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

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.