Traditional Gingerbread Biscuits
Spicy gingerbread biscuits perfect for Christmas
To me there is nothing more Christmasy than a classic gingerbread biscuit. The frosts have arrived with lots of Christmas music, walks that chill your cheeks and colours that pop against the frost.
I love nothing more than warming ginger at Christmas time and these ginger biscuits alongside my Ginger Cake recipe are simply a must for me to feel Christmasy in December.
The case for what this biscuit should be called is, to me at least, slightly confusing. This recipe is one of my mother’s and is over 50 years old and has existed since before the internet was a thing. Her recipe is for Ginger Biscuits; however, they are not a ‘ginger nut’ but more like a thin gingerbread biscuit.
They will taste like the best gingerbread biscuit you have ever had provided you make sure you cut out thicker shapes and keep an eye on them while they are cooking.
However in our house we tend to stick to the original recipe’s suggestion of thickness which creates a crunchy biscuit.
So it is up to you to decide what version of biscuit you want, a softer thicker one or a thinner crunchier one.
The smell of the spices & citrus together is Christmas in a pan
This recipe is not just a favourite because of the flavour but also due to its ease of making.
No extra bowls today just one large pan which can be left with the lid on in the fridge for a day or two while we make our way through cutting and baking all the lovely shapes.
If you’d like to use them as decorations on your Christmas tree, just prick a hole through before baking so you can put a ribbon through. I love to decorate the biscuits (rather badly) when I make them thicker as part of my Christmasy joy. As I have said before on the blog sometimes I don’t think it matters if things aren’t perfectly decorated as long as they taste good and you had fun making them.
However some members of my family prefer them thin and crispy and without decoration. If you do want to decorate the thinner biscuit then I would recommend you stick to minimalism so you don’t over power the biscuit.
Gingerbread Biscuits
Ingredients
175g Soft Brown Sugar
120g Golden Syrup
100g Black Treacle (Molasses)
2tbsp Water
Grated Rind of 1 Orange
Grated Rind of ½ Lemon
200g Butter, Diced
1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
450g Plain Flour
2tsp Ground Cinnamon
1tsp Ground Nutmeg
2tsp Ground Ginger
½tsp Ground Allspice
Method
1. Bring the sugar, golden syrup, black treacle, water, orange and lemon rinds to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring well.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter and the bicarbonate of soda. It will froth & fizz as you put the bicarb in.
3. Mix your dry ingredients: the flour and spices together in a bowl.
4. Stir your flour and spice mix into the pan until you have a smooth dough. If the dough seems too wet, add a little more flour. Just be mindful that the mix will stiffen as it cools.
5. Leave to cool for at least an hour.
6. On a floured work surface, roll the dough to 3mm thick for thin, crunchy biscuits. For a thicker chewer biscuit, roll to 5mm thick.
7. Cut out your shapes and place them on baking trays covered in baking parchment. Leave space between them to spread out.
You don’t need to bake the whole mix in one go; you can refrigerate it with a lid on the pan and the mix will be good for two days.
8. Bake at 160 fan/Gas Mark 4 for 10-12 minutes. You want them to be firm but not too dark.
9. Leave them to cool and harden up slightly for 5 minutes on the baking trays before placing them onto wire racks to completely cool down.
