Gingernut Biscuits

A traditional British ginger spiced biscuit. No chilling or mixer is required to make these wonderfully crunchy biscuits! 

Whilst my favourite cookie of all time is the classic chocolate chip cookie, that doesn’t stop me baking and trying out lots of new recipes and discovering more that I love.

It’s gingerbread season after all so I couldn’t let the Xmas season go by and not post another ginger spiced recipe with you. These gingernut biscuits are the taste of Christmas with their festive flavour, they’re more of a grown up version of my gingerbread men which are typically chewy and soft, unlike these gingernuts which are crunchy on the outside with a slightly chewy texture on the inside.

This recipe makes sixteen small biscuits, but it’s very likely you’ll want to bake a double batch like I did the last time I made them because the first will be gone in no time. Fresh from the oven enjoy the cookies with a mug of hot chocolate, a tall glass of milk or a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea.

Finding a recipe I was entirely happy with proved to be a difficult task. I’ve tested several different ginger biscuit/cookie recipes over the past few weeks. I’ve lost count of how many baking fails I had along the way, but I didn’t give up until I found the best recipe.

The perfect ginger biscuit recipe was a Delia classic. I always pick Delia’s cookbooks when I need a trusty recipe that I know will work, not a recipe that would mess me around and waste valuable ingredients and my time. For those of you who might not know, gingernuts are one of the UK’s favourite biscuits to have with tea. The biscuit is lightly spiced with ground ginger and sometimes other spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. They have various different names in other countries like gingersnaps in the US, lebkuchen in Germany and speculaas in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The baked biscuits have a distinctive crackle appearance on top, once you take a bite you will discover how gorgeously crisp and delightfully chewy they with the added deliciousness of a warming ginger aftertaste.

You can get as decorative as you want with these biscuits, maybe dip each biscuit half in melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles or candied ginger. The recipe is a breeze to make because you don’t need to use a mixer and the dough doesn’t need to be chilled either! If you’re a fan of gingernuts, why not give this homemade version a go, the biscuits are super easy to make and they taste spectacular for something so simple.

(Makes 16)

Ingredients:

110g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger

40g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

50g (2 tablespoons) golden syrup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190ºC / 170°C Fan / 375ºF / Gas Mark 5. Line 1-2 large baking trays with non-stick paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside for later. In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger. Stir through the sugar. Add the butter and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and is a crumbly texture.
2. Mix through the golden syrup until a soft dough has formed.
3. Evenly divide the dough into 16 small pieces – roughly a tablespoon each. I weigh my dough to be precise, but you don’t have to do that. Roll the dough into small balls and evenly spread out onto the lined baking tray allowing them enough room as they will spread whilst baking. Flatten each ball of dough a little with the palm of your hand and then bake for 10-15 minutes until they’ve spread, are golden in colour and have a cracked appearance. I turn the baking tray around about halfway through to ensure the biscuits all bake evenly.
4. Once the biscuits are baked leave them to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes, as they cool they’ll harden. Once cool transport the biscuits to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
5. Biscuits will store in an airtight container or biscuit tin for up to 1 week.

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