These easy ginger and honey biscuits are my latest obsession and I have made them four times. They are the best ginger biscuits I know and come together in minutes by hand in one bowl. My family loved them over the holidays. They can be baked until soft and chewy or crunchy like gingernut biscuits (UK ginger biscuits).
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I recently worked with the lovely duo behind the Waggle Honey brand to develop a new flavour in their range of flavoured craft honey: Lemon and ginger.
Playing around with the ratios of ground ginger and lemon extract to make a balanced honey was a lovely project. This would be perfect on toast or to sweeten a cup of tea. It’s also perfect in these ginger and honey biscuits.
To amplify the lemon slightly I added the zest of a lemon, but the flavour is still very subtle. You can omit this if you prefer.
Waggle craft honey is creamed honey that has been sourced and made in small batches. They are 100% raw and infused with natural ingredients, free from preservatives or artificial flavours. The honey is unfiltered and unheated, thereby retaining its natural goodness.
I adapted my easy South African Ginger biscuit recipe from way back in the archives of this blog. This would be the recipe to follow should you want super crunchy biscuits. You can also achieve crunchier biscuits with the instructions below.
How to make these ginger and honey biscuits crunchy
I feel like there are two types of people in the world. Those who like their cookies or biscuits crunchy, and those who like them soft and chewy.
If you are the former, you can make these biscuits crunchy like a gingernut. Simply reduce the honey to 2 tablespoons and omit the lemon zest. Bake until golden brown for 14 – 15 minutes.Watch these biscuits carefully while baking as they can go from golden to burnt VERY quickly.
Just a note on this recipe. Make sure the dough is quite dry even borderline crumbly. If it is too sticky the cookies will spread too much. Make sure you measure the water and honey correctly. Add a little flour if it is sticky.
Allow some space between each ginger biscuit on the baking tray and see my notes in the recipe re cooling the biscuits.
A few of my favourite biscuit recipes
The classic and iconic vanilla snap biscuit recipe is perfect to decorate.
The best shortbread biscuit balls with chocolate middles might be one of my all-time favourite biscuits (cookies). Moreish and addictive. I like to use Cadbury’s Chocolate in the middle.
The best-whipped vanilla shortbread biscuits (perfect to make with or for kids).
Alison Roman’s best chocolate chip cookie (that is more of a biscuit) and easy to make and freeze for later. NB – You can freeze the uncooked dough and the baked biscuits.
The best cashew nut butter biscuits (or use a good quality peanut butter if you prefer)
Greek shortbread biscuits – covered in ice sugar these almond-flecked beauties are addictive.
My best-ever baking recipes are where you will find a full list of all my favourite baking recipes of all time. I’ve been blogging for over 14 years so there is a LOT.
The best easy honey and ginger biscuits
Delicious and easy honey and ginger biscuits with a hint of lemon. bake these soft and chewy or crunch like a gingernut.
2tspground ginger (increase to 3 tsp if using plain honey)
a pinch of salt
1/2tspground cinnamon
120grams1/2 cup light brown sugar
Finely grated zest of one lemon
125gm soft salted butter at room temp
1tsp5 ml bicarbonate of sodabaking soda
3Tbs / 45ml Waggle Lemon & Ginger honey
30ml2 Tbs hot water
additional brown sugar to sprinkle over the biscuits (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F)
Add the sugar and lemon zest to a small bowl and rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils.
Add the flour, spice, and salt and give it a good mix.
Add the butter to the bowl and until you get a crumb-like texture.
In a separate small bowl mix the honey, bicarb, and water and when it is mixed add it to the flour mixture. Mix until you have a soft dough ball and there are no loose bits of crumb. It should be quite dry and borderline crumbly. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour.
Scoop out approximately 11/2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball. It should be the size of a walnut.
Arrange the balls spaced out on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking sheet or baking paper. Press each dough ball down with a fork – you should get around 20 biscuits.
Bake for 13 – 18 minutes until they are a nice caramel colour and then remove and cool on a rack. Keep a close eye after 13 minutes as they can burn quite easily. The oven times may vary and if necessary bake longer. For a crunchier biscuit bake for longer (around 14 – 15 minutes) and for a softer, chewier biscuit bake for 13 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack. If you would like them soft and chewy, remove them from the baking sheet as they come out the oven. Do this by sliding the baking paper onto the rack.
If you would like them crispier, leave them to cool on the baking tray as they will carry over cooking for a bit.
Notes
To make these crunchy like a gingernut, reduce the honey to 2 Tbs and omit the lemon zest. Bake until golden brown for 14 – 15 minutes.
The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. We've made a lot of biscuits, but this easy biscuits recipe is the one we turn to the most!
“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”
Ginger biscuits also have anti-inflammatory effects, thereby are important for problems like rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis, ulcerative colitis and bursitis. It improves the absorption and stimulation of essential nutrients in the body.
White wheat in general is around 9-12% protein, while the hard reds are 11-15%. As far as brands of flour, White Lily “all-purpose” flour has been my go-to for biscuit making. It's a soft red winter wheat, and the low protein and low gluten content keep biscuits from becoming too dense.
But if you chill your pan of biscuits in the fridge before baking, not only will the gluten relax (yielding more tender biscuits), the butter will harden up. And the longer it takes the butter to melt as the biscuits bake, the more chance they have to rise high and maintain their shape. So, chill... and chill.
Ginger cookies can be high in sugar and fat content. Ginger cookies fall into the category of "empty calories," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines. You should consume empty calorie foods in moderation.
So if you really enjoy the burn of fresh ginger and want even more, dehydrate your ginger and mince it or even grind it for an extremely potent and powerful flavoring. A pinch of that in a chili would really bring the heat. It's a $3 ingredient you've probably seen before.
When you're making biscuits, you use buttermilk for its acidity as well as its fat and liquid content. The acidity is used, in conjunction with leaveners, to help the dough rise.
High-fat butter, such as Kerrygold Butter, is best. The rich fat from the butter releases water when the biscuits are baking which is what contributes to the beautiful layers and flakiness that we love about biscuits.
1 small glass (150ml) of pure fruit juice or smoothie a day. 1 to 2 plain biscuits such as Rich Tea, Oatcakes, Ginger or Garibaldi. A small serving of low fat milk puddings such as rice pudding, semolina or low fat custard. 1 scone/ crumpet/ small currant teacake or 1 small slice of malt loaf.
A gingersnap, ginger snap, ginger nut, or ginger biscuit is a biscuit flavored with ginger. Ginger snaps are flavored with powdered ginger and a variety of other spices, most commonly cinnamon, molasses and clove.
A word of advice: Start with good ingredients. Biscuits, like many breads, only use a few ingredients so you'll really taste each one. Choosing good-quality butter, milk, and flour will pay off in the flavor of the end result. Most of our recipes can be easily adapted to accommodate mix-ins.
Pillai became known in India as the 'Biscuit King' or 'Biscuit Baron'. He took over Nabisco's other Asian subsidiaries. Pillai then established links with Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel (BSN), the French food company, and by 1989 controlled six Asian companies worth over US$400 million.
The two keys to success in making the best biscuits are handling the dough as little as possible as well as using very cold solid fat (butter, shortening, or lard) and cold liquid. When the biscuits hit the oven, the cold liquid will start to evaporate creating steam which will help our biscuits get very tall.
Mixing. The multi-stage mixing method is preferred for its ability to produce consistent doughs which are not fully developed. Blending all dry ingredients to rub or cut the shortening into the flour until fat is fully distributed and pea-sized lumps are visible.
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Introduction: My name is Kieth Sipes, I am a zany, rich, courageous, powerful, faithful, jolly, excited person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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