Tent Ready · A practice bake with no clock and no surprise. The same thing repeated until one skill is solid.

Iced Ginger Biscuits

Baked by Garrett (Bear) ·

Biscuit week on the show is about sameness: a batch where every biscuit is the same size, the same thickness and the same color, and a showstopper built from dough that holds its shape. This is my drill for that. A firm, spiced ginger dough that gets rolled, cut and chilled so the edges stay sharp in the oven, then royal icing, which is a skill of its own: one thick icing for outlines and details, and a runnier one to flood the tops smooth.

I am baking this one away from home, in a kitchen I do not know. That is its own test: an oven I have never used and whatever is in the drawers.

Prue Leith’s recipe from The Great British Bake Off website, written out here in my own words with the weights. You will need an 8 cm (about 3 inch) square cutter and a 10 cm (about 4 inch) oval cutter, or a card template and a sharp knife.

Ricotta BearRecipe by Garrett (Bear)

Iced Ginger Biscuits

Spiced ginger biscuits cut into squares and ovals, then outlined, flooded and piped with colored royal icing. A test of even rolling, clean cutting and steady icing.

Prep
2 hr
Bake
12 min
Rest
1 hr
Total
3 hr 12 min
Makes
12 biscuits
Level
hard

Recipe originally written in grams and auto-converted to US cups. Conversions can be slightly off, especially for flour, so weigh when you can.

For the biscuits

For the royal icing

Equipment

  • 8 cm square cutter
  • 10 cm oval cutter
  • 2 baking sheets, lightly greased
  • 2 sheets of baking paper
  • Wire rack
  • Piping bags with No. 1 and No. 3 writing nozzles

Method

  1. Cream. Beat the butter, muscovado and molasses together until combined, then add the egg a little at a time.
  2. Make the dough. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt, and stir until it comes together.
  3. Chill. Flatten the dough between two sheets of baking paper and chill for about an hour, until firm.
  4. Roll and cut. Heat the oven. Roll the dough out to 5 mm between the paper, cut 6 squares and 6 ovals, lift them onto the greased sheets and chill again until firm. Oven: 375°F / 190°C (170°C fan)
  5. Bake. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Leave them on the sheet for a minute, then cool completely on a wire rack.
  6. Make the icing. Whisk the egg whites with 3 tbsp of the icing sugar and the lemon juice, then work in the rest of the sugar until smooth and thick. Do not over-beat it.
  7. Colour and loosen. Divide the icing. Colour four small portions blue, yellow, green and red and keep two white. Loosen each with water, a drop at a time: piping thickness for the colours and one white, runnier flooding thickness for the other white. Fill the piping bags.
  8. Decorate. Outline and flood the biscuits with white, then pipe the coloured details. Add a drop of water or a little sugar to any icing that is too thick or too runny.

ricottabear.com/iced-ginger-biscuits · US measures, metric in brackets

Questions people ask

What is muscovado sugar, and can I use brown sugar instead?

Muscovado is cane sugar with its molasses left in, so it is darker and more fudgy than white sugar. Light brown sugar does the same job here, weight for weight.

What is the difference between piping and flooding icing?

It is the same royal icing loosened to two thicknesses. Piping icing holds a line, so it is used for outlines and details. Flooding icing is runnier and settles flat inside an outline. Add water a drop at a time, because a little too much and a line starts to spread.

How do I stop the biscuits spreading in the oven?

Keep the dough cold. Chill it before rolling, and chill the cut shapes again on the tray before they go in, so the butter is firm when the heat hits it and the edges stay sharp.

Can I make royal icing without raw egg whites?

Yes. Pasteurized egg whites from a carton work the same way, or use meringue powder mixed with water as the packet says.

The judging

Verdict pending

The judge has not tasted this one yet. Check back next week.

Reviews + questions

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I have not made this one myself yet, so amounts and timings may change once I have. Something not right? Tell me above and I will fix it.

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