanilla mashed sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin pie. The Brussels sprouts are trimmed and ready to roast, the hazelnuts toasted and chopped to be sprinkled on top before serving. Pumpkin scones, for Friday's breakfast, are in the freezer. We're all ready to take our part of the feast to our friend's house tomorrow.

At the last minute, I decided to make Triple Ginger Bars which are featured in the November 2011 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. Even though loaded with butter, I made the recipe according to the directions because it's a holiday! Anyway, for some reason the cake sunk quite badly in the center. Then the glaze was poured over. It cascaded down the edges and puddled in the center. As the glaze cooled, I tried to pull it up over to the edges and was only moderately successful. At a last desperate attempt to cover the wrinkled glaze and salvage the bars, I covered the surface with ground, toasted hazelnuts.

It worked, somewhat. After cutting, some of the bars had the distinct contours of a beginner ski-slope.







Oh well, I shall serve them with the best side facing outward.



Despite their appearance, these were really good. You have to like ginger a lot to appreciate them, though, because they are just filled with that nippy spice. I didn't have any fresh ginger, so I subbed 3 Tablespoons of finely-chopped crystallized ginger. Very good. I just don't know what I did wrong that would cause them fall in the center, and because of that I probably will not make them again.