Embark on a culinary adventure with our Spicy Ginger Biscuits recipe, where the warmth of ginger meets the fiery kick of spices, creating an irresistible fusion of flavours!
A Somewhat Traditional Background
Legend has it that the origins of our Spicy Ginger Biscuits date back to the ancient Silk Road, where merchants traded not only goods but also culinary secrets. Along this historic trade route, the aromatic spice of ginger, prised for its medicinal properties and culinary versatility, journeyed from the Far East to the West, captivating the palates of those who encountered it along the way.
Then centuries later…well, this makes for a great story. But the reality is, that I really love ginger and I vaguely remembered my mother making ginger biscuits.
I remember these sweet ginger biscuits had a hidden delight of fabulous lumps glace ginger! Of course, back then we lived near the ginger factory at Buderim and that’s how I got my taste for fiery hot ginger. So, when I recently purchased a kilo of luscious glace ginger, I set about trying to remember how to bake ginger biscuits.
Ginger biscuits must be spicy!
I started experimenting with ever-increasing amounts of spices till I landed on the version published here. Of course, you can tone down the spices, if extra hot is not for you.
However, there is no substitute for the mouth feel of soft sweet hot ginger at the centre of each the biscuit. So, the main ingredient must be the glace ginger. I have also added a zingy counterpoint of a lemon icing drizzle to enhance the experience.
Spicy Ginger Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
These measures are in metric units
Spicy ginger biscuits
- 1 heaped tablespoon of powdered ginger
- 1 tablespoon of powdered cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons of mixed spices
- 1/4 tespoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground black pepper
- 1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
- 150g unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup treacle
- 1 egg
- 200g roughly chopped glace ginger
Lemon icing
- 1 1/2 cup soft icing mixture
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of butter
Method
Ginger biscuits
First up, you can beat the softened butter with the brown sugar and treacle. I use the paddle beater in my mixer for this.
While this is happening you can mix all the spices in with the flour. Then you can chop the glace ginger. But don’t chop the ginger too fine. Remember you want to have the soft squishy mouth feel of whole lumps of glace ginger in each biscuit. Add the egg to a glass and use a fork to lightly beat it.
Once the sugar and butter is creamed, you can change the paddle beater to a dough hook. Then add the flour, spices, ginger and egg to the mixer. Mix till a soft dough forms.
Sprinkle some flour onto a board. Then grab small amounts of the dough and roll the dough in the flour to make balls. Place the balls of dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. You should be able to make about 18 small balls.
Bake the biscuits in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg C. Check the biscuits in the oven after about 12 minutes, then turn the tray around and bake for a further 7 minutes or so. The biscuits should be looking brown and firm.
Now, you can remove the biscuits from the oven and place them on a cake cooling rack over a paper-lined tray. Let the biscuits cool to room temperature.
Lemon drizzle icing
Add the icing mixture, lemon juice and butter into a microwave-proof bowl. Heat the mixture till it feels hot, then quickly beat the icing mixture together.
When I first made this icing, I went to all the extra trouble of sifting the icing mixture and then whisking the mix to a very smooth consistency. This was to ensure there were no lumps. But, then I really couldn’t be bothered. I actually like the look of the fine lumps in the icing!
While the mixture is still liquid, you can drizzle the icing over each biscuit. You can then place the iced biscuits in the fridge so that the icing will set.
Post script
My neighbours loved these biscuits and thanked me for the Pfeffernusse! I had to look this up on the internet. According to Wikipedia Pfeffernüsse are small spice cookies, popular as a holiday treat with Germans and ethnic Mennonites in North America. Similar cookies are made in Denmark, and The Netherlands, as well. They are called Pfeffernüsse (plural, singular is Pfeffernuss) in German, pepernoten (sing. pepernoot) in Dutch, päpanät in Plautdietsch, pfeffernusse or peppernuts in English, and pebernødder in Danish.
How about that? I hope you enjoy these spicy ginger biscuits, too!
