Everyday dinners
Gluten-free ginger biscuits
Golden syrup and a generous spoonful of ginger give these easy drop biscuits their warming flavour.
These ginger biscuits are spooned onto the tray, so there is no rolling or cutting out. Golden syrup brings a mellow sweetness, with enough ground ginger to make its presence felt.
Makes 16 biscuits, or eight servings of two. Let them cool completely before eating: they firm up as they cool. This recipe is in development and has not been kitchen-tested.
The recipe
Gluten-free ginger biscuits
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total*
- 40 min
- Makes
- 8 servings of two biscuits
*Estimated development timings. Allow about 30 minutes for cooling after baking, including 10 minutes on the trays. Cooling is additional to the total time.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the biscuits
Equipment
- Use digital kitchen scales and measuring spoons.
- Use a small saucepan and a heatproof mixing bowl.
- Use a mixing spoon and two teaspoons for portioning.
- Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
- Use a spatula and a wire cooling rack.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the trays
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Line two large baking trays with baking paper. Wash your hands and clean the work surface and equipment, removing any crumbs or flour from previous baking. Check that both trays fit in the oven with space around them for hot air to circulate.
- 02
Melt the butter
Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in the saucepan. Warm gently for 3–4 minutes, stirring until no butter pieces remain and the mixture is evenly combined; do not boil. Remove from the heat and leave for about 5 minutes, until warm rather than hot.
- 03
Mix the dough
Stir the flour and ground ginger together in the mixing bowl until the ginger is evenly distributed. Add the warm butter mixture and beaten egg, then stir until there are no dry flour pockets. The dough should be soft and sticky enough to spoon onto a tray. Do not taste raw dough. Wash your hands and clean utensils and surfaces after contact with raw egg or flour.
- 04
Portion the biscuits
Use two teaspoons to divide the dough into 16 similar mounds, about 31 g each, placing eight on each tray. Leave at least 5 cm between them. Gently spread each mound with the back of a spoon into a disc about 5 cm across, checking that the thickness is reasonably even.
- 05
Bake until golden
Bake for 14–16 minutes, swapping the trays between shelves after 10 minutes. The edges should be golden brown and the tops should look dry and set, with no wet-looking dough in the centres. If necessary, bake for another 2 minutes and check again. The biscuits will still be delicate while hot.
- 06
Leave to cool
Leave the biscuits on their trays for 10 minutes, until firm enough to lift with a spatula without bending. Transfer to a wire rack for about 20 minutes more, until completely cool underneath as well as on top. Only pack them away once there is no remaining warmth.
Ingredient checks
Choose a clearly labelled gluten-free self-raising flour blend and check whether it contains xanthan gum. Check the gluten-free suitability and allergen information of the ground ginger, golden syrup and all other packaged ingredients. For someone with coeliac disease, use clean utensils, trays and storage containers, and keep ordinary flour and crumbs away from the preparation area.
Allergens: Contains milk from the butter.; Contains eggs.; No other UK priority allergens are intentionally added, but check the flour blend and every packaged ingredient for cereals containing gluten, celery, crustaceans, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites.; Gluten-free does not necessarily mean wheat-free; some gluten-free blends contain specially processed wheat starch and are unsuitable for someone with a wheat allergy..
Make it work for you
For a dairy-free version, replace the butter with 80 g firm dairy-free baking block suitable for gluten-free baking; check for soya and other allergens.
Golden caster sugar can replace the light soft brown sugar in the same quantity, giving a lighter flavour.
If your gluten-free self-raising blend has no xanthan gum, mix in one-quarter teaspoon of gluten-free xanthan gum with the flour.
Do not replace the flour blend with a single flour such as coconut or almond flour; their absorption and structure differ.
These substitutions have not been kitchen-tested.
For another day
Once completely cold, keep the biscuits in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and eat within three days for best quality.
Freeze cooled biscuits in a sealed container, separated with baking paper, for up to one month for best quality; thaw covered at room temperature.
The suggested keeping times and texture after freezing have not been kitchen-tested.
Exploding food
What goes in.
The ingredients, seen a little differently. This image is an illustration of the main ingredients; use the written recipe for the full list and quantities.
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