These easy, delicious, spicy ginger biscuits are super simple to make, a little crisp on the outside and a bit chewy in the middle. The perfect ginger cookies to dunk into your afternoon cuppa!
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Ginger biscuits were a staple in my home growing up. And I knew I needed to add a ginger biscuit recipe to the site. These delicious cookies are flavored with ground ginger, cinnamon, and golden syrup. A true classic combo of flavors!
That being said, for an overall simple recipe - it took several attempts, and a few fails along the way. I had to adjust ingredients and ingredient ratios, specifically the sugar and butter, as well as the baking soda, a few times before I was happy with the recipe.
Why You Will Love These Ginger Biscuits
- A quick, easy, no-chill ginger biscuits recipe!
- Full of delicious flavors of ginger and cinnamon, this ginger snap will be a fantastic addition to the holiday cookie-baking season!
- A great all-around biscuit that is perfectly complimented by a delicious cup of hot cup of tea or coffee, or a cold glass of milk.
Ingredients
Here are some notes on the ingredients used in this recipe. Please see the recipe card for quantities.
Butter adds flavor, softness, and moisture and sometimes aids in the leavening of baked goods. I use New Zealand butter in my recipes, which has approximately 82% butterfat and can be very yellow (similar to European or Irish butter). Butter cannot be substituted with butter or margarine spreads, but it can be substituted with baking margarine. If using salted butter you can leave out the additional salt in the recipe.
Plain flour (all-purpose flour/standard grade flour) refers to flour that has a protein content of approximately 9.5-12%.
White sugar (granulated or caster sugar) adds sweetness, slows down gluten formation, enhances other flavors, and acts as a leavening agent when beaten into butter.
Light brown sugar (soft brown sugar) adds a caramelly flavor to this ginger biscuit, as well as a bit of chewiness. This can be substituted with dark brown sugar. I have tried making these biscuits with only white sugar but think the touch of brown sugar really adds to the overall flavor and texture of this cookie.
Ground ginger gives these biscuits that fiery flavor, which is complemented by the warm overtones of ground cinnamon.
Golden syrup adds a nice flavor to these cookies and can be substituted with maple syrup. Golden syrup (light treacle) is an amber-colored syrup that is made during the sugar refining process. This is a popular ingredient/topping in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Test the freshness of your baking soda (bicarbonate of soda or bread soda) by placing a small amount in boiling water. If it bubbles and fizzes, it's good to use! Baking soda plays an important role when it comes to baking biscuits. It allows the cookies to spread out further, resulting in a thinner crispier cookie. It also really creates a nice deep golden brown during the baking process.
Salt is a crucial ingredient in all baked goods. I use table salt in all my recipes. One teaspoon of table salt equals 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt equals 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.
Room Temperature Ingredients
Use room-temperature ingredients! Using room temperature ingredients ensures that ingredients in the batter or dough will incorporate easier. Take note that room temperature refers to around 20°C/68F.
- To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them into warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- To bring butter to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into cubes and zap in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or place the cubes in a bowl over warm water (such as with a double boiler) over low heat for 1 minute!
Weighing & Measuring Ingredients
Weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale is more accurate than using measuring cups. All my recipes are developed and tested using grams only.
However, I have activated the metric-to-cup conversions. Simply click on "cups" or "metric" for your preferred measurements. For these conversions, cups are equal to 240 millilitres/8 fluid ounces, tablespoons are 15 milliliters and teaspoons are 5mL.
How to Make Ginger Biscuits
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C/355F, or 160°C fan-forced. Line two large baking sheets/baking trays with parchment paper/baking paper or silicon mats.
Step 2 - In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and golden syrup together. This will take about 3 to 5 minutes. If using a stand mixer - cream together using the paddle attachment.
*Note - the butter must be at room temperature for creaming. Meaning that there should be some give in the butter when poked or squeezed.
Step 3 - Add in the room temperature egg and vanilla, and beat together until fully combined (2-3 minutes).
Step 4 - In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in until combined, this may need to be finished off using a wooden spoon. Then add the rest and mix until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough in the bowl a few times by hand to make sure all the ingredients are fully combined.
Step 5 - Portion out the cookie dough either using a 2 tablespoons cookie scoop or by rolling out small balls of 2 tablespoons of dough.
Step 6 - In a small bowl or ramekin, stir together the raw sugar and ground ginger. Roll the cookies in the sugar-ginger mix and place them on the large baking sheet approximately 7cm (3 inches apart). Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the cookies are deep golden brown.
*Note - the ginger biscuits do not need to be rolled in sugar before baking, but they won't look exactly like the picture when taken out of the oven. And won't have that extra crispiness from the sugar.
*Note - Check on the cookies at the 12-minute mark to see the progress.
*Note - the biscuits need to be spaced out quite a bit because the dough does spread into a biscuit that is about 9cm in diameter. I place 6 cookies on my 40 x 28.5cm (15x 11 inch ) baking tray.
Step 7 - Allow the baked biscuits to cool on the baking tray for at least 5 minutes before gently lifting them with a spatula onto a wire rack and allowing them to cool completely.
*Note - for the perfect biscuit, scoot around the edges with a large cookie cutter before allowing it to cool completely.
Step 8 - Continue with steps 5 to 7 until all the dough has been portioned and baked.
Pro Tips for this Recipe
Ovens
The temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. For convection, fan-forced, fan-assisted, or air-fryers, the temperature must be reduced by 20°C/25°F.
For baking, make sure the oven is fully preheated, and that the rack is in the middle of the oven. Open the oven as little as possible. For best baking results use an oven thermometer.
Remember that all ovens work slightly differently and bake times may need to be adjusted for your specific oven.
Bakeware
Metal bakeware is superior when it comes to baking biscuits, cookies, brownies, muffins and quick bread, scones, cakes. These heat up and cool down faster than glassware. Glassware is heavier, heats up and cools down slower than metal, and is more suited for bread puddings, pies, crisps, crumbles, and cobblers.
Storage and Freezing
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Ginger Biscuits FAQ
A ginger biscuit, ginger snap, or ginger nut is a biscuit or cookie that is flavored with ginger. These biscuits can also be made with molasses or golden syrup.
I used a Nordicware Jelly Roll pan - 15 x 10.5 Inches (40cmx28.5cm).
