Gingernuts

Sift the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda together into a mixing bowl, add the sugar, then lightly rub in the butter till crumbly.

All you do now is simply add the syrup and mix everything to a stiff paste. No liquid is needed because the syrup will be enough to bring the mixture to the right consistency. Now divide the mixture into quarters, as evenly sized as possible, then each quarter into four, and roll the pieces into little balls. Next place them on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between them because they spread out quite a bit. Then just flatten them slightly (to about 1.5cm) and bake near the centre of the oven for 10–15 minutes by which time they will have spread themselves out and will have a lovely cracked appearance.

Cool them on the baking tray for 10 minutes or so, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling and store in an airtight tin. You can watch more biscuit recipes being made in our Online Cookery School Video on the right.