Chocolate Chip Gingerbread

I spent a wonderful Shabbat with friends in Bar Ilan. It had been a very long time since I had been there and seen them so it was about time. They asked me to bring something and of course I volunteered to bring challot, the ones I just posted and I told them that if I had time, I would bake dessert also. One of the desserts I made was this Gingerbread, into which I tossed some chocolate chips. As it turned out, since no one relied on me, someone else made dessert thus allowing me to bring back a full pan of gingerbread to my ravenous girls. One of my girls kept coming back for more cake, which is always complimentary. A few words about this cake. You may notice  some dust on the pan but that isnt dust. It's flour. This cake, from Bakewise, is mixed DIRECTLY in the pan. There are chocolate versions of this cake, I believe to be called Wacky Cake. The dry ingredients are placed in the pan, whisked, topped with the wet ingredients, mixed and baked. And there you have the easiest gingerbread ever. The recipe calls for vinegar, ostensibly to act as the acid to aid the baking soda's rise. I didn't have any on hand so I omitted it. This very well may be the reason that the cake turned out wonderfully dense and moist as well. Overall, quite the success given the circumstances.

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread
adapted from Bakewise

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup cold water
1/2 cup molasses
handful of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and dark brown sugar in an 8x8 inch pan. Whisk to blend. Make two small indentations in the mixture and in one, pour the vanilla and the other the oil. Pour the water over the top and stir well. Add the molasses and stir together until barely smooth. Add the chocolate chips and finish mixing until completely smooth. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about thirty minutes. Place the pan on a rack to cool. Serve from the pan. Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!