Gingernuts

My husband commissioned me to bake a ginger biscuit to have a home made alternative to his favourite teatime treat. He loved it when it was still fresh and crunchy, but I loved it when it became soft after 4-5 days in the biscuit tin.

Gingernuts 

Ingredients
350 g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
200 g caster sugar
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp chopped steamed ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125 g butter
75 g golden syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp grated orange rind

Preheat the oven to 160C and lightly grease several baking sheets.

Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, ginger, steamed ginger and bicarbonate of soda in to a large bowl. Heat the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan over a very low heat until the butter has melted. Leave to cool slightly, then pour it onto the dry ingredients. Add the egg and orange rind and mix thoroughly to from a dough.

 

Using your hands, carefully shape the dough into 30 even sized balls.

Place the balls on the baking sheets, spaced well apart, then flatten them slightly with  your fingers.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, then carefully transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

Apple Gingerbread

I am now in a full on festive mood. So the second bake I prepared for the winter period is this easy tray bake. Smells lovely, taste delicious and easy to make, so all you can ask for when you have to rush round to do everything before the guests arrive.  This recipe from the 1001 Cupcakes and cookies book.

Apple Gingerbread

 

Ingredients
150 g butter
165 g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp black treacle
225 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
150 ml milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 dessert apples, peeled, chopped and coated with 1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 23cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Place the butter, sugar and treacle in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter is melted, then leave to cool.

 

Shift the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda ground ginger and ground cloves into a large bowl. Stir in the milk, egg and cooled buttery liquid. Pour the mixture into the tin and spread the apple pieces equally on the surface and smooth the surface.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the cake has risen and a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out and cutting into 12 bars.

Lebkuchen Mézeskalács

Recently I started baking again and with the clock change and the miserable windy, wet weather inspired me to bake more and more Christmas goods. I found my old recipe cards I got from my auntie and just the kind of recipe I was after: Lebkuchen. The recipe I got is the one without butter making it lighter and less sinful.
 

Lebkuchen - Mézeskalács

 

Ingredients (makes about 35)

zest of 2 lemon -finely chopped

50 ml Kirsch

2 eggs

50 g honey

200g muscavado sugar

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon of cloves

1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 pinch of black pepper

1 vanilla pod

50 g ground almond

300 g self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

 

80-100g icing sugar to cover the surface

 

 

Place the zest of one lemon in the Kirsch and leave it to soak for 20 minutes.

 

Preheat the oven to 200C and line two baking sheet with baking parchment.

 

Beat together the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients then add in the egg mixture lemon zest, Kirsch and honey. Form a nice dough and shape it to a 5cm thick big "sausage".

 

Cut it to small pieces and form 2cm small balls with the palm of your hands.

Place them on a baking tray (leave some spaces in between) and bake it for 15-20 minutes.

 

When it is ready take them out of the oven and roll it in icing sugar while still hot.

Leave it rest until next day to soften a little.

 

Flódni / Apple, poppy seed and walnut pastry

Baked goods are quite popular in Hungary if it contains walnut, poppy seed or apple, never mind if all three are on the ingredient list. The other good thing about this pastry that you first have to assemble it and then bake it, so although it has 4 layers it doesn't require to bake 4 separate layers. The recipe also stated that you have to put in 300 ml white wine, but you can't really taste it in the end- I think it is more for the texture, consistency than for the taste.

Flódni / Apple, poppy seed and walnut pastry

 

For the pasty:

500 g plain flour

250 g butter on room temperature

100 g icing sugar

3 egg yolk

100 ml white wine

 

For the apple filling

800g sharp apple

2 tbsp honey

lemon to taste (approx. 1/2 - 1 lemon)

cinnamon and ground cloves to taste

 

For the poppy seed filling

200 g ground poppy seed

100 g sugar

50 g sultana / currant

100 ml white wine

 

For the walnut filling

120 g ground walnut

80 g chopped walnut

100 g sugar

50 g sultana / currant

100 ml white wine

 

egg wash

 

 

Preheat the oven to 170C and line a 19X25cm rectangle pan - leave the baking paper longer on the sides, so after baking you can lift out the pastry.

 

Rub the butter into the flour, add in the eggs, sugar and white wine. Form a dough then wrap it in cling film and rest it in the fridge until you prepare the fillings.

 

Peel  and core the apples then grate them. Add in the honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves to taste.

 

Mix the grated poppy seed with the sugar and sultanas. Heat 100ml white wine to boiling point and pour it on top the poppy seed mix.

 

Mix the grated walnut with the chopped walnut sugar and sultanas. Heat 100ml white wine to boiling point and pour it on top the walnut mix.

 

Divide the pastry to 4 equal parts and on a floured surface and roll out  to the size of the pan. Put one pasty layer it into the tin and top it with the poppy seed filling.

 

Level the poppy seed filling and top it with another pastry layer, then walnut filling, pastry, apple filling and finish it off with a pastry layer. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork and brush it with egg wash.

 

 

Bake it in the oven for 60-70 minutes or until it has a nice golden colour.

When it is completely cooled, lift out from the pan (or if you manage to rip off all the baking sheet like me, just put a chopping board on top- turn it up side down, than another board on it and flip it back. It is quite a sturdy bake so it will keep its shape).

 

Slice it and serve it with icing sugar and a whole walnut piece for decoration if you like.