So after spending a while trying to make these scales, I needed something to measure my ingredients against - turns out that 1p's and 2p's are made to standard weights: 1p weighs 1/8oz and 2p weighs 1/4oz
So finally I could start making my ginger nuts and here is the recipe - I love ginger nuts but the ones you get from the shop are never very gingery so making your own is good because you can make them exactly how you want. Also, the recipe is so easy and quick, not to mention the wonderful smell when they're in the oven.
So here we go - how to make ginger nuts:
Ingredients (makes 16):
- self-raising flour 4oz/110g
- ground ginger 1 rounded teaspoon
- bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon
- granulated sugar 1½ oz/40g
- margarine/butter 2oz/50g
- crystallised ginger small handful - basically however much you like (optional)
- golden syrup 2 tablespoons
Method:
- First sieve the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl
- Then add in the sugar and mix everything together well
- Soften the butter a little, either at room temperature or on a gentle heat in the oven (it should not be liquid - just soft)
- Mix the butter with the mix so far and crumble together with your hands until it is a crumbly consistency
- If you are using the crystallised ginger, chop it finely (although if you prefer, big pieces can be nice) and stir into your mixture
- Add in 2 tablespoons of golden syrup and stir everything together into a ball - it should stick together nicely but you may need to use your hands
- Roll your mix into a ball and divide up into 16 roughly equal pieces and roll each of these into a ball
- Lightly grease a large (or a few small) baking tray and place the balls onto it, leave plenty of room between each one as they spread quite a lot
- Squash each ball a little with the back of a spoon
- Put into the oven on gas mark 5 for 10-12minutes. I did several small trays so they went on different shelves in the oven - I had to switch them round half way
When they come out of the oven they should be a light golden colour and nicely cracked all over. They will still be very squishy when you take them out so leave then to cool for five minutes on the baking trays and when they are hard enough to take off, place them on a cooling rack. Once they are cool place them in a tin or airtight container. They will probably not completely harden up until the next day.
These are so easy to make and they taste really good - I ended up making four batches in total. Even my cat loved them and kept hoovering up even the smallest crumb that she found.
If you make these I would love to know how they turn out, let me know in the comments below.
EDIT: so, this post seems to have been popular - I'm going to do another for cheesecake once I sort through the MILLIONS of photos I took whilst making it. In the mean time, if you have a hankering for recipes and ramblings, check out Louise's blog, you're sure to love it!
