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Dozens are sold at church bazaars every year, teatime gossip isn’t the same without it, it’s used as ‘catnip’ for any difficult toddler and it’s that legendary snack enjoyed at the beach during the December Christmas holidays.  Ginger cookies have come a long way since the gingerbread made by ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Today it is made and enjoyed in every domestic home across South Africa.

Ginger cookies were the first thing I remember ever learning how to bake. My mom still bakes dozens of these little cookies before each and every Christmas holiday. For me ginger cookies reminds me of waking up at the beach house with the smell of the sea in the air and sitting outside with our coffees eating these for breakfast as we cheerfully watch holiday goers walk past on their way to spend the day at the beach.

I don’t think anyone know why ginger cookies stir up such fond memories. Is it the ginger and the spice that reminds us of Christmas? Is it the sweet, crunchy, grainy on your tongue like sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth when you bite into it that reminds us of that perfect day at the beach?   

I guess something’s in life just need to be enjoyed without knowing and understanding the ‘how’ and ‘why’.

The recipe below is one of many old traditional South African ginger cookie recipes out there. I have tested and tried this one and I have to be honest, it’s a beautiful recipe, not so strong on the spice but still brilliant. Give it a go and tell me what you think!

GINGER COOKIES 

• 250g butter
• 250ml (1 cup) Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 180ml (3/4 cup) golden syrup (Good quality syrup makes the world of difference!)   
• 500g (4 cups) cake flour
• 2,5ml (1/2 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 15ml (1 tbs) ground ginger (Add more according to personal taste)
• 2,5ml (1/2 tsp) mixed spice
• 7,5 ml (1/2 tbs) ground cinnamon
• 1,25ml (1/4 tsp) salt

Step 1 – Cream the butter and the sugar.

Step 2 – Whisk the eggs together and add it to the creamed butter and sugar mix.

Step 3 – Add the syrup to the creamed butter, sugar and egg mixture. Mix well.

Step 4 – Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and all the rest of the dry ingredients together.

Step 5 – Mix all the sifted dry ingredients into the creamed sugar, butter, egg and syrup mixture.

Step 6 – Preheat your oven to 180 – 190 degrees Celsius

Step 7 – Make little dough balls roughly the size of a walnut and space them 5cm from each other on a baking tray.

Step 8 – Take a fork and flatten the little dough balls.

Step 9 – Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes in your pre-heated oven.

If you want rolled out cookies with different shapes and sizes let the dough cool and harden in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. When the dough has hardened, roll the dough out on a floured surface and cut-out your cookies and bake for the same amount of time at the same oven temperature.

NOTE: Store the cookies in an airtight container. This is very important! Unless you hate crunchy cookies it will become very soft and damp.