Gingerbread Biscuits
Recipe From Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple (1747).
One of the most popular recipe books published in the eighteenth century, providing instructions for a variety of techniques: pickling, smoking, preserves and desserts.
The biscuit that we have come to know and love today, started as a 'bread-biscuit' made from left over bread dough, sweetened and then left to dry out in the oven.
Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple (1747)
Ingredients:
300g of Plain Flour
100g of Caster Sugar
100g of Unsalted Butter
25g of Grated Ginger
1 tbsp of Nutmeg
100g of Treacle
60ml of Double Cream
Equipment:
Baking Tray
Mixing Bowl
Small Saucepan
Wooden spoon
Rolling Pin
Biscuit Cutter
Prep Time: 20 minutes Serves: 4 Ability: Easy
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Method
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Preheat the oven to 190°c/Fan 180°c/Gas 5 and cut out greaseproof paper onto the baking tray.
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Rub butter into the plain flour until it forms a crumb consistency.
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To the mixture, add the sugar, nutmeg and grated ginger and stir well. Put the mixture aside.
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In a saucepan over a medium heat, add the cream and treacle to heat through. Do not boil.
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Mix both together to come together in a paste.
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Roll out mixture on a floured surface to about 2 inches thick. Either cut out shapes, or roll mixture into small balls.
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Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 mins or until golden brown.
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Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely before serving.