Ginger Spiced Leaf Biscuits

We did some baking yesterday, Little B and I. I found myself (not for the first time) completely inspired by a little square photo I recently came across on Instagram. I'm kicking myself now as I didn't make a note of who the photo belonged to, and it was one of those beautifully styled, magazine-worthy photos that I am a sucker for. However, the lovely lady who took the beautiful photo did happen to mention where she found the recipe, and lo and behold it was an issue of Country Living UK magazine from two years ago. Ah-ha, I thought, I have a pile of magazines that is surely more than two years old, so off I went to dig it out. It was from November 2015 if you have a similar two-year old pile of magazines, an Autumn classic.

The recipe was simple (sugar, butter, golden syrup, flour, bicarb and ginger), so I pootled into the interweb to search for some suitable leaf shaped cutters. Plenty to be found on Amazon, so I went for a full set of 7 shapes as I have a feeling that leaf biscuits will definitely be a Favourite Thing in our household. One thing to mention about the general purchasing of biscuit cutters is to check the dimensions carefully. The cutters in the tin I bought were smaller than I anticipated, and although I was initially a bit disappointed when they arrived, they actually made the cutest little perfectly sized biscuits. 

Baking with children is loads of fun and really adds a certain element of glee to the whole proceedings. Little B is a full-force child and goes at everything with enthusiasm and energy, so it was easy to get caught up with his genuine delight in weighing out ingredients and mixing them all together. 

The mixture starts out quite dry and crumbly (there is a LOT of flour, great clouds of it in fact), and for a while it feels like it isn't going to work out.

We found it best to roll up sleeves (or in Little B's case, to remove clothes altogether) and get stuck in with your hands. You need to persuade the crumbs to turn into a workable cookie dough, and the warmth from hands does this brilliantly. 

The quantity of ingredients (which I'll give you at the end of this post) makes a lot of dough. We ended up halving it and shaping into two balls before putting it into the fridge to chill. Yes, you do need to allow time for the dough to go cold before you can get going with the rolling pin, so if you are baking with Little People you may want to prepare them in advance for the  pause in activity. 

We made the dough in the late morning, and made the biscuits in the mid afternoon. We took everything out of the kitchen and onto the dining table so that we had plenty of room to work, spreading out a length of greaseproof paper so that we could easily roll out the dough. 

Using cookie cutters is such fun! So pleasing to create those little shapes, then adding the details with a metal skewer. Little B absolutely loved doing it and I had to resist the urge to fight him off and do it all myself. 

We used half of the dough and made around 36 leaves in total which spread across two baking trays. The other half of the dough is still in the fridge and I think we shall make gingerbread men with it today.

I couldn't wait to see how the leaves would turn out, and luckily the baking time is very short. The recipe suggested 8-10 minutes, and I settled on 8.5 minutes with my hot oven. The secret is to take them out when they have just turned a very light golden colour (they will be darker on the underside) and still quite soft as they harden when they cool. I much prefer soft, slightly chewy gingerbread as opposed to the rock hard, brittle version. 

I was so delighted that the markings we made looked even better once the biscuits were baked - oh, so very leafy and pleasing to look at! Now I did ponder on trying to style my photo in the manner of the swoony images we see all the time on Instagram. I would need a co-ordinating cloth (made of linen probably), some real autumn leaves and maybe a little jar of autumn foliage and berries. Possibly an earthenware mug of tea. Maybe a candle. 

In the end, I found I just could. Not. Be. Bothered. I desperately wanted to eat the biscuits and I had eager children to ward off too. So I'm afraid the above photo is the best I could do. Incidentally, isn't the original magazine page photo rather lovely?

So I can tell you that these biscuits are visually very, very pleasing to look at. They are seasonal and cute and photogenic.

Taste wise??? Well, the Little People think they are amaaaaaaaaaazing. They seriously went mad for these little treats and I had to step in and limit their scoffing. My verdict - lovely gingeryness without being too overpowering, nice soft texture but possibly a teensy bit on the dry side. However............

.........when dunked into a fresh mug of hot milky coffee, oh-my-goodness, these little leafy morsels are transformed. Coffee-soaked ginger biscuits are absolutely the bees knees. 

I allowed Little Lady to give it a try (she likes the taste of coffee) and she agreed with me that the coffee soaking really turned these biscuits into a very, very yummy treat.

If you fancy giving these biscuits a go, you can click on the above photo and it should pop up in a new window so that you can read it a little better. If I was making the biscuits again, I would simply halve the quantities.

Country Living Magazine remains one of my all time favourites, and I so look forward to it's seasonal inspiration every month. It's a real delight, and a treat that I've been enjoying for almost twenty years now. Delicious. 

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Comments

[Lyn]

I’m not sure you will read this as it is an old post. I was searching for some recipes for small leaf biscuits and noticed your blog ( which I have read for years);came up in my internet search with this recipe on, I was also so pleased the leaf cookie cutters You used were the exact ones I wanted to use, I’d had for years and hadn’t used before. Thank you for sharing, they went down a treat at school! X

[Cândida Lobão]

Hello
I'm so happy to look your post! It's a fresh air in my life! The color, harmony and your generosity do my heart more focused in beautifully see the life, rather dan see only the destrution. I hope that the art can be the change to peace .
thank you!

[Kimmy]

Okay, it looks like honey can be substituted, but I did see that Walmart stores carry "Golden Syrup". There aren't any Walmart stores near me, but if they carry it, I'm sure other stores around here do to.

[Kimmy]

Looks yummy and so pretty. I have no idea what "golden syrup" is even though I have read some explanations above. They only sell light corn syrup in grocery stores where I live (northern California). Perhaps I can do a search on the Internet or find it in some specialty store.

[Sandra]

These are brilliant Lucy!!

S x

[Claire Austin]

Hey Lucy,
Which issue is it? I have been browsing my Oct issue and can’t see them... am I being blind or am I looking at the wrong magazine?
thanks, Claire
https://claire-yvonne.blogspot.co.uk/

[Claire]

Thanks so much for the recipe Lucy! We don't celebrate Halloween as such but we do play family games - couldn't get any ring donuts to string up so have made some donut shaped biscuits using this recipe. My youngest is in boy heaven as he prefers ginger biscuits to donuts! They're delicious too - will definitely make them again :-)

[Maria João Machado]

I wouldn't mind eating those delicious cookies near a conzy fireplace.

[Nora McGrann]

Another lovely blog, Lucy..can almost smell the cookies..
Happy Halloween to you and yours!

Nora xx

[Denise Henderson]

It was a ciold blustery evening here in Ohio so I thought I would bake some of these cookies. They are delicious and my house smells wonderful. Thank you!

[Lucy @ Attic24]

Oh Kate you are right – THANK YOU!!! It was doing my head in that I couldn’t remember!!
So lovely to hear from you and see you popping in to visit the Attic – what’s your @ on Instagram? Bloody love IG, although blogging is still my number one.
Hope you and yours are well and happy, I’d love to catch up sometime,
Much love
Lxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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I think it was Niki at the cottage on instagram as I follow her too Lucy. They look delish X

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[Kate McCurrach]

I think it was Niki at the cottage on instagram as I follow her too Lucy. They look delish X

[Antje]

Yummie! And hes, I have a big pile of old CL magazines. They are quitte expensive in Holland and I can't throw them away. And, hes we love gingercookies here but we have te make them ourselves because we can't buy ready made ones. Tomorrowl I plan to make some.

[Rae]

Love the look of those ginger biscuuts and the cutters you have. I know my cousin in America has a subscription to Country Living Magazine as she mentions it a lot when we speak. Its seems they don't have any magazine as good in the USA.

[brendaintheboro]

the biscuits look yummy and I could see those cutters being used as patchwork applique shapes. Draw round and cut out , then stitch down. good to know they are available

[Margaret]

I am SO glad you did not “style” your photo a la Country Living mag. Ten out of ten for keeping it real! I love reading Country Living magazine but recently I have started to become irritated by those Instagram-type photos you mention. Real people with personality do not live like that. I love your house - a real country house - full of vibrant colours and with evidence that people LIVE there. Enjoy your biscuits! I might just have to try that recipe ....

[Femke]

Last weekend, I baked cookies with my eldest daughter (5). We made special Halloween cookies with chocolate, it was a lot of work to decorate the cookies with the chocolate, but very much worth it. Baking with kids is so much fun!
Your cookies really look yummy!

[Vicky]

Remember you can freeze dough so if you make the full amount you can split it into 2 before making the biscuits and have some for emergency biscuit making in the freezer.

[So what's new?]

I have heard of people subbing a thick maple syrup for golden syrup. Molasses, perhaps even. It's the rich, brown sugary tasting syrup you're after. In a pinch, honey would work too. Golden syrup rounds out the flavour, I think.

[Annette]

These ginger cookies sound amazing, certainly just the treat for Autumn days - with a lovely cup of coffee of course! I look forward to giving them a try once I have the leaf cutters. Thanks for recipe Lucy. Is there any chance of a copy of your pattern for little heart key rings? I think they would make a nice addition to our local Christmas Fair in a few weeks time. I have tried several heart patterns but keep looking back at yours which always look best. I know you are a very busy lady so I apologise for asking BUT THEY DO LOOK SO.....N I C E. Annette

[Ros]

For those in the US, there really isn't an equivalent to golden syrup. You might find it on sale in the world foods section of a grocery store.

[Ros]

I didn't have enough golden syrup so I subbed half black treacle, which gave a gorgeous colour and the taste was delicious. Mine were star-shaped, not leaves. Still yummy!

[Cas Allan]

For Sue, in cups and spoons.

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
5/8 cup golden syrup (please don't use corn syrup)
1 1/4 cups plain flour (US, All purpose flour)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon bicarb soda

[Teresa Kasner]

What a fun time you had with your son making those delicious looking cookies! I have subscribed to the UK Country Living and my first magazine is schedule to arrive in January. I'm so excited! The US version is so thin and lacking compared to the UK one. My friend Gracie had subscribed to the UK one and passed them on to me and I simply submerge myself into them. I think your photos of your cookie project are worthy of any glossy mag!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Trish Annie Stevens]

I love Country Living, too, I've read it since day one, over 30 years ago. It's my favourite magazine. And I love, love, love the flavour of ginger biscuits dunked in coffee! And I also have a pile of magazine upstairs which go back at least 2 years, possibly longer, as I find them so hard to part with...Inspiring and heart warming blog-post, as ever Lucy. Thank you!