ginger & chocolate biscuits

This hideous weather isn't just making my emotions damp, my eyes weep irratically like a semi broken water feature, but it's also making me want to bake, bake and bake. I counted 9 different types of flour in my cupboard the other day. Is that excessive? And if I don't have flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate and unsalted butter in the house I feel uneasy. I can't work out if it's the constant rain, or the wheat/butter/sugar addiction I have that's getting to me, or just that I'm a mother with two small children trapped indoors during the summer months....

However, I made some buttery ginger biscuits the other day, very similar to my favourite chocolate salty sables from Foodbeam taken from Pierre Herme who incidentally, could be the most stylish baker I've ever come across. The biscuits are quick, easy, freezable and damn tasty and I've now got to add crystallised ginger as another must have security ingredient. Have you ever tried a mug of chopped ginger and hot water? Delicious.

To make the biscuits, weigh out:

• 175g plain flour, rice flour or 50/50 of them both - rice flour makes a crunchier biscuit


• 125g softened unsalted butter


• 50g light brown sugar


• 75g crystallised ginger


• 50g plain chocolate, chopped (optional)


• Maldon sea salt

Preheat oven to 150ºc.
Using a food processor, add the butter and the sugar and pulse until combined.
Add flour, continue to pulse then add ginger cubes. Pulse until you have the ginger to the size you like. Bigger is best in my opinion.
Take out blade and add chopped chocolate.
Scrap dough out of processor and halve.
Roll each half into a sausage and wrap in cling-film.
Place in fridge until firm enough to slice. (Freeze the mixture at this point if  wanting to use later).
Slice into rounds, sprinkle with sea salt, place on a baking tray lined with silicone paper, and bake for 10-12 mins or until a light, golden colour.
Cool on baking sheet then transfer to wire cooling rack.

If you don't want to add chocolate to the biscuits, you could cover them with melted chocolate instead.