a few of our favourite things

Miriam: Ginger Crunch is having a resurgence in my household. And I love it! I think the Edmond's Cookbook recipe is pretty good, but, it is made soooo much better when you double (or triple) the topping of the fudge-like ginger goodness.

Becs: I really rate these crispy little lavosh made by 180 degrees (they don't seem to have a website?) I have tried all their lavosh variants and the black and white sesame seed is by far my favourite; the others seemed a bit 'flavoured' or oversalted. These little crackers are brilliantly crunchy and super served with a bowl of garlicky hummus. Not too expensive either - about $4 from memory - I stocked up at the supermarket before Christmas when all these sort of treaty things were on special.

Thursday baking - ginger crunch

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking

I'm not sure if A Treasury of New Zealand Baking has a lot of recipes for brown coloured food or if I am just attracted to the recipes for brown coloured food but I feel like almost everything I've made from the book has been brown! And with two shades of brown this ginger crunch is no exception!

This Jo Seager recipe from the book is for wholemeal ginger crunch but I didn't have any wholemeal flour so used plain flour, making this slice almost identical to the Takaka Oaty Ginger Crunch that we often make. I also left out the crystallised ginger because I didn't have any (because I don't like it)... and I didn't drizzle with melted chocolate as stated in the recipe as prefer it plain. So as it turns out I really just made Takaka Oaty Ginger Crunch!

I left the base in the oven too long so it was overcooked and hard on the teeth (even for ginger crunch). I had planned to take this to work for morning tea but wasn't going to out of fear of breaking my colleagues teeth (and ruining my reputation as a baker). When I popped home at lunchtime it had softened up a little so I took it in for an afternoon treat.

Week 16 - (Wholemeal) ginger crunch (Jo Seager)

Base
150 g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Melt butter, golden syrup and brown sugar over a low heat. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour in melted ingredients. Mix well and press into a lined 20 x 30cm slice tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.


Icing
4 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons icing sugar
4 teaspoons golden syrup
2 teaspoons ground ginger

Melt butter and golden syrup, beat in ginger and icing sugar. Pour over still-warm base.

Slice into small squares when cold. (I wait until the next day if possible).