Ginger Biscuits

I have lost count of how many ginger biscuit recipes I have tried out, failing to find one that satisfied my taste buds. In the end I found the perfect recipe through experimentation. A word of thanks on the side to my friends and family who had to suffer the consequences of this search and experimentation. Let me share my secret with you. Those of you who do not like to bake, or simply don't have the time to do so, can buy my home-baked cookies here.

Let's start with the recipe first and then I'll walk you through the steps:

125 g margarine
125 g butter
500 ml sugar (400 g)
2 eggs
1 cup golden syrup (250 ml)
5 cups wheat flour (1,25 litres)
10 ml bicarbonate of soda
20 ml cinnamon
10 ml fine ginger powder
1 heaped tablespoon crushed ginger

I have talked about the reasons why I use half margarine and half butter in a previous blog on making Crunchy Coconut Cookies, so I won't repeat myself here. Let me rather show you how to measure butter or margarine without a kitchen scale.

Make a cross from corner to corner with a knife, as illustrated. The centre is where the lines cross. This is a 1 kg brick of margarine and we need 125 g, which is only 1/8 of the brick.

Spread the top to cover the previous lines and repeat to find the 1/4 mark.

Cover the lines again and repeat to find the 1/8 mark. You now have 125 g margarine. Quite simple and effortless.

Add 125 g butter, 125 g margarine and 2 cups sugar to a bowl. Cream with an electric mixer. See the right consistency in the photo.

Add 2 eggs and beat well.

Add a cup of golden syrup and 2 heaped tablespoons of crushed ginger and mix well.

It is time to mix the dry ingredients together. Add 5 cups of wheat flour.

Add 10 ml bicarbonate of soda.

Add 20 ml fine cinnamon.

Add 10 ml fine ginger powder.

Sift all of the dry ingredients together to loosen the particles and aerate the mixture.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, or the other way around depending on the sizes of the bowls you're using.

Mix the ingredients together by hand or with a very strong electric beater. It has reached the right consistency when you can form it into a ball as illustrated.

Cover it with plastic and allow it to rest in the fridge for about an hour.

Remove from the fridge. Spray a baking tray with non-stick spray. Roll the dough into small balls and space them evenly on the tray. Leave enough space for the biscuits to spread when baking. Use a kitchen fork to flatten the balls on the baking tray. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the tray in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes.

Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven. Allow them to harden on the tray for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack.

Enjoy! This recipe will make about 12 dozen biscuits, depending on how big you roll the balls.

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