Chef Thomas
All-Butter Shortbread Fingers
The plainest biscuit in the tin and the hardest one to stop eating, three ingredients and a slow oven turning good butter into something quietly perfect with a cup of tea.
Culinary Explorer
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Crispy Ginger Nuts
Created by Chef Thomas
Proper ginger nuts, dark and fiery and built to crack between your teeth, made for the kind of grey afternoon when the kettle goes on twice and the biscuit tin earns its keep.
Pastries & Cookies
British
Weeknight
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
15 min cook•30 min total
YieldAbout 20 biscuits
These belong to October onwards. Not because you can't make them in July, but because a ginger nut wants weather to lean against. Cold rain on the window. The first jumper of the season. The kettle going on for the second time before lunch. That's when a tin of these makes proper sense.
A good ginger nut is rock-hard. Not chewy, not soft, not a half-cooked compromise pretending to be a biscuit. Hard enough to snap cleanly when you bend it, hard enough to survive a long dunk in strong tea without collapsing into the bottom of the mug. The hardness is the whole point. So is the heat. Two tablespoons of ground ginger sounds like a lot. It isn't. Anything less and you're making a vaguely spiced biscuit, not a ginger nut.
Golden syrup is the other thing that matters. It gives the dough that dark, almost treacly depth and helps the biscuits crack into those proper fissured tops as they bake. You can taste the difference. Don't be tempted to swap it for honey or maple syrup. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, but some words you don't change.
I wrote it down in the notebook the first time I got these right: "Ginger nuts. Dark. Cracked. October. Two cups of tea." There are few better feelings than passing the tin to someone who didn't know they wanted a biscuit until they heard the lid come off.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unsalted butter
Quantity
100g
golden syrup
Quantity
75g
golden caster sugar
Quantity
150g
plain flour
Quantity
225g
bicarbonate of soda
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground ginger
Quantity
2 tablespoons
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
pinch
large egg yolk
Quantity
1
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unsalted butter | 100g |
| golden syrup | 75g |
| golden caster sugar | 150g |
| plain flour | 225g |
| bicarbonate of soda | 1 teaspoon |
| ground ginger | 2 tablespoons |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | pinch |
| large egg yolk | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •Two heavy baking trays
- •Small saucepan
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Wire cooling rack
- •Airtight tin for storage
Instructions
- 1
Melt butter and syrup
Set the oven to 180C/160C fan. Line two baking trays with parchment. Put the butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan over a low heat. Let them melt together slowly, swirling the pan now and then. You're not cooking anything, just bringing them together. When the butter has gone and the mixture looks glossy and amber, take it off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Hot butter scrambles the egg yolk, and we don't want that.
Warm the spoon under the hot tap before you measure the syrup. It slides off cleanly instead of clinging in a sticky lump. - 2
Mix the dry ingredients
While the butter cools, tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Whisk it through with a fork so the bicarb and spices are evenly distributed. The kitchen should already be starting to smell of ginger. That's the whole point of using a generous hand with it. Shy ginger nuts aren't worth the bother.
- 3
Bring it together
Stir the sugar into the cooled butter and syrup, then beat in the egg yolk. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until it comes together as a soft, slightly sticky dough. It will firm up as it sits. If it feels too loose to roll, give it five minutes on the side and try again.
- 4
Roll into balls
Pinch off pieces about the size of a walnut and roll them into balls between your palms. Place them on the lined trays with plenty of room between each one. They spread. Really spread. Six to a tray is plenty. Press each ball down very gently with the flat of your hand, just enough to settle it.
Don't be tempted to crowd the trays. These biscuits double in size and the edges run together if they're too close, which spoils the snap. - 5
Bake until cracked and dark
Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes. They're ready when the tops have cracked into deep fissures, the colour has gone from pale beige to a proper deep gold, and the edges look set. They will still feel soft in the middle when you take them out. Trust this. They crisp as they cool, and a ginger nut that's hard from the oven is a ginger nut that's been baked too long.
- 6
Cool until they snap
Leave the biscuits on the trays for five minutes to firm up, then lift them carefully onto a wire rack to cool completely. This is when the magic happens. The soft, chewy biscuits you took from the oven turn rock-hard and crisp as they cool, ready to snap cleanly between your fingers and survive a dunk in strong tea without falling to pieces. Store in a tin the moment they're cold.
Chef Tips
- •Use proper ground ginger and check it's fresh. Ground spices fade fast in the cupboard, and a tin that's been there for two years won't give you the heat you need. If you can't smell it the moment you open the jar, buy a new one.
- •The biscuits will look underbaked when you take them out. They should. Pull them too early and they stay chewy; leave them too long and they go bitter and brittle in the wrong way. The crack pattern on top is your best guide. Deep, dark fissures means done.
- •Store them in an airtight tin the moment they're cool. Air is the enemy of a crisp biscuit, and a ginger nut left on the side overnight goes soft and sad. They'll keep for a fortnight in a proper tin, though they rarely last that long in this house.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge, wrapped in cling film. Let it sit at room temperature for twenty minutes before rolling, or it will crack rather than shape.
- •Baked biscuits keep in an airtight tin for up to two weeks. They actually improve after a day, when the spices have settled and deepened.
- •The rolled, unbaked balls freeze well. Open-freeze on a tray, then bag them up. Bake straight from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the cooking time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 28g)
Calories
125 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
80 mg
Total Carbohydrates
20 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
1 g
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