19 April, 2007

April recipe: Stem ginger biscuits

Ginger has been used in cookery for thousands of years, and is also supposed to have all sorts of health benefits. How much truth there is in this I have no idea – and I’m not about to conduct a meta-analysis to find out – but I like ginger anyway. So here’s a recipe for ginger biscuits (cookies) that uses ginger in two forms, preserved stem ginger and ground ginger. These are simple, quick to make (and even quicker to disappear), and the ingredients are available all year round.

Stem ginger biscuits

4 oz (approx 100 g) butter
2 tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) golden syrup
1 oz (approx 25 g) sugar
2 oz (approx 50 g) stem ginger
6 oz (approx 150 g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) ground ginger

Chop the stem ginger into small pieces (about half the size of a raisin, or whatever size you prefer).
Put the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the flour, ground ginger and chopped stem ginger. Mix thoroughly. It should form a soft dough that leaves the sides of the pan clean.
Put teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray, spaced about 1 inch (approx 2-3 cm) apart to allow room for the biscuits to spread as they cook. I usually get about 30 biscuits out of the quantities given, but you can make the biscuits larger or smaller according to taste.
Bake at about 180 C (approx 375 F) for about 15 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown and set.
Remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight tin. If they get the chance, they keep for up to 2 weeks.

If you can’t get stem ginger, you can use crystallised (candied) ginger instead. If you don’t like pieces of ginger in biscuits, you can miss out the stem ginger and use 2 teaspoons of ground ginger.

16 comments:

Susan Higginbotham said...

Yum!

Meghan said...

It's too bad I don't like ginger more (well maybe it's just the pickled ginger served with sushi I don't like). Ginger like you said is supposed to have great health benefits. Oh wait! I like gingerbread cookies, why shouldn't I like these? ^_^

Bernita said...

Ginger tea was once a popular remedy for colds and upset stomachs.
I've used native wild ginger to good effect in cookies - found that unlike commercial ginger, it makes a cool spice - flavour without the bite.

Carla said...

Susan - thank you.

Megumi - these are only a variant on gingerbread cookies, and you can always miss out the chopped stem ginger if you don't like it (which is the great benefit of doing your own cooking; you get to make all the decisions!).

Bernita - ginger does seem to be associated with settling digestive problems. I didn't know ginger grew in Canada.

Bernita said...

Properly speaking, Carla, it is asarum canadense. Also goes by the name snakeroot and Indian ginger.

Carla said...

Bernita - many thanks for the explanation.

Tristi Pinkston said...

Thanks for including both metric and "regular" measurements -- it's frustrating to get a recipe and not know how to convert it!

Carla said...

Hello, Tristi, and thanks for stopping by. Glad you find the two sets of quantities useful. American cups are still beyond me, though!

Anonymous said...

Everybody try this it is easy and super good. In fact I am making some more tomorrow as my family want more. Thank you!!!

Carla said...

Anonymous - Hello and welcome. I'm glad you liked the recipe, and thanks for stopping by to say so!

Anonymous said...

I was wondering, exactly what is "stem ginger"?

Carla said...

Hello Ivan and welcome. Stem ginger is pieces of ginger preserved in syrup, usually sold in the UK in jars. More information here. Hope that answers your question!

Mark said...

Its a bit mad but there is a way to use a ginger biscuit to make a wish! See here
Ginger Biscuits

medisin said...

This recipe looks brilliant, I'm off to try it now! If anyone has problems converting quantities, try onlineconversion.com - it tells you all sorts of cooking conversions, even cups to weight, which is handy. I think an American cup is about 235ml, and most other countries use similar sizes, so you could just buy a cup that holds between 220 - 250ml, it usually seems to work ok.

Thanks for the recipe!

Unknown said...

I didnt have any ground ginger so i used mixed spices and didnt have any golden syrup so used the syrup that was in the stem ginger jar and it worked ok. thanks for the recipe and conversions :)

christa28 said...

Thanks for this great recipe it's become a favourite.
Ginger biscuits are good for sea-sickness and morning sickness too. It's also a main ingredient in many travel sickness pills.
I'm a bit of a slap-dash measurer and when the mix looks too sloppy I've added a few handfuls of porridge oats which adds a bit of texture (& looks good too).