The Recipe

220g / 8oz plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 rounded teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon mixed spice
80g / 3oz brown or white sugar
100g / 4oz butter
4 tablespoons golden syrup OR 3 tablespoons honey
Oven 190C / 375F

2 greased baking trays

Makes about 32 biscuits

Sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarb, ginger, sugar).

Rub in the butter (doesn’t matter if it is soft or hard really, we’re not talking pastry here!)

Mix in the golden syrup or honey and keep mixing (this takes a bit of kneading usually) until it comes together in a sticky dough.

Form the dough into small balls (the usual walnut size is about right – around 32 in all from this quantity).

Place the balls well spaced on a greased baking tray. Flatten slightly with a wooden spoon.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until they are a dark gold and firm at the edges. They will firm up more as they cool.

Leave to cool on tray for about 10 minutes then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Don’t eat them all at once, as they keep nicely in an airtight tin!