Paul Hollywood's Mum's Ginger Biscuits

So the Great British Bake-Off started up again a few weeks ago and I have been looking forward to the new episode that gets released every Friday. I'm very glad that this season is better from a bakers and baking standpoint; last season I didn't feel connected to any of the bakers and if they got eliminated, I didn't really care. There's a couple this year that I am at least finding interesting. Anyway, that is my long-winded way of saying I felt compelled to look at Paul Hollywood's recipe books to find something to bake. This recipe is his mum's and it is super-simple. It also involves golden syrup, which I happened to have gotten a couple of months ago and forgotten about. Soooo...


Here's today's cast! Five ingredients for cookies--doesn't get much better than this!


Butter, sugar and syrup are melted together on medium heat. 


They melded nicely into a smooth and creamy mixture. I took the pot off of the heat and let it cool a bit.


I didn't have self-rising flour so I added baking powder and salt to all-purpose and whisked them together. Ground ginger was added to that.


The dry ingredients were added to the liquid and mixed well.


The resulting dough is smooth and a bit oily; it was very easy to handle.



Paul says the dough should be formed into balls about the size of a 50p. Uh, what's that in American, Paul? I did a scant-ish tablespoon. In my defense, I looked up 50p coins to get an idea of the scale.


The instructions say bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Mine took more like 15-16 minutes.


The texture is interesting--the bottoms and edges are crunchy but the top has a bit of a chew. It's a delicious combination of buttery and gingery.  I definitely need to double the recipe the next time!

Here's the promised recipe:

From Paul Hollywood's A Baker's Life



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kincaid's/Ryan's Grill-Style Pea Salad

Image
I was so sad when Ryan's Grill in Ward Centre closed down. For many years it was a favorite gathering place for both my family and my friends. Similarly Kincaid's, formerly Horatio's, at the now demolished Ward Warehouse was, too. I always ordered the pea salad that both restaurants served and have been wanting to re-create it. Today's recipe is the closest I've come! Today's cast! Sour cream, mayo, salt, and pepper are combined for the dressing. In the meantime, I put the frozen peas into a colander to help them thaw and drain. After that, it's just a bunch of chopping. Interestingly, the recipe mentioned that Hormel bacon bits work much better than bacon that has been cooked up and drained. Who am I to argue? I added the bacon bits to the dressing along with chopped water chestnuts and red onions. I de-stringed the Chinese peas. Sugar snap peas can also be used. The peas and pea pods were combined with the dressing, then I popped it into the fridge. The re
Read more

Anthony Bourdain's Macau-Style Pork Chop Sandwich

Image
I read, and own, all of Anthony Bourdain's books except Kitchen Confidential.  It seems like an odd omission considering it's the book that made him famous and brought to light a dirty side of the restaurant business that the public apparently loved hearing about, but no, for me, it was his first show, A Chef's Tour, followed by No Reservations,  that really made me a fan. Yes, the show was about food, but more importantly it was about the people who made the food and the places the food grew out of. That cultural and historical connection has always been the key factor in my own burgeoning food obsession. Bourdain was sarcastic and edgy but he was also intelligent, well-read and so adept at putting words together to unite the food with its people into an appreciative, thoughtfully crafted whole. His suicide in 2018 saddened me in a way I would never have anticipated. I decided that henceforth I would honor his influence on my culinary interests and every year, on his bir
Read more