Ginger, lemon and honey biscuits (gluten free, dairy free)

I promised you a post for apple butter victoria sponge, and was all set to do so until I woke up with a cold. I can't complain too much, it is the 2nd November and my first cold this year so I have done pretty well. My head is fuzzy and I know I will miss something out of the relatively simple but multi stage apple butter blog post. Soon I promise you, soon. 

Instead I offer you a simple recipe for ginger, honey and lemon biscuits. I like to think of these as the perfect healing biscuits if you have a cold. After all honey, lemon and ginger all feature heavily in commerical cold remidies.  And if you don't have a cold? They are still delicious little biscuits to nibble whenever you wish. 

The recipe is based on one for ginger and lemon biscuits by Signe Johansen in Scandilicous baking. As they contain honey I am going to enter them into this months alpha bakes.

Ginger lemon and honey biscuits

50g stem ginger

1 medium egg

20g golden syrup

20g honey

10g stem ginger syrup (from the jar the stem ginger comes in)

zest and juice of 1 lemon

125g non dairy spread (I used pure soya)

125g golden caster sugar

200g GF plain four

1/2 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Finely chop the stem ginger, add to a jug and mix in the egg, golden syrup, honey, stem ginger syrup and the zest and juice the lemon. 

In a separate bowl cream the DF spread and sugar together until creamy. Add in half the wet ingredients, 1/2 the flour and the xantham gum, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda then mix to combine. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix, finally add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Place clingfilm over the bowl and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Place teaspoons full of the dough onto the sheet, making sure to leave 4-5cm between them. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until golden round the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

I really like these biscuits, they are light, not heavy and crunchy like regular ginger biscuits (which I also love) and the lemon adds a freshness to the ginger. They will keep in an airtight tin for at least a week. If they start to go soft blast them in the oven for a couple of minutes to crisp them up.  

 

Vegan ginger spice cookies

I find I am stumbling across more and more vegan blogs as I look for lactose/dairy free recipes. I have no issue with eating eggs but I am happy to make entirely vegan recipes, its fun to try new things, and besides which I can bake for vegan friends when they visit.

These little ginger cookies are delicious, if I were to make them again I would flatten them more before baking just so that the texture was less cake like in the centre. I may also make them with treacle or half treacle, half golden syrup just for a variation in flavour.

Ginger spice cookies

makes ~ 12

1 tsp egg replacer (found easily at Holland and Barret)
50g golden syrup
50g dairy free spread
50g light brown sugar
110g spelt flour
25g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
2 balls stem ginger, finely chopped

caster/granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. At the last minute I realised I had run out, a greased tray worked just fine too.

Mix the egg replacer with a couple of tablespoons of water. Beat the egg replacer, golden syrup, dairy free spread and sugar together until smooth and combined. Add the the rest of the ingredients, except the stem ginger, and beat until nearly combined. Finally stir in the stem ginger until evenly distributed. 

Dived the dough into 12, roll into balls then in caster or granulated sugar. 

Place onto the prepare baking sheet and flatten with your hand. 

Bake for 12 minutes till golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. 

Xmas village

First things first. I can spell. As a general rule I very much dislike the word xmas instead of Christmas. Having said that, this months letter for alpha bakes is 'X'. I cannot find a food that begins with X so am actually pretty relieved it has turned up in December.

I was having my weekly wander round lakeland when I spotted, amongst much Christmas bakeware, their mould for a fairytale village. I have always wanted to make a gingerbread house and thought that for my first one small would be better as they would be sturdy. The mould can be used for chocolate or gingerbread.

I followed the recipe on the packet as I thought that it may be important for the structural integrity of the houses. I did add an extra half teaspoon of ginger and 1/2 a teaspoon of mixed spice as I really like my gingerbread to have a deep warmth. I also used all treacle. You could use all golden syrup or or a mix but 1) I like the flavour of treacle and 2) It makes my houses nice and dark which contrast nicely with the snow.

I have never made royal icing before but it was very easy and holds my house together very very well indeed.

I got creative with all the remaining royal icing to create snow drifts by doors and in window panes. I also had a go at icicles and am very pleased for my first attempt. I finished the whole thing off with a dusting of icing sugar.

Its almost to pretty to eat but once I had brown the first roof panel off it got easier. The gingerbread is crunchy with a lovely deep flavour, I am glad I added the extra spicing.

Halloween biscuits

Life is slowly getting calmer and finally I have time to get back to baking.

First up are some halloween biscuits. I do not really do anything for halloween but perusing blogs and pinterest I have seen some fantastic creations that inspired me to bake a goulish creation for my workmates.

There were two issues, I had time but not a whole lot of it so nothing that would take hours of elaborate decorating. That lead to the second issue, I am not very artistic and have never worked with fondant in my life. Besides which I do not really like fondant icing. So something not too time consuming, halloween-y and tasty. Quite the challenge (for me at least!)

Rooting through the cupboards I realised I had all the ingredients for ginger biscuits, an excellent start, I love ginger biscuits. Further rooting found a gingerbread man cutter, a couple of gel food colourings, and icing sugar. All the components needed for spooky happenings I think.

I decided to make half zombies and half skeltons, this was for two reasons 1) I did not know which one I wanted to make more and 2) I did not know if I could do skeletons and figured if I was really bad they too could be turned into zombies

Gingerbread men

makes ~16 depending on cutter size

125g butter
100g golden syrup
50 grams light brown sugar
50g dark brown sugar
300g plain flour
tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 good tsps ground ginger
1/2 tsp of cinamon

Grease a couple of baking sheets and preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. Put the butter, syrup and sugars into a pan and warm gently until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. 

Mix the dry ingredients in large bowl then stir in the wet ingredients until all the ingredients are incorporated. 

Place a piece of baking parchment on a work top and dust with flour. Roll out the dough to 1/2cm thick and stamp out gingerbread men. Re-roll the trimmings to get more men.

For those gingerbread men doomed to be zombies pull off an arm or a leg. Yes pull. A knife leaves too clean an edge. 

Place the men on the prepared and baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. Transfer the gingerbread men on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Skeletons

For the skeletons I made up a simple icing using icing sugar and water. I made it very thick but smooth. I put it into a freezer bag then snipped of the tiniest corner. I then piped my bones onto the skeletons. The scariest thing about these skeletons is their bone anatomy! There are lots of pictures online from very simple to very complex, I plumped somewhere in the middle.

Zombies

I used red gel food colouring and dabbed around the missing limb, dark at the edge, smudging to a lighter stain as I moved further away.

Similar to the white icing for the skeletons I made a red icing and did various eyes and mouths on the zombies. Either crosses for eyes, or angry diagonal slits. Mouths were zig zag teeth or open holes. I added a few scars to each zombie in icing too. Finally I took my green food colouring and  made my zombies look more rotting and dead by dabbing and smudging it around limbs and edges of the zombies.

Warning these are very crunchy biscuits, if you like your biscuits softer these are perhaps not for you.

Rhubarb and ginger soufflés

Happy new year everyone! My first post of the new year was never meant to be so delayed. Just after new year I was struck down by a sort of flu and once I was well enough to bake I realised I had left my camera at the family home after Christmas! Never mind, here I am.

Has anyone made resolutions? They are often made in the aftermath of Christmas excess, and if you have I wish you luck.

After Christmas its all very well to be full of good intentions but you may still want sweet things or maybe you are having a birthday celebration or dinner party and want a delicious but virtuous dessert. May I introduce your saviour, the rhubarb and ginger soufflé!

An added bonus is that forced rhubarb is in season at the moment, it is a delightful pink colour and will give your soufflés a gorgeous colour.

Each of these is approx 100 calories and low in fat, if you want an additional extra how about these orange tuile biscuits, add a couple to your soufflé and you will have a fantastic dessert all for under 200 calories. Happy new year indeed!

n.b. if you do not like ginger simply leave it out for an equally delicious plain rhubarb soufflé

Rhubarb and ginger soufflés

makes 4

For the rhubarb purée

175g rhubarb
20g caster sugar
1/2 tablespoon cornflour
ball of stem ginger, finely chopped

For the soufflé

3 medium egg whites
40g caster sugar

First make the purée. Slice the rhubarb into small pieces and put in  saucepan with the sugar, chopped ginger and a splash of water. Cook for ~10 minutes, over a medium heat, util the rhubarb breaks down. Mix the cornflour with a splash of water and add it to the pan, cook for ~ 1 minute until thickened. Use a blender to whiz to a smooth purée and then set aside to cool. 

When ready to make the soufflé preheat the oven to 190C/170C FAN. Butter 4 ramekins and dust them with a little caster sugar. Whisk the egg whites with half the sugar until soft peaks forms. Add the rest of the sugar, turn up the speed, and whisk until glossy medium firm peaks form.

Using a metal spoon fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the rhubarb purée  Gradually fold in the remaining egg white. Divide the mix between the ramekins, bake for 10 minutes and serve straight away.

Rubarb and ginger Jam

I like jam but quite often it can be a little too sweet. This jam is perfect. The rhubarb adds a natural tartness and the ginger gives it warmth. If you are a ginger sceptic or have ever been put off by overpowering pure ginger jam, don't let this prevent you from trying this. It is so good I am not wanting to give it away, the original plan, and I am going to have to make more.

Thankfully it is rhubarb season now, and the forced rhubarb around at this time of year results in a beautiful sherbet pink coloured jam.

If you have never made jam before, don't be scared, this jam is neither difficult nor time consuming and the result is well worth it.

The recipe can be found on the bbc good food website and I urge you to give it a go.

Myself and the boyfriend tried some on home-made buttermilk scones and declared it truly delicious!

Spicy peacekeeper cookies

This month we get a bumper two books for the cupcake book club. 'Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe' and Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe, both by Jenny Colgan.

I plan to make something from both books. These are from the Christmas book and made at the special request of my boyfriend. He loves this sort of biscuit and as soon as he knew about them they had to be made! To be fair I like this sort of biscuit too, and I have dates left over from making Christmas cakes which need using. Still have plenty left though so need to put my thinking cap on to use them up!

I have adapted the recipe only ever so slightly. I am not convinced that 14g of walnuts is right, it may be a typo and I have taken it to actually be 145g. Whether I am right or not remains to be seen.

Peacekeeper spice cookies (adapted from Jenny Colgan, Christmas at the cupcake Cafe)

makes 34

110g butter

100g light brown sugar

118g treacle

egg yolk

tablespoon soured cream

375g plain flour

tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

tsp ginger

tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice

50g raisins or sultanas

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

50g dried dates, roughly chopped

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the treacle, egg yolk and soured cream and mix until well incorporated. 

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing well after each addition.

Finally add the dried fruits and nuts and blend well. 

Chill the dough for 1/2 hour to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN and grease baking sheets, I did not grease mine but I know that it is very super non stick. 

Roll out the dough ~1cm thick and stamp out rounds.

This dough rolls beautifully!

 Cook for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden.  Using a palette knife transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and allow to cool fully.

Wow, I halved the recipe and still have ended up with 34 biscuits! Its a good job that they are delicious. They are spicy and light with lovely textures from the fruit. These would definitely cheer anyone up and keep the peace.

So many cookies!

Spicy gingerbread men

One of my pet hates is being tempted into buying a gingerbread man and then tasting nothing, not even a smidgen of ginger. I don't really like it when they are iced either, for me its all about spice and warmth not sugary sweetness.

I love gingerbread men so very much, I am terribly unrestrained if I have them in the house, but now its December it feels the perfect time to bake these spicy little biscuits.

Some basic recipes have egg in , some do not. I do not know if this would make a huge difference to texture, so in the interests of research, and not because I want to eat ALL the gingerbread men, I am going to try a few batches. Below is my egg-less version of gingerbread, good if you have no eggs in the house or have an allergy.

Gingerbread men

makes 8, depends on cutter size, recipe easily doubled

70g butter
30g treacle
50g light brown sugar
170g plain flour 
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
balls of stem ginger chopped, plus 1 tablespoon of the syrup
raisins to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and lightly grease a baking sheet, unless you know that yours is super non stick, then this is not necessary.

Gently warm the butter, treacle and sugar until melted.

Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and stem ginger together in a bowl. Add the stem ginger syrup to the melted mix. Mix the wet and dry ingredients, press together until a dough is formed.

Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough, it may crumble a little, just push it together with your hands. Stamp out the men, re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used up. Press chopped raisins into the dough as eyes and buttons if you like. 

Cook in the preheated oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on size. Keep an eye on them, they will catch very quickly.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack.

Once cool the men can be decorated with royal icing or melted chocolate if you wish.

These were really nice and warming gingerbread men, I will keep the spicing the same in the next batch and compare the textures of an egg and egg-less batter.

My ugliest googly eyed ginger bread man, I felt sorry for him, so ate him first!

p.s. sorry not many pictures, camera was charging!

Stem ginger shortbread

We have all been there, so much happening in such a short space of time that it can inevitably only end in one of two ways. Killing someone, or sitting in a crumpled heap rocking yourself and sobbing. Not wishing to partake in either activity I settled on a third option, bake something comforting.

Now in the middle of a rather hectic move I only had the basic ingredients, and being the middle of lent, chocolate was most definitely out, I wanted my sweet treat to be relatively fast and fuss free which ruled out waiting for things to cool before smothering them in frosting.

And then like a little beacon of hope there it was, a little jar of stem ginger.

Armed with the Great British bake off cookbook I set about making myself some stem ginger shortbread cookies.

I have used this recipe before, but just for vanilla and chocolate shortbreads. It is the most crumbly buttery shortbread imaginable but I do have one issue with the recipe. Once the dough is made I am supposed to be able to roll it into a log shape, refrigerate it and then slice off nice little rounds. I have never been able to get this dough into a log, it is just too crumbly, and I am conscious of not wishing to work it too much, tough shortbread is not nice.  

I have learnt that I can sort of bash it flat a bit and then roll it out. This seems to hold the dough together enough to roll it out.

If you are gentle the trimmings can be re-rolled and I have found it does not affect the end biscuit, hurrah.

The stem ginger version off these shortbreads is by far my favourite, the ginger is not too overpowering and the buttery texture is extremely morish. However if ginger is not your thing then omit the ground and stem ginger and add a teaspoon of vanilla paste to the creamed butter and sugar mix, then leave plain or throw in a handful of choc chips, or finely grated lemon zest, alternatively exchange a couple of tablespoons of plain flour with cocoa powder, as they say, the possibilities are endless.

Stem ginger shortbread (from the great british bake off cookbook)

Butter                        200g

Caster sugar             100g

Plain Flour                260g

Rice Flour                 40g

Ground ginger         ½tsp

Stem ginger              50g

Preheat the oven to 170^oC and grease 2 baking sheets

Finely chop the stem ginger

Cream the butter with a mixer, or good old elbow grease if you are that way inclined, until well softened, add the sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy.

Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and bring together with your hands to form a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 15-30 minutes. If you are rolling the dough closer to 15 minutes is best.

Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and stamp out shapes of your choice.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or plenty of cold milk!