Hello you fine, fine people!

This is definitely how I feel

Midweek blues, I can feel it, you’re almost at the weekend everyone! Won’t it be a relief when Friday afternoon comes and it’s time to go home… But until then, I’d like to share something truly amazing.

It is quite extraordinary.

Revolutionary.

It is of course…that wonderful dancing pony from the 3 advert! I am literally addicted to watching it (I’ve been told that if I were a pony, this would be me – definitely because of the blonde fringe!), so I trust this may cheer you up from the midweek hump!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekr05T9Iaio

So aside from the pony that dances a wonderful jig, and the fact you’re halfway through the week…I’ve made the tenth recipe from the Baking Bible – Gingernuts!

Usually, the way I decide what to make from the book is by going through and evaluating what I know will be eaten by everyone in the house as soon as possible. And I knew that these little biscuits were perfect for just that, they’ve nearly all gone already!

So let me tell you a few things that happened to me as I made them, just so I can give my opinion on the recipe itself. I’ll give it as a list, everyone (me) loves a list:

1. The mixture in the bowl was far too dry. I have no idea why, but when I attempted the first batch, it was difficult to mould them as the mix crumbled?! How did you resolve it? Easy, I added about 4 tbsp of milk in order for the dough to come together easier, and it worked a treat. 
2. When I have a biscuit, I like something that is generally biscuit-sized. Mary’s recipe calls for you to mould the dough into small walnut sized balls and place on the baking tray. So I thought okay, not much experience making biscuits but thought it would be a similar effect as making cookies? You know, when they spread out and you think ‘how did that happen from that tiny ball of cookie dough?!‘. Nope, didn’t happen, came out as tiny ball-shaped biscuits. So for the next batch, I flattened them out a bit more, eeeaasy! Biscuit sized goodness! 
   
3. I’d advise a sheet of greaseproof paper on the bottom of the baking tray instead of just greasing it. This is how I always make cookies and things, just makes taking them off the tray that bit easier!

So as I say, let’s do this!

Ingredients (makes about 40 biscuits if you make them a bit bigger than advised):

• 100 g butter
• 1 generous tbsp golden syrup
• 350 g self-raising flour
• 100 g Demerara sugar
• 100 g light muscovado sugar
• 1 level tsp bicarb of soda
• 1 level tbsp ground ginger
• 1 egg, beaten 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas mark 3. Grease or line 3 baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Add the butter and golden syrup to a small pan and gently heat together until the butter has melted.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add the butter mixture, followed by the beaten egg.If the dough seems too crumbly, add 4 tbsp of milk and combine together.
4. Form into a dough and roll into small-ish balls (I wouldn’t recommend as doing them as small as a walnut) and place on the baking tray, flatten slightly. Make sure you do leave a gap between each biscuit as they do spread if you flatten them out before baking. 
   
5. Bake in the oven on the top shelf for 20 minutes until golden.
6. Put onto a wire rack and leave to completely cool.