ISO TNT easy ginger biscuit recipe

Miniman

Mini man - maxi food
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DW made some ginger biscuits for a cake sale today but they did not work very well. Does any one have a TNT recipe that is easy and works well in the pressure of large quantities of baking.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
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Geez, Ray, I'm sorry that I can't help.

I've not heard of ginger biscuits!

Lee
 

Ian M.

New member
Hey Lee and Ray - To begin with, Lee, to Americans that's Ginger cookies, ie Ginger snaps and the like. And Ray, I think between Fallon and myself, we probably have a couple of recipes from my Mum which might work for you. Before I head for the hotel in the morning, I'll post a recipe or two for you.

Ian ;)
 

Miniman

Mini man - maxi food
Gold Site Supporter
Thanks Ian.

Sorry Lee, I should have translated and said cookies (we call them biscuits over here). I know biscuits in the USA are something different, closer to bread or scones from my reading.
 

Ian M.

New member
Okay, Ray, finally - after a ton of idiotic computer problems between me not know how to post a long post without losing everything and my computer acting like a total retard, here are those recipes I promised you.
I'm just sorry it's taken me until tonight to get this done - hopefully, this will come through for you in good shape. Unfortunately, none of these recipes are in metric measure as many of the recipes in my Mum's and Grandmother's handwritten old cookbooks were originally found in USA places and books and Mum was always in too great a hurry to be bothered with conversions, so just did them in her head as she was baking. Hopefully, your nice wife can make the conversions to metric measure herself, easily.

First of all, is my Mum's and my very favorite recipe for the best ever ginger biscuits you ever put in your entire mouth in your whole life. And they're ridiculously easy to make. This first version is remarkably good and the flavor is gentle and subtle without overwhelming one with the punch of ginger.

Soft and Tender Ginger Biscuits:

1 cup of packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup fine white sugar


In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until blended. Beat in egg, then molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves, gradually add to brown sugar mixture and mix well, (dough will be stiff). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until thoroughly chilled.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 11 minutes (I've found that 10 minutes makes them perfect but ovens vary and you may have to play with the temp. a little to get it just right) until set. Cool for one minute before removing from the baking sheets and placing biscuits on wire racks to cool completely. These are exceptionally good! This recipe has a yield of about 3 dozen biscuits.


This next recipe is a variation of the first, with some additions made by my Mum to enhance the flavor of the biscuits. They're a little bit fussier to make but the results are well worth it:

Ginger Crinkles

1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
6 tbls. fine white sugar crystals


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or spray baking sheets with cooking spray. Mix the brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer, slowly increasing speed to medium-high, until light in color. Add the eggs and molasses and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg and allspice into a medium bowl. Add slowly to the creamed mixture, mixing on medium speed until incorporated. Cover bowl and chill for2 hours until completely chilled.

Shape the chilled dough into 1-inch balls. Dip the tops of balls in water and roll the tops in sugar crystals. Place on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake biscuits until the biscuits spread and tops crack, about 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. These biscuits have a lovely sugary/crunchy texture on top and are extra good as after-school snacks.
This recipe has a yield of approximately 3 dozen biscuits.



The final recipe is one of my own devising and I made these frequently at school. They are a bit more tricky to make but are well worth the extra effort.

Peanut/Ginger Chews:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup superfine white sugar
1 tbls. pumpkin pie spice or whatever you may have that's similar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
14 tbls. (1 3/4 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup of cocktail peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional - the recipe loses nothing if you omit these - I personally don't care for them)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbls. dark corn syrup


Combine the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and ginger in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until coarse crumbs form (you can also do this with your fingers which evenly distributes the ingredients well) Stir in the peanuts if using. Set aside.

Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tbls water. Stir in the corn syrup. Add the corn syrup mixture to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth, using your hands. (Why not, they've already been in there once). Add 2-3 tsp. water, one tsp at a time if the dough is too dry.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Shape each dough half into a one inch log. Wrap each log in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.

Cut the dough logs into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the biscuits are lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

This recipe is especially good and easy to make, although the chill time is something to consider if you're looking for something fast to make. This recipe make approximately 3 dozen biscuits.

Okay, my friend, there you go - these are all the ginger biscuit/cookie recipes I was able to find this morning. Fallon has tons of cookie recipes which you might like to investigate at your liesure another time. Hope these will work out for you and your wife. Incidently, any one of these recipes can result in biscuits that can be frozen successfully to keep them nice until time to serve or to take them to a cake sale. Enjoy them all.

Ian :chef:
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
Those recipes sure look good, Ian.
While I can't speak for Ray, while I was living in England.. I rarely ever had to worry about conversions.
Most of the measuring bits and bobs Steven already had on hand were actually user friendly for me-tho I learned the ropes pretty fast when it came to metric and imperial measuring.
A big part of that was using Linda McCartney's cook books (good teacher!)
We were both strictly vegetarian.
 

Ian M.

New member
Somewhere, within the last year, I chanced upon a list done on a forum somewhere of definitions of expressions and words - both in the USA and the UK. It was really interesting and I'd love to find it again. If I ever do, I'll post it here (unless it was on this forum that I saw it. Anyone know?) and folks can see how many they know between the two areas. I was embarrassed to discover that I didn't recognize some which I should have, being the son of two UK citizens! Red face all around!

Ian :laugh:
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
My late hubby was Irish, Ian.
Born in Lancashire from Irish parents.
We lived in West Yorkshire, first West Ardsley right on the Leeds/Wakey border, you could say.. then we moved to Normanton.
 

Ian M.

New member
Sass, you lived in some beautiful places! My Mum was born and grew up in Cornwall, in the city of Truro. I love it down there. As I once said to Ray, my Mum always used to claim that spring comes first to Cornwall and I believe she was absolutely right. My Dad was born and grew up mostly in County Derry Northern Ireland outside the city of Londonderry. It's incredibly beautiful there but unfortunately my brothers and I weren't able to spend much time there as we were growing up, as it was a rather dangerous place to visit. One year, when the Black Watch Regiment came to perform in Boston I made friends with a young piper in the group and he and I had a very long discussion about how come we were never welcomed into Derry when we'd try to visit there. I was frustrated by that but Frank asked me to consider how I'd feel if my house was unclean or unkempt - would I want people to come visit me? Then I understood considerably better what the problem was for so many people who lived there but weren't actively involed in the Troubles. It was such a sad time and we spent most of it in Truro, getting to know our maternal grandmother.

As my brothers and I were growing up, our parents were always Mum and Da - a very Irish school of terms. I can remember my father telling stories about how his Da, our grandfather, had quit formal education when he was 13 to help support the family by working cutting peat in the bogs around Londonderry. Now there's a job I'll wager you couldn't get most kids today to even consider doing. Hard, backbreaking work!

Fallon's family migrated to the USA when she was just a small child, from County Wicklow in Ireland and that's gorgeous country, as well. She still has relatives living there and one day after we have Kieran, we hope to visit there for a bit. But first things first - having a little one has to come first. Priorities, naturally, favor having kids, don't they?

Ian
 
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Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
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You're right Ian, there is nothing quite as beautiful as Yorkshire.

Steven's Father, John.. hailed from County Donegal as did a lot of those with the Durkin name.
His mother's maiden name was Callaghan. She also came from the north country, but I can't recall much of anything she said about her upbringing.
She remarried when Steven was small after she and John divorced.

I was closer to his Father (Daddy John) while I was living there, but Betty was a lovely woman too.
After Steven passed away, I'd intended to stay in England, but my family here in America insisted that I come "home."
Sometimes I wish I hadn't.
England became my home.

Anyway, Daddy John made me promise to keep up with the things I grew to love about being there, and to never forget that I am 1/2 English with a heavy influence of the Irish lol
(He would call me at odd hours, forgetting the time difference)
I haven't. ;)

I learned to make yorkshire puddings with onion gravy, toad in the hole, Parkin, treacle tofffee, almost like a champ.

Here is a pic of a pic I took to send to Daddy John, Christmas of '04.
My first Christmas after coming back to America when I actually felt like celebrating.
I made yorkshire puddings, and sent him the proof in a pic!
I sent him a lot of pictures to let him know I was okay.

2012-06-11 23-39-15.581.jpg
 

Ian M.

New member
Ah, Sass, those Yorkshire Puddings are beautiful little thingys! Almost too lovely to eat! That's always been a favorite with me and I simply cannot eat roast beef without them, it's "unBritish"! Clearly, I can understand your feeling that you'd rather have remained in England than coming back here to this country. Once you've lived in England or Ireland it's mighty hard to live anywhere else. Just out of curiosity, what do you bake your puddings in, cupcake tins or ramkins? They're perfect!

Treacle Pudding - a very utilitarian sweet and something that Fallon absolutely loves. People laugh at her for wallowing in the stuff but she gets up to her ears in it. I like it, too, but certainly not to the extent that Fallon does. I've made Treacle a time or two at the resort but it's not something that is a very big hit with people who've never eaten it before. Have you ever tried "browning" condensed milk to make toffee? The lazy man's way of doing it but it's so easy and really good. If you're interested I'll send along the recipe I've used for it at some point. Actually not legitimate treacle but definitely toffee with the proper flavor. Good stuff and if you make a banoffee pie (ala Paula Deen) it's just like sitting down in an old English Pub and having a bite. Speaking of Pubs, one thing I learned how to do the last time I spent time in Ireland was how to properly "build" a pint of Guinness. Have you ever done it? There's actually an art to it People who drink a six-pack of Guinness honestly believe they're getting the real thing but you just can't compare bottled Guiness purchased in your local supermarket with a pint drawn in an Irish or English pub! Not even related! A pint of the real McCoy (I'd even settle for a Harp) and a bacon sandwich - pure heaven! Now I suppose my "low-class" Irish roots are showing, aren't they?

One of my very favorite singers...a lad who sang for quite some time with Celtic Thunder....by the name of Paul Byram, with a gorgeous tenor voice, sang about Christmas in Donegal and climbing the hill to the old Celtic church with his mother on Christmas morning that actually made me nearly cry it was so beautiful! Donegal is magical, truly, as is the majority of Ireland. I love it all and if Fallon and I were ever to live anywhere in the UK it would probably be in Ireland. Right now, the UK isn't the most prosperous place to try and put down roots, however. A falling economy has put so many people out of work and times right now are rather poor. What one would need to do is win a sizable lottery here in America and then go live in the UK! Seriously, one thing I've always rather resented is people we know from Scotland who send their two daughters back to Scotland to be educated for free - it just doesn't seem right to me, but I suppose I'm overly critical about that sort of thing. It just seems to me like they're using this country to get financially equipped to go and live back in the UK and provide their kids with the best of Scotland at the expense of America. Oh well, I'll stay down off my soapbox - it's really too early in the morning to begin harping on what others do, isn't it?

Ian :mellow:
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
I use a 6 hole baking tin to make the pudds.
We used to make treacle and parkin for Fawke's Night and of course, during the Christmas holiday.

I've never browned condensed milk to make toffee, but I've dipped slices of french bread in it, then placed it on a grill to make "campfire bread"-- sticky goodness! :D

LOL about the Guinness.. uh huh, tip the glass and let if flow.. slow.
What you can buy in the stores is nothing like a pint of pub Guinness in the UK.. nothing!
We had a friend, Tommy.. who owns a pub in Burnley.. one night for fun, I was pulling pints!
Yup, nothing like a good brew and a bacon buttie (with brown sauce)-- sheesh, I'm getting hungry lol

I can't speak for living under the current economic situation over there, as it's been 9 years, but I sure do remember the "petrol crisis" of 2001.
-----About people taking advantage of 'free education'.. I moved there already with nursing credentials that got me well set up working for the NHS and BUPA, both in care homes and hospitals.

I couldn't believe the absolute bombardment on that country of men and women coming from other countries to take advantage of the free education to get their degree, so they could go back to their homeland and work after a few years, but perhaps for them there was no other way to get that education.
 
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