This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
My first attempt at ginger shortbread was, quite frankly, a disaster. I made the dough too sticky, then added flour to compensate and what came out of the oven looked like burnt beermats. And, I discovered that using powdered ginger was worse than useless in the taste stakes. So, I washed everything up and started again, this time using fresh ginger. Believe me, despite my amateur status as a baker, this time my shortbread was definitely worth a nibble!
Fiery Ginger Shortbread
INGREDIENTS
- 100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 80g plain flour
- 30g icing sugar
- 30g cornflour
- drop of vanilla essence
- 50g fresh root ginger, washed, unpeeled, finely grated
The key ingredient
METHOD
Cream the butter until pale and fluffy in a bowl.
Sift in the flour, icing sugar and cornflour and beat again until fully incorporated.
Stir in the vanilla essence and grated root ginger.
Place walnut-sized balls of the mixture onto a greased baking tray, about 2cm apart (you’ll probably get 15 – 18).
Spread each ball of the biscuit mixture out slightly using the back of a spoon.
Pop into a 190 degree oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the shortbread biscuits are pale golden brown.