I’ve loved ginger biscuits since I was a kid. There’s something about the crunchy, gingery, buttery, spicy-but-sweet combination that I just can’t resist. A big stack of said biscuits and I would be inseparable. They make great gifts, if you’re feeling generous, and are so ridiculously easy to make, I hardly think they should be restricted to just a Christmas appearance.
These are not the soft and chewy versions I made earlier. They are firm, crunchy, and are absolutely divine dunked into a hot beverage of your choice. They can be as thick or thin as you’d like, the dough requires no chilling and they can be stored away in an airtight tin without any fear of becoming soft, even in a hot country. Merry Christmas you guys!
The recipe comes from Delia Online, and I saw it on What Jessica Baked Next . Those little crinkles form magically and you can bake them a few minutes longer for a darker, crunchier biscuit. They are perfectly spiced and though I swapped the golden syrup for honey, the flavour is just beautiful. In fact, the honey makes them more awesome!
The process is similar to making shortbread but you’ll use softened butter instead of cold for that soft, pliable dough. I still had self-raising flour on hand, and you can buy a packet by Blue Bird or make your own (see recipe notes). This makes a small batch, so feel free to double, triple, quadruple the recipe for a holiday party, holiday gifts, holiday binging. Get baking!
Crunchy Ginger Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup self-raising flour (90 gms, see notes)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 heaped tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (50 gms)
- 1/4 cup butter at room temp (50 gms)
- 2 tbsps honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190 C and lightly grease a baking tray or line it with a silicone mat.
- Sift the flour, baking soda and ginger in a bowl, then add the sugar and mix.
- Rub the butter into this mixture till it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the honey and bring the dough together with your fingers. It will be soft, but pliable.
- Form equal sized rounds with the dough and place about an inch apart on the baking tray. In warmer kitchens, the dough will be softer, so it's best to leave a little room for spreading. In cooler temperatures, the cookies may not spread as much, so press the dough balls gently if you'd thinner, crispier cookies.
- Bake for 10 minutes for lighter, softer cookies and 13 to 15 minutes for darker, crunchier cookies. Rotate the tray halfway through baking especially if your oven has hot-spots like mine does.
- Allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely. Store in an airtight tin for about 10 days. Happy baking!
Notes
Hello,
I made these cookies and they are really soft coming out of the oven- are they supposeed to be like this or have I done something wrong :0
Hi, cookies usually firm up as they cool but you can also bake them a bit longer if you’d like them crunchier. Did you make any changes to the recipe ?
Perfect recipe loved by all ❤️
Happy to hear that !
Just like Maya, my cookies also were salty. I made them with regular flour+baking powder. I think that combo makes them salty. Self raising flour is the right flour for this recipe. Also they became soft after a few days though they were crunchy just after baking.
I haven’t heard of that reaction before but I’ll look into it. I’ve made it both ways and not had this issue though. Also cookies will become soft after a few days, they absorb any moisture in the air so it’s quite natural. An airtight tin will keep them fresh for a few days.
Made these and family loved these. Every taste was balanced.
So happy to hear that !
Hey can I replace honey with jaggery or brown sugar?
sorry caster sugar!
You could but there will be a difference in flavour and caster sugar makes them crispier as well
hey am 14 and i just wanna say thxs for the recipe its been hard finding one like this so thxs
Are these chewy in the centre and crunchy in the outside?
They’re crunchy overall but if you’re looking for a chewy cookie then you could look for the ginger molasses ones on the blog using the search bar on top!
Overall crunchy is what I’m looking for. But how can I make them thinner? More biscuit like rather than cookie like?
You can flatten them more before baking and reduce the baking time as needed so they don’t burn
Hi, can I substitute ginger powder with freshly ground ginger? How much should I add in?
I haven’t tried this with fresh ginger so I can’t say for sure , I’d probably start with half the amount and add more depending on how the dough tastes and smells
Okay!! Will definitely try them out 🙂 Thanks again
Hi Maya, that’s really strange and I’m not sure why they’re extra salty! I’ve even made these with salted butter and they turn out just fine. Did you use a spice blend or something? They might have added salt sometimes. Can’t think of anything else, sorry!
Hi Gayatri , love how simple this recipe is !
I made it using regular flour and added the
baking powder and used unsalted butter but
my biscuits were really salty . Any idea what
Ingredient could do that ? Thanks, Maya.