Ginger HobNobs
Yes, I took a break from food blogging. I'm not sorry. The nightmare that is Brexit required attention. It still does, although whilst not resigned to it I am now turning attention to other things. If you voted for this mess you need to go sort it out.
So, February in Normandy can be cold and miserable. This year it is cold, but brighter and all the better for it. However February inevitably means afternoons in front of the woodburner and tea is just too wet on its own. So home made biscuits are the best solution.
I'm sure someone. somewhere (probably a biscuit manufacturer) will have a problem with my name for these biscuits. However, old habits die hard and this name describes them precisely. They have the texture, crumbliness and oatiness of the manufactured version, but with a delicious buttery flavour, wholesome ingredients, no palm oil and the extra bonus of chewy, zingy ginger loveliness. The name is the only thing this takes from the factory - the rest is memories of my mum and her lesson on biscuits. "there are two sorts of biscuits, rubbed in like shortbread and melted". These are melted biscuits, par excellence.
At home they were most often made lightly spiced, with some dried fruit in. The basic recipe for these is your launchpad, from where you can let your imagination run riot. One day I'm going to flavour with orange zest and add cranberries and white chocolate. You can, of course, make them with chocolate chips, but you'll need to add a spoonful of milk and let the dough cool a bit first.
I try to stick to ingredients that are easy to find, especially here in France. Although the recipe calls for golden syrup, I know that can be a bit hard to get, so can be simply replaced with maple syrup. It doesn't have a strong flavour, but lends the same stickiness to the finished biscuit. Also, happily, it goes perfectly with pecans, which can either be added to the mixture, chopped or (as I have myself) added to the top of the biscuit before baking.
The other 'hard to get' ingredient in today's version is, of course, stem ginger. I have no suggestions if you haven't got any; make maple pecan, or a plain version. Or flavour with ground ginger and mourn the loss! Sorry.
Either way, these are quick and satisfying to bake. The preparation is just a few minutes weighing, melting, weighing and mixing. You can fancy up the end product with a little plain chocolate drizzled on top, or serve them as they are. All that is needed is a nice cup of tea to go with them. I heartily recommend Cardew's Oxford Afternoon. Not because they are paying me (if only!), but because it is my own favourite afternoon treat.
So, to business.
So, February in Normandy can be cold and miserable. This year it is cold, but brighter and all the better for it. However February inevitably means afternoons in front of the woodburner and tea is just too wet on its own. So home made biscuits are the best solution.
I'm sure someone. somewhere (probably a biscuit manufacturer) will have a problem with my name for these biscuits. However, old habits die hard and this name describes them precisely. They have the texture, crumbliness and oatiness of the manufactured version, but with a delicious buttery flavour, wholesome ingredients, no palm oil and the extra bonus of chewy, zingy ginger loveliness. The name is the only thing this takes from the factory - the rest is memories of my mum and her lesson on biscuits. "there are two sorts of biscuits, rubbed in like shortbread and melted". These are melted biscuits, par excellence.
At home they were most often made lightly spiced, with some dried fruit in. The basic recipe for these is your launchpad, from where you can let your imagination run riot. One day I'm going to flavour with orange zest and add cranberries and white chocolate. You can, of course, make them with chocolate chips, but you'll need to add a spoonful of milk and let the dough cool a bit first.
I try to stick to ingredients that are easy to find, especially here in France. Although the recipe calls for golden syrup, I know that can be a bit hard to get, so can be simply replaced with maple syrup. It doesn't have a strong flavour, but lends the same stickiness to the finished biscuit. Also, happily, it goes perfectly with pecans, which can either be added to the mixture, chopped or (as I have myself) added to the top of the biscuit before baking.
The other 'hard to get' ingredient in today's version is, of course, stem ginger. I have no suggestions if you haven't got any; make maple pecan, or a plain version. Or flavour with ground ginger and mourn the loss! Sorry.
Either way, these are quick and satisfying to bake. The preparation is just a few minutes weighing, melting, weighing and mixing. You can fancy up the end product with a little plain chocolate drizzled on top, or serve them as they are. All that is needed is a nice cup of tea to go with them. I heartily recommend Cardew's Oxford Afternoon. Not because they are paying me (if only!), but because it is my own favourite afternoon treat.
So, to business.
Recipe
Preheat your fan oven to 170c (180c for a static oven).
Prepare a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment.
Weigh into a pan
140g sugar (white or golden caster sugar)
140g unsalted butter
1Tblspn golden syrup
Melt these together, just until the butter is melted. Don't let it get too hot. Remove from the heat to cool.
Then weigh into a bowl
140g self raising flour
1tspn bicarbonate of soda
110g porridge oats
60g finely chopped preserved stem ginger
2tspn ground ginger (to taste)
Gently mix the dry ingredients together. Add the melted ingredients, which should have cooled a little. Mix gently until the ginger is evenly distributed and the mixture is blended. Measure your biscuits onto the baking sheet.
I find a 1tablespoon coffee scoop is perfect to measure these. Don't pack the mixture in, though, because they can move from crisp to hard quite easily. Just fill the scoop naturally.
I generally find I get 24 biscuits - 12 to a baking sheet.
Bake for around 25 minutes. Keep an eye on them for the last few minutes. The extra sugar from the preserved ginger means they brown a little more than you might expect.
Serve with your favourite cup of tea.
As I mentioned above, these biscuits can be flavoured with other spices, dried fruit, nuts, a teaspoon of vanilla, chocolate chips or whatever your heart desires. If you do choose to use chocolate chips, let the melted mixture cool a little more and add a tablespoon of milk to it, adding the chocolate chips just before you bake the biscuits. The extra liquid (only a tablespoon) will allow for any extra absorption of the melted mixture while you are waiting for the mixture to be cool enough to add the chocolate. If the mixture is too dry, the result will be a little too crumbly.
