Ginger Biscuits
Ingredients
You can vary your recipes a little to suit your personal taste, for instance, if you want a darker, slightly more bitter cookie, try replacing the golden syrup with molasses. In general, recipes with less syrup and no egg tend to be crisper.
Here is a list of substitutions that you can safely make with most ginger biscuit recipes depending on what is available and your personal taste (use equal measurements to those stated in the recipe):
Syrup – golden syrup, molasses, honey, treacle, maple syrup
Sugar – granulated sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar, treacle sugar, muscovado sugar
Ginger – cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg, cloves, or any combination of these
If baking for small children, consider reducing the ginger slightly as some children find it too sharp.
Cooking times
Cooking times vary depending on the recipe and your personal taste. If you want a crisper dryer biscuit (that can be stored for longer) increase the cooking time and lower the temperature of the oven by 20°C, test by lightly touching the cookie, if it is firm to the touch then it will be crisp (remember they do firm up more once out of the oven so don’t over-cook them. If you want a softer, chewier biscuit, cook at 180°C, but check the biscuits after 10 minutes. Touch one lightly and if it leaves a slight indent but seems set, then they are ready.
Ginger Nuts
Ingredients
- 120 g self-raising flour
- 5 ml ginger
- 2.5 ml bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
- 45 g sugar
- 60 g butter
- 60 g sugar
- Extra sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Sift the dry ingredients and add the sugar. In a small saucepan melt the butter (if desired you can brown it slightly by letting it bubble for a short time, this will give your biscuits a nutty taste). Add the syrup to the warm butter and heat through.
- Add the syrup mixture to the dry ingredients and mix to form a stiff dough. Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, and roll these into balls. Space them well on a greased cookie sheet. Press down with a fork and sprinkle a little extra sugar on top of each cookie.
- Bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes.