This truly is an old fashioned gingernut biscuit recipe! I was putting together a quick batch for a picnic over the weekend and realised I'd been making this particular recipe for well over 30 years. You know you have a winning recipe when you remember it by heart all those years later and still make them regularly.
It's an awesome back pocket recipe for when you don't have much exciting in the pantry, they also don't melt which is a big bonus for Australian picnics and they don't drop too many crumbs which is great for cleaning the car after a road trip.
We've been heading out on a few road trips again lately and working our way through many of these 25 fabulous day trips from Brisbane again before setting our sights on a few longer distance drives. These gingernut biscuits are a staple either way!
Now I know the original recipe came from a small softcover book, one of those black and white ones with no photos. I think it was Alison Holst but as I say that was over 30 years ago and I don't have the original book so I make if from my head and I know its evolved a little from the original over the years and been scaled up to make a decent batch but this version works well every time. I often double this recipe, as they last well in an airtight container if they get the chance.
Now if you don't know who Alison Holst is she's a Kiwi icon. She's been on cooking shows and writing books since before I was born and she basically 'taught' every Kiwi of my generation how to cook with nutritious, affordable everyday recipes. Which in turn fostered a love of local, fresh food and a bit more experimenting in the kitchen - with these old faithfuls to turn back to from time to time.
Table of Contents
Making Gingernut Biscuits
Getting set up
I turn the oven on to bake at 180° Celcius or fan bake at 170° Celcius as I get started, the trays should be ready to load by the time the oven is up to heat. Fan bake will cook and colour more evenly when you have multiple trays in the oven at once.
I also suggest lining your trays with baking paper as it speeds up the dishes afterwards but greasing them or using silicon baking sheets will also work.
Preparing the Cookie Dough
I was born in the UK, grew up in New Zealand and now call Australia home, so I definitely call these biscuits not cookies but for some reason, I've noticed that I call the uncooked mix cookie dough, no idea when I picked that up.
Something I really do appreciate with this recipe is that I can make it all in the one pot so if you start with a larger one than you need to melt the butter you'll save time at the sink later.
Melt the butter together with the golden syrup. Stir in the sugar and then the beaten egg. Finally add the dry ingredients, the flour, baking soda and ginger. Then stir with a wooden spoon until fully combined, it will only take a few turns.
There's not a lot of ingredients and they are things that are always in my fridge and pantry making these so easy to whip up at any time.
Getting ready to bake
Line up your lined baking slides next to your dough. Wet your hands just slightly and begin rolling the dough into smooth balls about the size of a 20c coin. Having wet hands stops the dough from sticking to you and helps get them sized evenly and smoothly for a more visual appealing end result.
Place the 2 trays into the oven at a time and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe
Old fashioned gingernut biscuits
A quick and easy gingernut biscuit recipe that is quite simply, THE BEST. Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the centre with a delicious hit of ginger.
Ingredients
- 100 grams of butter (melted)
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup
- 1 cups of raw sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¾ cups of plain flour
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the golden syrup.
- Stir in the sugar and allow to cool a little before the next step
- Add beaten eggs, the baking soda, ginger and flour and stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
- Line baking sheets with baking paper
- Dampen hands to stop it sticking and roll the dough into balls, place on the trays
- Bake at 180c (or 170 fan bake) for 10-13 minutes until golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool before storing in airtight containers.
Notes
I use raw sugar in this recipe and a lot of my baking. It adds a delicious caramel flavour but isn't necessary for the recipe, you can use plain white sugar if that is what you have available or prefer.
I highly recommend doubling the ingredients in the recipe to make a double batch of 48 cookies, they keep well and it can be a great time saver. The recipe has been tested this way many times and works perfectly.
Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 98Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 17mgSodium 85mgCarbohydrates 15gFiber 0gSugar 8gProtein 1g
Do you love an old fashioned homemade biscuit now and again? What are your favourites?
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Joe says
Delicious
Lanny says
Hi! Does the size of the egg matter?
Thanks!
Toni Broome says
Not really for this one although I usually buy large or extra large. When I can get local eggs they aren't size graded.
Pixie Connor says
I've been looking for the recipe my mother used to make 'way back when'... I'm 76... and this is it!! Thank you. It's the
chewy-ness that's so good.
Toni Broome says
Isn't food such a wonderful trigger for special memories of those we love
Ken says
I need to shape ginger biscuit , Santa , Christmas tree, can it be done on present mixture
Toni Broome says
Hi Ken, no this is the wrong sort of ginger cookie for that, these are a soft dough that is shaped into balls that flatten as they cook. You'd want a heavier gingerbread dough that is rolled for you to be able to cut it into shapes. Normally that will be a recipe that starts with beating the butter and sugar together. These are a traditional ginger cookie or gingernut, try looking for gingerbread cookies/biscuits recipes, you should see several in holiday theme if you search on Google or your preferred search engine. Good luck & happy Christmas.
Indira says
Can I use a cookie nozzle to drop the mixture into baking sheet?
Toni Broome says
Hi Indira. I haven't made these using a cookie nozzle and recommend forming them by rolling into balls as that gives the classic round shape and cracked finish.
Anne Maloret says
Hi. Have you amended this recipe recently? I am so sure your recipie has been my go to for gingernuts via Pinterest but when I went in today the egg and flour quantities are different to what I remember?
Toni Broome says
Hi Anne, thanks so much for your feedback. When I updated some of the photos recently I had changed the quantities to reflect the double batch that I usually make. I hadn't considered that many readers, like yourself, access it from Pinterest and this would be confusing, I have adjusted it back to the original batch size this morning so it should be all good again now. Thanks again for raising this.
Anne says
Ahh thank you! I thought I was losing my mind ?
soraya says
Hi, I made these lovely cookies but added some chopped dark chocolate and glaced ginger,reduced the sugar to 1 3/4 cup and they came out fabulous .Definitely a keeper. Thank you ???
Toni Broome says
Hi Soraya, thanks for your suggestion, dark chocolate and ginger are always a winning combination
Cheryl Taylor says
Hi Toni,
Can you use brown sugar in this recipe rather then white or raw sugar and will it change the taste and texture much ?
Regards Cheryl
Toni Broome says
Hi Cheryl, I've not made these with brown sugar but in general white, raw, caster and brown sugar all have the same sweetness spoon for spoon and in concept can be substituted for each other successfully in baking. There will be differences in flavour and texture though. Brown sugar has molasses which changes the flavour and makes the colour of the cooked biscuit darker so watch them carefully to ensure they aren't burning.
Cherene says
Hi, 2 questions.
Can I replace the golden syrup with honey (I have no access to g.syrup)
And can I use flour type 0 or 1?
Thanks from Italy
Toni Broome says
Hi Cherene, You can substitute the type 0 or 1 flour with no problem, we have different names for them here but that works fine. I wouldn't use wholemeal or non-wheat flours without other adjustments in the recipe. Honey is a good substitute for golden syrup in baking generally and although I haven't done it with this recipe myself it should work fine but the colour and flavour of the finished cookie will be slightly different. Out of interest, is golden syrup not generally available in Italy or is it hard to find in the current situation, we have a number of things we are struggling to get right now including flour!
Baldev Singh says
Can we make without egg...
Toni Broome says
I wouldn't recommend it, while I haven't tried, the function of the egg in this recipe is necessary for the texture and structure of the finished cookie.
Kaylee says
Does "T' mean tablespoon? Teaspoon? This is aggravating for the nonbakers.
Toni Broome says
Hi Kaylee, a capital T is the international abbreviation for a tablespoon while the lower case t is used internationally for teaspoon.
Carla says
They sounds super yummy! How many cookies does the recipe yield? Or how big are the balls to make the amount you usually make? Thanks for the recipe!
Toni Broome says
Thanks for the question Carla. I make 2 trays (24 cookies) out of a single batch, although I often double it if I want to stock up the tins. The balls of cookie dough are around 3 cm in size for this number and make a nice sized cookie. I'll be making a batch in the next couple of days so will add a few more photos into the article to make it a bit clearer.
Carla says
Thanks so much Toni!
Helen says
I made a batch of it the first time and fell in love with them but after making them again two more times they were not flat and crunchy but we're rather round like little balls. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong .
Cheers
Helen
Toni Broome says
It is strange that they worked the first time but not after. I've not had the issue with this recipe but in recipe development that would normally happen with either too much flour in the mix or the raising agent being too old.
Donna says
Hi Toni, I live in Scotland and have both UK measuring cups as well as USA measuring cups as so many recipes are with USA measurements! anyhow I just want to know if your measurements are UK or USA?
Toni Broome says
Hi Donna, the difference is 10 mls per cup between Bristish and US measures and it will make no difference to the recipe. My measuring cups follow the UK standard of 250 ml to a cup.
Barbara says
Hello Toni - sorry for the delay in replying but your email went to Junk. Can’t imagine why! They do sell the 15ml tablespoons in Australia so that’s probably why they’re the same. The Australian Women’s Weekly uses 20ml so that’s what I use. Wouldn’t it be great if we had world-wide standards. I’m looking forward to trying your recipe. Many thanks for your help. Barbara.
Barbara says
Hello Toni - would you please let me know if your tablespoons are Australian (20ml) or NZ (15ml). I went into meltdown decades ago when Arnotts changed the recipe for their ginger nuts and I think this one looks similar so here’s hoping. Many thanks. Barbara.
Toni Broome says
Hi Barbara. I hope they do provide the gingernut taste and consistency you remember. I think the short answer is that either measure will be fine with this recipe. Golden syrup isn't the easiest to measure with that level of precision. I have some really old measuring spoons from NZ I still use and some newer ceramic ones purchased here in Australia, I just tried transferring water from one to the other and I'd swear they are the same, maybe the NZ ones were imported even way back then. It's the Australian set I use when I write up and test recipes though. To be honest with my weekly baking I go by eye a lot and even a heaped up dessert spoon has been known to do the job successfully. Happy baking!
Rodney Smith says
I thought IT meant a tin of golden syrup, then I am English!
Donna says
Does T mean teaspoon or tablespoon ?
Would love to try sounds delicious
Don
Toni Broome says
I use the standard abbreviations of a lower case t for teaspoons and an upper case T for tablespoon. Thanks for pointing this out, I'll take a look at making it clearer.
donna says
thanks for responding.
cheers, Donna
Leanne says
Are these crunchy or soft ? Love the real kiwi hard crispy gingernuts !
Toni Broome says
Hi Leanne, they are in between, they have bite but are not crunchy. Adding a little less flour means they will be crunchy, if you do that the mix is a little more soft and sticky so to make it into balls so you will need to keep your hands slightly wet to form them and they relax a little when you set them on the tray rather than holding their ball shap.
Sabrina says
When you make your balls roll it in sugar place on tray and bake. My breveation for tablespoin is tblsp. And for teaspoon is tsp. Isn't that easier?
June says
Ah, wonderful! I just saw Alison Holst's name and realised this recipe is in my old faithful "Dollars and Sense" cookbook, which I've had for many years and from which I always make my Hasty Hummus and Oakhill Potatoes. Yum!
Toni Broome says
I just looked up the book June to see if it was familiar. If it was her recipe it must have been republished from an earlier book as I was making it while I was at school, a good decade before 'Dollars and Sense' was released (now don't I feel old). Those potatoes sound fabulous though, what an interesting combo.
Sumaya says
Amazing recipe, everything I want in a gingernut. Definitely a keeper. Thx for sharing.
Debbie says
These were so good, they actually made my week! I've tried 3 different gingernut recipes, but this one is the keeper, thanks!