THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPT’

Gingerbread Nuts. – ….2.  One pound of golden syrup, one and a half pounds of flour, one and a half pounds of butter, one and a half pounds of sugar, and one ounce of ground ginger.  Half the butter and sugar to be melted together: mix well, and roll out very thin; cut to size required with a pastry cutter, and bake in a quick oven.

~Peterson’s Magazine Vol. LXVI (July to December).  Philadelphia: 1874.

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• 6 oz. granulated sugar (approx. 3/4 cup)
• 6 oz. butter (approx. 3/4 cup)
• 6 oz. granulated sugar (approx. 3/4 cup)
• ½ tsp. salt
• 6 oz. butter (approx. 3/4 cup)
• 8 oz. golden syrup (approx. 1 cup)
• 12 oz. all-purpose flour (approx. 2 and 3/4 cups)
• 2 Tb. powdered ginger.

In a small saucepan, melt 6 ounces of sugar and 6 ounces of butter together over medium heat, until it bubbles and is no longer granular.

In a mixing bowl, cream the other 6 ounces of sugar, the salt, and the remaining 6 ounces of butter together with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is light, smooth, and fluffy.

Gradually add the golden syrup to the creamed mixture;  beat it in completely.

Sift the flour and the ginger together several times.

Then add the sifted dry ingredients, in portions, to the dough mixture; stir in thoroughly after each addition.

Lastly, add the melted butter and sugar mixture to the dough, and beat it in until the dough is smooth and waxy in appearance.

You may wish to refrigerate the dough for an hour to make it easier to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350F at this point.

Grease baking sheets lightly with butter, or lay them out with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling-pin, roll the dough to about ⅛-inch in thickness.

Cut the dough into circles with a 2 ½-inch diameter biscuit cutter, and place the cookies onto the buttered baking sheets, allowing room for expansion between them. 

Bake in a preheated oven, at 350F for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to set and cool slightly on the baking sheets, before removing them with a broad-bladed knife.

Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing them in an air-tight container.

Yield: approximately 5 ½ to 6 dozen.

These morsels are very crisp and buttery, with a pronounced ginger flavour.

A note from Patricia: I was drawn to these cookies because I love ginger, and I had never baked anything with ‘golden syrup’ before and was intrigued. I found some of “Lyle’s Golden Syrup” in the international section of my local supermarket in an adorable little tin, and got to work attempting these little cookies. I googled “Gingerbread Nuts” to try to figure out what the end result should look like, and didn’t see anything that resembled a cookie, so I was flying blind on this one. I used 1:1 gluten-free baking flour in place of the all-purpose flour so that I could conduct a taste test. Looking at the list of ingredients, I found it kind of odd that there were no eggs or baking soda or baking powder in the recipe, but I persevered, cut out rounds from the dough once I had chilled it in the fridge, and baked them. The result? Thin, crispy at the edges and very chewy in the middle, and highly addictive. They were buttery and sweet, with the perfect hint of ginger. My sister and her friend stopped by while these were cooling, and gobbled down a whole bunch, and I’ll admit to eating an atrocious amount too. I had some cookie icing on hand, so I decided that these needed a tiny little heart in the centre (cute!), and I’ll definitely be making these again as part of my holiday baking extravaganza.