Home-Made ginger Biscuits

[Loztastic]

I just felt the need to share, i've been making home-made ginger biscuits tonight

the recipie was supposed to make 12

i've got 25!

[Disenchanter]

You now need to share the recipe...

Just for us to verify your results, of course. Not because that sounds good...

[Loztastic]

appologies to americans, but i live in 21st century europe, so use measurements for grown-ups

250g of plain flour
50g cornflour
1 teaspoon each of mixed spice and cinnamon
pinch of fresh ground black-pepper
1 large teaspoon of baking powder
2.5cm of fresh ginger, grated
85g ground almonds

put all the above in a bowl, and combine well

then, in a pan

250g of honey
50g molasses
zest and half the juice from a small orange
85g butter

put on a low heat, and stir till the butter melts and it becomes thin - DO NOT LET IT SIZZLE

add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir to form a dough. now, flour takes up different ammounts of liquid, depending on all kinds of strange conditons, so you may need to add extra flour (if it's very liquid)or extra orange juice (if it doesn't come together

leave for 10 min to cool and firm up - it should be pliable and formable now

form into balls the size of a walnut. roll each one in cinnamon sugar (that's golden sugar done 1 table spoon sugar to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon), then place on a prepared baking tray

into an oven on gas-4 or 180c

15 min

DONE

[Messageboard Troll]

We also call them cookies in America, not biscuits. What's a "g"? Is that like an ounce? Are there 16 of them in a "kg"? Would it equate to a dry ounce or a fluid ounce, because those are different quantities? What if I have to convert to tablespoons? I don't comprehend! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[Disenchanter]

Converted thanks to this site. (Some of them are rounded to the best fraction.)

Loztastic wrote:

appologies to americans, but i live in 21st century europe, so use measurements for grown-ups

250g (2-1/2 Cups) of plain flour
50g (1/3 Cup) cornflour
1 teaspoon (3/4 teaspoon) each of mixed spice and cinnamon
pinch of fresh ground black-pepper
1 large teaspoon (3/4+ teaspoon) of baking powder
2.5cm (1 inch) of fresh ginger, grated
85g (1 Cup) ground almonds

put all the above in a bowl, and combine well

then, in a pan

250g (3/4 Cup) of honey
50g (7 teaspoons) molasses
zest and half the juice from a small orange
85g (3-1/2 Tablespoon) butter (a little less than 1/2 stick)

put on a low heat, and stir till the butter melts and it becomes thin - DO NOT LET IT SIZZLE

add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir to form a dough. now, flour takes up different ammounts of liquid, depending on all kinds of strange conditons, so you may need to add extra flour (if it's very liquid)or extra orange juice (if it doesn't come together

leave for 10 min to cool and firm up - it should be pliable and formable now

form into balls the size of a walnut. roll each one in cinnamon sugar (that's golden sugar done 1 table spoon sugar to 1 teaspoon (3/4 teaspoon) ground cinnamon), then place on a prepared baking tray

into an oven on gas-4 or 180c (350f)

15 min

DONE

I admit, I was thinking American style biscuts... But I'm always up for new recipes.

[Sachiye]

Loztastic, mmmmmmmm thank you for sharring. They sound deliciuos, I'll take one. ^^

[lynora]

Does cornflour = cornstarch or corn meal? Makes a pretty big difference to how the cookies turn out....:)

[varianor]

+1 for homemade ginger biscuits! Thanks for sharing.

corn meal is coarsely ground corn (go to Rhode Island or Cape Cod for excellent corn meal - or even online)

corn flour is finely ground corn

corn starch is separated from corn meal by a process

Lilith may be along eventually to whip us all into shape.

[Disenchanter]

lynora wrote:

Does cornflour = cornstarch or corn meal? Makes a pretty big difference to how the cookies turn out....:)

Should be cornstarch by my research.

[Loztastic]

why why WHY would anyone measure honey or anything else sticky by volume and not by weight?

you put the pan its going into on your scales, zero them, and just weight directly into the pan

no muss, no fuss, and no resudue left stuck to whatever you use to measure it

[Disenchanter]

Scale measuring (for cooking) is still a pretty new idea in America. If you watch any of the cooking shows here, I don't think anyone ever even mentions it. I'm not defending it, just explaining.

When it comes to something sticky like honey, most experienced cooks will "eyeball" it and not even measure it. But, they still need a measurement they are familiar with to guesstimate the right amount.

(Barely related side note: Firefox spellchecker considers guesstimate a properly spelled word.)

[Seldriss]

Disenchanter wrote:

lynora wrote:

Does cornflour = cornstarch or corn meal? Makes a pretty big difference to how the cookies turn out....:)

Should be cornstarch by my research.

Corn flour is not corn starch.

It's cornmeal, what you use for cornbread, polenta and similar recipes.

As a matter there is an actual corn flour, different from cornmeal, but it's quite difficult to find.
I don't even know if it exists in US, maybe in the south...

[Disenchanter]

Seldriss wrote:

Disenchanter wrote:

lynora wrote:

Does cornflour = cornstarch or corn meal? Makes a pretty big difference to how the cookies turn out....:)

Should be cornstarch by my research.

Corn flour is not corn starch.

It's cornmeal, what you use for cornbread, polenta and similar recipes.

As a matter there is an actual corn flour, different from cornmeal, but it's quite difficult to find.
I don't even know if it exists in US, maybe in the south...

Well, according to the conversion site, Wikipedia, and Recipe Zaar, what is referred to as corn flour in the UK (where Loztastic is posting from) is usually cornstarch.

But I have no direct experience to go from.

[Seldriss]

I guess there is a mistake on their side.
Cornstarch is not a flour, that's a residue from corn, which can be used in cooking as a thickener, like potato starch or amidon.

This being said, considering the different countries of origin of all of us, and the different ways to call things, i actually don't know what kind of "cornflour" the OP was refering to.
Unfortunately it could be cornmeal or cornstarch, which have completely different effects on a recipe...

[Loztastic]

it's cornstarch (i think) - a fine white powder

if you replace part of the regular flour on a 5-to-1 ration (ie, 250g flour to every 50g cornflour) when doing baking, the resulting cake, cookie, muffin or biscuit comes out lighter

it's the same principle when doing yeast-based baking, replace some flour with semolina, on a 4-to-1 ratio (ie, 400g strong flour, 100g semolina for a standard loaf) to help a really good crust form

i just need to work out the right ratio for adding spelt to bread flour - i've still not got it right, and only a few of the cook-books include spelt-based baking

[Crimson Jester]

So starch or meal then?

[Loztastic]

Cornflour = Cornstarch

Polenta = Cornmeal

[Crimson Jester]

Thank you.