today has mostly been about ginger biscuits...

over the weekend, frank and i made some marvellous ginger biscuits (that we found on the good to know website.) oh my goodness. they are so easy to make, and you simply can't bugger them up! 7 year olds aren't known for their perfect dough-rollong skills (whereas their 34 yr old anal mothers are...) but i decided not to interfere to much and they were plonked on a baking sheet with heavy-handed 7 yr old abandon. but they turned out brilliantly, to look at *and* to eat. so needless to say, the first batch went very quickly, so arth and i may some more this afternoon. and if you think 7 yr old boys are ham fisted, then 4 yr old boys are something else. and they *still* turned out brilliantly! quite simply, you can't fuck these up. (and if you do, then you clearly should not be allowed near hot liquids)

they have quite a few ingredients (that we had most of, amazing) but are well worth it. you can read the recipe on the website we used, or follow the slightly amended version i used for the second batch, below (for example, i use a little less sugar and a third less honey and treacle without too much taste variation)

so you need to:

turn oven on at 180 (dunno what that is in gas marks etc, look it up)

grease a large baking sheet, makes around 18 biscuits

bung in a saucepan, and melt on a lowish heat:

2 oz butter/spread/low fat whatever

1.5 oz honey

2 oz black treacle

2 oz dark brown sugar

then throw in a mixing bowl:

8oz self raising flour

teaspoon ground ginger

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon bicarb of soda

(you can also grate a piece of ginger but i hadn't got any)

mix the melted sugar/butter combo into the dry ingredients, and mix to a stiff dough. if it's a little runny, add a touch more flour. it should come together into a ball. take small pieces of dough and form into a balls a little smaller than a golf ball, place on baking sheet a little way from each other and sling them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. and bob's yer bleedin' uncle, perfect ginger biscuits! they are best the day of baking and they're nice and crunchy. i kept some in a tin overnight and while still yummy, they were a little soft.

make some. right now. you won't regret it.

update!!! it has been brought to my attention (by judy in virginia) *waves enthusiatically to judy* that some of my american readers might not know what black treacle is. well, i reckon the nearest ingredient you have is probably molasses, so substitute that and i think it will work a treat. and if anyone would like to let me know if it works, i'd be most grateful. or actually i could just do it myself as i happen to have a jar of 'grandma's molasses' in my cupboard...