Old-Fashioned Ginger Biscuits

Old-Fashioned Ginger Biscuits baked with molasses and earthy christmassy spices, the best cookies for the festive season. Call them ginger nut cookies or ginger snap cookies, you know you are in for a treat. 

They might look simple, but how good they are! It you haven't got time to bake fancy gingerbread houses or other iced biscuits, these are a great alternative, everyone will love the taste.

I would say that these ginger cookies are a much more simple variation of the gingerbread cookies.

Not quite sure why the British version is called gingernut cookies, as they do not contain nuts at all, so they are surely safe for people with nut allergies.

The ginger flavour brings heat, but is not too sharp. Taken out of the oven, the cookies are soft and chewy, but once they cool down, they harden, and you can get that snap and a good crunch.

They really go well with a hot drink, be it your favourite tea, hot chocolate or coffee. Talking about hot chocolate, fancy a good homemade one? I've got the perfect recipe: Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows and Cream, way tastier than the one you buy.

If you have kids, this is an easy recipe, so they can give a helping hand, they would love measuring the ingredients and mixing. And you really don't need to worry about a perfect shape.

Jump to:

• Ingredients needed
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• Old-Fashioned Ginger Biscuits

Ingredients needed

• unsalted butter - soften but not melted
• granulated sugar +2 tablespoon to roll the dough balls in
• plain flour
• ground ginger
• egg - at room temperature
• molasses -it can be replaced with golden syrup)
• ground cinnamon
• ground cloves
• bicarbonate of soda

Step-by-step photos and instructions

Like with other cookies, using the right amount of ingredients is crucial if you want cookies that spread nicely, and have the shape you are after. There are many recipes out there, but after many trials, I have found the perfect butter : flour ratio.

• in a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until you get a smooth paste

Make sure the butter is at room temperature and is soft enough to be beaten well with the sugar. One trick here, if the butter is not soft enough, is grating the butter before using it. In this way, it softens really quickly, and you don't need to wait around for hours.

• add the egg, and beat again well until smooth
• in go the spices, molasses, and bicarbonate of soda; mix again
• add the flour, and mix to a smooth consistency - it can be done with spatula as well

Expert tips

Now, the dough is not hard, it's quite soft and a bit sticky, but it can still be rolled into a ball. Do not be tempted to add any more flour, or the cookies won't spread well anymore.

• use about one tablespoon of dough and roll into balls, then coast them with sugar
• arrange on a baking tray lined with non-stick paper, making sure there is at least one inch between each ball, they do spread quite a lot

There is no need to flatten the balls up, if the dough is the right consistency, the cookies will flatten up properly. You might have to bake them in batches, depending on the size of your baking tray, you won't be able to have more than 6 balls baking at a time.

• bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 12-15 minutes, or until they flatten, and the edges are a bit crispy

When you remove the cookies from the oven, they are still soft, but they do harden quickly once they cool down, so leave them on the baking paper for 5 minutes, before transferring them to a cooling rack, otherwise they loose their shape.

And these are your Christmas cookies, quick, easy, and so delicious too. Have are your favourite Christmas cookies?

If you’ve tried my OLD-FASHIONED GINGER BISCUITS or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK,  INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.

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