Hey Bernice!

This post is dedicated to ginger nuts. When I say that I mean people who love ginger!

I never thought I would be able to stomach ginger again after consuming packets of crystallised ginger during the first 3 months of pregnancy (to settle the morning sickness). Six months down the track I saw this recipe for ginger nut biscuits, and had an overwhelming urge to make them (along with so many other exotic recipes – the maternal nesting has really kicked it!).

This recipe was in the Woman’s Day magazine, however I changed it slightly to make them a little more gingery (after tasting the raw mixture I didn’t think they deserved to be called ginger nuts – so got a little heavy handed with the ground ginger!). I shared these with 3 people on the weekend, and all of them wanted the recipe – so I guess you could say they were a hit.

NOTE: You might want to serve these to people accompanied with a warning that they may provoke a visit to the dentist… they are very hard… and may be best consumed after dipping into a hot drink… but they are oh so yummy!

Gingernut Biscuits (recipe from Woman’s Day magazine)
200g butter (chopped)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
3 cups plain flour
3 tablespoons ground ginger (this is where I made the change, it was originally 1 tablespoon!)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1. Preheat oven to moderate, 180°C. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar and golden syrup. Stir over a low
   heat until melted and combined. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. Using an electric mixture, beat mixture until light and fluffy. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Sift flour, spices and soda together. Fold into butter mixture until well combined.
5. Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls. Arrange on trays, allowing a little space between each. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I found a tablespoon of mixture for each biscuit to be a little much, so reduced it slightly. Also, when marking them with the fork, try to flatten them a little, they go REALLY hard, the thicker they are the greater likelihood of you breaking a tooth on them!

My other favourite is ginger cake…  I’ve never been much of a cake person, but the one cake mum would cook that I loved was Lady Harewood’s Gingerbread (to be precise Darrrrling) it is so moist, the texture extremely fine, with a rich ginger flavour. The recipe is so old the oven temperature is quoted as being ‘350F or Gas no.2’. Looking into the background of this cake, it is a classic ginger cake from Yorkshire, England, and it is often referred to as ‘parkin’. It is distinguished from other ginger cakes because of the use of black treacle or molasses and oatmeal (although many recipes don’t include the oatmeal eg. this one!).

Lady Harewood Gingerbread (cake)

250 g butter
250g soft brown sugar
250g black treacle (Mum and I use Golden Syrup instead, it makes a more golden coloured cake/bread)
375g plain flour
2 beaten eggs
1¼ cups warm milk
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons arrowroot
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

• Place butter, sugar, treacle in large saucepan and heat slowly to melt everything together
• Sift together dry ingredients and stir into melted mix, cool
• Add eggs and warm milk (to blood heat), stir well
• Pour into a lined cake tin (a square tin measuring around 24cm x 24cm is a good size to use)
• Bake at 155C for 1-1½ hours (I checked mine after 1 hour, and found it was almost ready)
• Test it with a skewer into the middle (if it comes our clean it is ready)

Note: The mixture will be very runny when you pour it into the tin, that’s normal, and is the reason it has such a fine texture and is so moist.

This cake will last for several weeks if stored in air-tight container (or you can also freeze it), although I can guarantee it won’t last that long- ’cause it’s that good! Try it with a light spread of butter…

I hope these recipe satisfy all the ginger nuts out there!

Cheers,

Bernice

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