Ginger Shortcake Recipe.

[curiouswombat]

My mouth is less painful than I would expect - really no pain at all.

I have written about fifteen of my Christmas cards.

The ginger shortcake is not bad, it has a sort of frosted topping -

so here is the recipe -



Shortcake

200g (7 oz) butter
100g (3 1/2 oz) caster sugar
250g (9 oz) flour - half plain and half SR, or plain with just under a level teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger.

Icing
75g (3 oz) butter
1 tablespoonful golden syrup (corn syrup would do I think)
1 heaped teaspoonful ground ginger
75g (3 oz) icing sugar.

Pre-heat oven to 300F, 150C, gas mark 2

Cream butter and sugar, then work in flour and ground ginger.

Press into 8" square tin, and bake for about 40 mins - until golden brown.

Whilst the shortcake is still warm make the topping - melt together the butter and syrup, add ginger and icing sugar and beat until no white bits of icing sugar remain.

Pour over the cake, and cut into fingers whilst still warm, but then leave in the tin to cool.

Makes 16 fingers.

Comments

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!! This will give me yet another recipe for using my hard-won golden syrup. Okay, so I just picked some up in a grocery store the last time I was in Canada... but you shouldn't need to drive three hours to get the stuff, if you ask me!

Also really glad we're finally getting a new kitchen scale that actually does metric. Although, it has been giving me lots of math practice doing conversions up 'til now.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I actually did this on the 'ounces' side of my scales, which sounds odd -
Picture of similar scales (http://www.lakelandlimited.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/GBP/DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=CNzeJAjP8NtQJktY5mnVIqAPw9BT-O9jXuI=?ProductID=4qPAqAYULacAAAEAh0TYYUJF)
you can see the measuring bit on the bottom - well mine has one 'scale' in ounces, and on the opposite side of the whole thing it has a matching metric one.

Recipes in magazines aimed at younger people are just in metric, but this was from a 'granny' mag, so has both!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

That sounds really good. And I do have a program that does conversions...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Conversion programs for recipes are extremely useful!I couldn't face trying to convert to cups as well - especially as USA cups and Australian cups are different.

Do American families not have kitchen scales? They are such a basic piece of kitchen equipment here that I wonder how I'd cope without them, even for things like 'is this light enough to go by air to Australia?'

Although I do use a large tablespoon for lots of recipes - heaped = 1 oz of flour, rounded = 1 oz of sugar.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

No, most homes don't have scales. Just measuring cups and spoons. Mmm... gingerbread.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I just bung my measuring bowl on the top of the scales, re-zero them, and then throw things in up to the next weight, if you see what I mean!

Actually I do have a really good sticky gingerbread recipe as well- not the ginger-bread men type like your icon, the cake sort. How so many different things all end up being called gingerbread is one of those quirks of history!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

We really don't! I remember Madre-san going on one of those diets where you have to weigh everything-- we kids used to dread it when my dad went on TDY-- and using one of those kitchen scales, but that's it. I have no idea what happened to it!

I do have an interesting FYI though-- we use british kitchen scales at work. Every baby has his or her own at their incubator side, and we weigh their diapers to keep track of their I & Os.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I can well believe that use - I had a set for much the same purpose for checking urine loss in patients. I left them in the store room at the clinic I was then based at, and realised a few weeks later that they weren't there. The District Nurse told me a couple of days later that she had taken the scales out of the store room to give to a newly diagnosed diabetic who needed to weigh his food. I didn't have the heart to tell her what they had been being used for!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Hee! I can relate!

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

This sounds yummy. What is "golden syrup?"

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Definition of Golden Syrup from the food glossary on answers.com -

Particularly popular in England, this liquid sweetener has the consistency of Corn syrup and a clear golden color. It's made from evaporated sugar cane juice and has a rich, toasty flavor unmatched by any other sweetener. Golden syrup, the most readily available brand being Lyles, can be found in some supermarkets and many gourmet markets. it can be used as a substitute for corn syrup in cooking and baking, and for everything from pancake syrup to ice cream topping.

I think corn syrup would be a good substitute, although I've never actually seen corn syrup, so I can't be 100% sure - also I guess maple syrup would work very well. Anything sticky, liquid and very sweet!

Some months ago Fenchurche mentioned not being able to get golden syrup in the USA and I was surprised, it hadn't occured to me that it was a European thing!

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love receiving recipes.
And yay for Xmas card postage. I am so way behind...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

These are nice and easy to make - I like things where you basically bung it in a bowl and stir!

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

That sounds yummy - thanks for posting the recipe. Might just have to add this to my baking plans - I intend to make a Lemon Syrup loaf cake this weekend, as the one I made for the school Christmas fayre last week looked and smelled delicious.

Your scales look really nifty - mine are the old fashioned balance type but I do have two sets of weights, imperial and metric. It's part of the fun of cooking for the girls, getting the scales to balance and then finding all sorts of other things to weigh too.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The scales are neat, because you can take their own bowl off the top, stick your usual one on, re-zero them, and then add ingredients without having to weigh them seperately - good maths practice!

Mmm - I like the sound of the Lemon syrup loaf cake - you couldn't pass that recipe on could you? (Makes puppy eyes)

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

Happy to pass on the recipe, but before I type it out I'll just check that you haven't got the book, as it's a Nigella from How to be a Domestic Goddess (page 13).

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, despite the icon, I haven't got the book! D-d gave me a Jamie Oliver that Christmas instead.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

No problem, but rather than type it as a comment here I'll post it in my journal. Should be up later today.