My Granny was a great cook and baker, she always had a tin of homemade biscuits on the go and these ginger nuts were my favourite. I have the original recipe from her notebook written I think in the 1950’s and I have updated it with modern measurements. Like Granny I make these with Demerara sugar, it gives an extra crunch.
These take about 20 minutes plus 12 minutes cooking time and yield 22-24 biscuits. Once cool biscuits keep well in a tin for up to a week.
You will need…
- 40g unsalted butter
- 20g syrup
- 150g plain flour
- 125g Demerara sugar
- 1½ tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
- 1 medium egg
You will also need one large, or two medium baking trays lined with silicone baking sheet(s) or baking parchment.
To make Granny’s ginger nuts…
- Heat the oven to 180C fan / 190C non-fan. Combine butter and syrup in a pan and heat until melted, but do not boil. Take off heat and cool slightly.
- Combine flour, ginger, sugar, bicarb and salt in a medium bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add butter mixture to flour mixture, add egg and stir until combined.
- Using your hands gently form the dough into a ball. Using scales weigh out 16g pieces and roll into a ball. Place balls on the baking tray(s), spaced well apart and flatten slightly.
- Bake for 12 minutes. They should be slightly brown around the edges; give them a minute or two more if they still appear too soft.
- Remove from the oven, and if they have puffed up flatten them slightly with a pallet knife.
- Move from tray to a cooling track with a pallet knife.
- Make tea and have a biscuit (or two, or even three)!
