Ginger Kisses

I love the flavour of ginger in baking! And these ginger kisses provide a light ginger punch.

They are spongy, soft and golden, but the texture becomes more creamy when they are sandwiched together with a rich buttercream filling.

Ginger has a warm zing and it is so comforting that you dream of a quiet armchair near a roaring fire with rain (or snow) outside so that you can curl up with a book and snack on Ginger Kisses, Mmmm!

Well, of course, it is summer here in NZ now and the hot sun makes us think more about bbqs than anything else. However there is still a place for home baking as an after dinner treat.

When I made these kisses I must admit I wasn’t sure how they would turn out and I was surprised at how much they spread during the baking process.

I made about 5 baking trays which luckily gave plenty of room for each one but I did have to try and tidy the shape when they came out of the oven.

Regardless of the wonky shapes, they taste great and I couldn’t help but eat one as soon as they were cool and filled with buttercream. So indulgent!

Recipe

¾ cup plain flour
½ cup self raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp baking soda

75g butter, softened
2⁄3 cup raw caster sugar
2 Tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 170°C (fan bake 150°C)

Sift the flours and baking soda together.

Beat the butter, golden syrup and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add half the flour mixture, beat on low speed until combined, repeat with the remaining flour mix and stand for 5 minutes.

Spoon two teaspoons of mixture onto the top of each other on the prepared trays leaving a good 5 cm between each one for spreading. Spooning teaspoons of mixture on top of each other will result in evenly sized rounds.

Bake one tray at a time for 13-15 minutes or until golden.

Cool on the trays.

Filling

125g butter, softened
1½ cups icing sugar
2 tsp golden syrup

Beat the butter until light and fluffy.

Gradually beat in the icing sugar until well combined. Beat in the golden syrup.

Spread 2-3 teaspoons full of filling onto the flat side of half of the kisses and sandwich together with the remaining kisses.

Tips

The tray of kisses that was baked using my non stick silicone baking mat (normally reserved for macarons) gave the best results. The mix did not spread so much and they appeared to bake more evenly.

Before placing on the baking tray suggest chill the mix for 15 minutes in the fridge. The mixture will become firm and can be rolled into balls and this will help with height. Then bake at 180˚C for 8-10 minutes.

To tidy the shape gently push the sides with a knife just as soon as they come out of the oven, or follow the method used here.