6 Great Ginger Desserts

Ginger has long been prized for its spicy burn, for its ability to settle the stomach, and for its warming properties (according to traditional Chinese medicine). It has been used medicinally to combat nausea, fever, colds, diarrhea, fatigue, the joint pains of arthritis, and a thousand other ailments. Ginger is a true culinary workhorse, equally delicious with pork and sugary cookies. As a tropical plant, it was originally cultivated in India and Southeast Asia, where it has a long history of use with meats, rice, and in beverages.

Here are six great desserts that you can make with ginger:

1. Coconut Ginger Sorbet Ginger and coconut are a classic Thai pairing. I recently made a small batch of coconut sorbet, to which I added a generous sprinkling of ginger. Not only didn't it last the night - it barely lasted through the freezing process! (You have to keep sampling it to make sure you're stirring it correctly, you know.) I don't have an ice cream maker, and I can't be bothered to perform too many steps. So I can verify that this recipe is quite simple for those of us who have jobs and lives and such.

2. Ginger Molasses Cookies These big dark beauties are always my first choice at the coffee shop. With a heavy ginger and molasses flavor, and a texture halfway between cake-y and chewy, I just can't resist! Here is a copycat recipe which I recently tried. I omitted the icing and sprinkled them with sugar instead, to make them more true to form.

3. Gingerbread Americans have trouble thinking "gingerbread" without adding the word "house." However, gingerbread houses are traditionally made with a cookie dough which is rolled out flat and baked crisp. True gingerbread is a sister to other sweet loaf breads - banana bread, pumpkin bread, and the like. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it's got great reviews!

4. Candied Ginger In theory, this is something that you would make, then add to something else. But let's be honest - I'm willing to bet that at least 85% of the world's candied ginger supplies are simply eaten plain, rather than used as an ingredient. They're so delicious, how can you resist? It's just one little piece... then another... then another. Here's a great recipe that scales down quite well.

5. Pears and Ginger This is another great pairing. Those of us who lack ambition in the kitchen simply sprinkle powdered ginger over canned pears and dig in. If you want to make something a little better (i.e. more labor intensive) try this recipe for poached pears and ginger.

6. Pineapple and Ginger AroundHawaii's recipe for a sort of pineapple ginger compote looks simply delicious, although I cringe at the thought of the prep work. Fresh ginger is diced up into tiny bits, then browned with sugar to produce a sweet topping, which is then poured over chunks of fresh pineapple. Delicious, and almost virtuous, what with all that fresh pineapple!