Ginger Crunch

I love the homely rich warm scent of ginger. It reminds me of when my grandma and I used to bake as a kid and (because oldies love them some ginger) my super quick recipe for classic ginger crunch particularly brings back fond memories.

I have adapted the classic so that the topping is not a dark sticky goo but rather a light smooth caramel coloured frosting of sorts. I prefer this to the original and it takes a lot less time to set in the fridge!

Ingredients for Base:

125g Softened Butter 

1⁄2 cup sugar

1 1⁄2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

Ingredients for Icing:

160g butter

1 cup icing sugar

4 TBSP golden syrup

5 tsp ginger (powdered)

1 cup icing sugar

Base

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

2. Add flour, baking powder, ginger and stir. Make sure it holds a shape when squeezed together. 

3. Press into 20 x 20 slice tin. 

4. Bake at 190 C for 20mins or until light brown.

Frosting

5. While the base is baking, put butter, golden syrup, ginger and 1 cup of icing sugar  into a saucepan over a low-medium heat, stirring constantly. 

6. Once butter has melted, take off heat and beat in the other cup of icing sugar. 

3. Pour over warm base and spread evenly. 

4. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, transfer to the fridge for 2 hours and slice when cold.

Nigella's Totally Chocolate Chip Cookies

Normally I make my own recipe for cookies (from memory every time - never bothered to write it down) but I decided to try Nigella Lawson's recipe for triple chocolate chip cookies and they are seriously delicious.

I reduced the cooking time because I also reduced the size of the cookies (I thought 12 out of a mixture that used 1/2 kilo of chocolate was slightly excessive) but do as you like : )

125g butter (room temp)

75g brown sugar
50g white sugar

125g 70% cocoa dark chocolat

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g flour
30g of good quality cocoa powder
1 level teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/2 teaspoon of table salt
150g of milk chocolate chips
150g of white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius
2. Cream the butter and sugar
3. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and then add to the butter and sugar
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and combine again until smooth
5. Add the flour, cocoa, salt and bi-carb and mix until combined before adding the chocolate chips
6. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the mixture onto 2 trays into 18 cookies of even size.  You don't need to flatten the cookies
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes
8. Leave to cool on the baking tray slightly and then transfer to the cooling rack until completely cool

Enjoy : ) xx