Ginger Nut Biscuits

I recently had a Ginger Nut (also affectionately nicknamed ranga sacks by a group of us at work hehe) re-education thanks to Regular Expression Man. Did you know that Arnott's Ginger Nuts are completely different depending on what state you buy them from? I checked the website (which they changed about a week ago) and they describe them as such:
In Qld, Gingernuts are thin and sweet with a dark colour;
In NSW they are small, thick and hard, with a light colour;
In Vic and Tas, they are bigger, softer and sweeter.
In SA and WA, the biscuits look similar to their Vic cousins, but taste sweeter.

Being a South Australian, Regex Man insists that the SA version cannot be beaten and brings in multiple packets to show us. We are more than willing to help him prove his point. He also insists that the only way to eat them is to dip them into an incredibly strong, rich and steaming hot cup of hot chocolate, which he heats up even more by sticking it in the microwave. I have to say, it's pretty damn good. And I definitely do prefer the SA version to the NSW version.

I've always believed that freshly baked cookies taste a million times better than out of a packet, so I was interested to see if I could do better than the SA Ginger Nut. I scoured around for a good Ginger Nut recipe, of course there were a thousand different variations, but I settled on this recipe from Everyday Cooking. I have made them three times since then, tweaking it here and there to get it closer to what I would expect from the biscuit. The recipe is ridiculously easy, last night I got home at 10 and fancied a few with a cup of hot tea and by 10.40 A and I were settled down with fresh Ginger Nuts.

So the first time I tried the recipe, I was missing raw sugar for sprinkling on top and I really think this is an important part of the Arnotts version so I made sure to buy some for my next attempt. I also left them in a touch too long, basing my timing off the original recipe and they were a tad browner than I would have liked. A still liked them so much that he grabbed the pile of biscuits I had put aside to bring in to work and licked (yes licked) them so that he could have them for himself.

The second time I adjusted the timing and added the sugar and they were solid gold. I had to hide these from A so that I could share them around a bit. Even then only a few of them made it all the way to Regex Man. He gave them the thumbs up though :)

Ready for the oven

Gingernut Biscuits
from Everyday Cooking

2/3 cup (100gm) Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp BiCarb Soda
1 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Nutmeg (I used freshly grated)
1/4 AllSpice
50grams Brown Sugar
50grams Butter
2 tbsp Golden Syrup (or Treacle - different taste, I used Golden Syrup)
Raw sugar

Combine dry ingredients. Rub in butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in syrup, and press to a dough-like consistency. Divide into 16 pieces (though I can usually make about 18), roll each piece, and press each ball down with a floured fork (or fingers) on the baking sheet. Sprinkle raw sugar over biscuit surfaces and press into dough lightly with your fingers.

Bake at 180C for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Mine usually take about 12 minutes, (depending on how bipolar my oven is feeling).

First batch, a touch too brown

One of the licked cookies got made into an icecream sandwich

Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray until they are firmer, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Biscuits will harden as they cool and will be slightly chewy while they are still warm. Store in an airtight container once they are completely cooled.