Ginger Nuts

The Ginger Nut – or ginger snap – is a universally popular biscuit first produced in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. One of the hardest biscuits on the market, Ginger Nuts are renowned for being superb “dunkers” capable of withstanding even the hottest of tea. However, not only are these wonderful biscuits hardy in texture, they also have an incredibly robust flavour. It’s hard to be left wanting when someone cracks the Ginger Nuts out.

If you’ve ever tried to bake your own Ginger Nuts you’ll soon have realised that there is a seemingly unlimited number of recipes for them out there. What I’ve tried to pull together here is a combination of a number of ideas into what I consider to be the best recipe available.

First and foremost, these biscuits need to be hard… really hard. As such, it’s really important to move as far away from ‘cake’ as is reasonably possible – that means no egg, not even a little bit. Secondly, they – unsurprisingly – need to pack a bit of a punch, so don’t go easy on the ground ginger. In my opinion, ginger always pairs extremely well with the dark richness of black treacle (molasses), so I’ve replaced half of the usual golden syrup with a tablespoon of that.

Happily, though Ginger Nuts are somewhat unrelenting in their outcome, they are supremely simple to make. Indeed, there is little time involved and you could easily produce and be eating this entire batch in under an hour. It is also a “one-pot bake” with everything mixed in a saucepan before being transferred to a baking tray. So, if you’re in the market for a simple, flavoursome and supremely “dunkable” biscuit you’ve certainly come to the right place.

If you’re looking for something similar, but in cupcake form, check out my recipe for Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes – they are fantastic at this time of year.

Ginger Nuts

Makes 15

Ingredients:

• 50g butter, salted

• 50g light muscovado sugar

• 1 tbsp (25g) black treacle (molasses)

• 1 tbsp (25g) golden syrup

• 120g plain flour

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (fan) and line a baking tray. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, treacle and syrup. Once mixed, sift in the flour, ginger and bicarb and combine until smooth.

2. Transfer the mixture in balls of 20g (around 1 tsp) to the baking tray leaving 5cm between each. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes until cracked and dark brown. Once cooked set aside for 5 minutes to harden before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cost: Ingredients like the ones featured in this recipe never cost very much money. As such, it is a great idea to invest a little in the butter you use – good butter can make a HUGE difference. Even so, this relatively large batch of biscuits should set you back no more than £1.10.