I hope you’re all hungry and free to do a little baking this Whitsun bank holiday.

That said, I suppose I should have baked something that appears in Five Go to Billycock Hill as that is the most obvious Whitsun adventure I do believe. However, it’s been a very busy week so I shall have to treat you to a quick and easy recipe for ginger biscuits!

The dust jacket of Jane Brocket’s “Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer” cook book. Taken from Amazon.

This recipe is one of two that I tried, and through my unofficial testers at work, the favourite recipe comes from Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket. This recipe makes 20-24 biscuits and this is what you need to make them!

Warning: If you are a young child, please as an adult to help you. I don’t want to be responsible for any nasty accidents!

120g soft butter
120g golden caster sugar
1 dessert spoon golden syrup
1 egg yolk
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of  tartar
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
Pinch of salt
Pinch of mixed spice (optional)
Pinch of ground cloves and/or ground nutmeg (optional) – I used the nutmeg.

You will also need a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.

To make your ginger biscuits follow these instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/ gas mark 3.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in the golden syrup and egg yolk [the yellow bit of the egg].
4. Sift the flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, salt and spices if you are using them, into the bowl. Then work them in until the mix becomes a firm dough.
5. Break off small pieces of the dough, shape them into balls and place them well apart on the baking tray.
6. Press down lightly with your fingers to partially flatten each biscuit.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown and smelling delicious.
8. Transfer the biscuits from the tray to a wire rack and leave them to cool.
9. Devour!

This recipe works really well, it’s simple and straight forward. In fact the only part I had problems with was that the biscuits took at least forty minutes to bake in my oven. This may be because I had them in the middle of the oven. All I will say to you, is to start off with Brocket’s time for baking but don’t worry if it takes you a little longer to cook the biscuits.

About the Book

Just a quick world about the book Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket. It is a fabulous text for Enid Blyton (and other author) inspired recipes. In fact it had so many Blytonesque recipes in it that I went out and brought my own copy (I had borrowed a copy from work and was afraid of keeping it too long as I had requested it over from another library).

The book is filled with lip smacking recipes and little anecdotes on food. It is helpfully divided into sections such as School, Suppers, Lunches and Picnics.

I look forward to comparing recipes from other books to this one and seeing if Brocket has hit on the perfect Blyton cook book!

In the meantime, try the biscuits – they are delicious  and let me know how they turn out in the comments below!

P.S. If you have any recipes you want me to try, email the blog on worldofblytonblog@hotmail.com and I shall do my very best!