Gingerbread Biscuits

From Sweet; Yottam Ottolenghi / Helen Goh

Biscuit Dough
85g Unsalted butter at room temperature
90 Soft dark brown sugar
100g Black treacle
1 Large egg yolk
235g Plain flour plus extra for dusting
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Ground ginger
½ tsp Ground cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground cloves
1 tbsp Cocoa powder*
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper

• I did not include the cocoa powder as chocolate disagrees with me, however the biscuits were still a great success without it.

Rum Butter Glaze
80g Icing sugar
¼ tsp Ground cinnamon
15g Unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1 tbsp Rum or lemon juice
1 tsp Warm water

To make the biscuits
Beat together the butter, sugar and treacle until smooth and well mixed. Add the egg yolk and continue to beat until it is fully combined.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and then add gradually into the butter / treacle mixture. You will end up with a soft dough. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.

Roll the dough out to between 6 and 8 mm thick, if the dough is too soft to roll and handle then chill it for 10 minutes before rolling.

Preheat the oven to 190 deg C/ 170 fan / Gas mark 5. Line a couple of baking trays with baking parchment.

If you have a biscuit stamp then dip it into a little flour and shake off the excess, then press the stamp into the dough as firmly as you need to get a good deep imprint. The biscuits will rise a little when cooking, so soft imprints may disappear. Using a round pastry cutter cut out the biscuits with the stamped pattern in the middle. Re-roll and re-use the dough until it is all used up.

Bake for 9 - 10 minutes, swapping the trays (top and bottom) half way through the bake. They should be firm to the touch when they come out of the oven, they will firm further on cooling.

Whilst the biscuits are cooking then prepare the glaze, as it needs to be brushed on whilst the biscuits are still warm. Sift the icing sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Add the melted butter, rum (or lemon juice) and water, and mix until smooth. The glaze should be the consistency of runny honey. If it thickens slightly before you use it, then add a little more warm water.

Once cooked, remove the biscuits from the oven, and leave to rest for about 5 minutes then brush on the glaze, using a pastry brush.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.