ginger & chilli biscuits

Wonderfully spicy ginger biscuits with a kick of chilli, a quick and easy bake. These biscuits take inspiration from Fortnum & Mason’s Lucifer’s Biscuits.

The idea for this recipe came about last week when I sadly reached the bottom of my tin of Fortnum & Mason’s “Lucifer’s Ginger & Chilli Biscuits”. I blame Michelle for this particular biscuit addiction, she got a tin from her husband for Christmas last year and let me taste!

As anyone who knows me can attest, ginger and chilli are two of my favourite flavourings for sweet or savoury. They are perfection in these ginger and chilli biscuits!

Without any doubt, these are my favourite biscuits. But given the cost of Fortnum & Mason’s Lucifer Biscuits, and the fact that I’d have to have them sent to me (further increasing the cost) there’s just no way to easily sustain this biscuit habit, as much as I’d like to! 

What to do? Well simple really, come up with your own (significantly cheaper) version. I found a basic biscuit recipe and began adapting it to create my own ginger and chilli biscuits. Here’s the result, a ginger biscuit, with a nice chew of stem ginger and a good kick of chilli.

Why you’ll love this recipe!

• If you love spice these ginger & chilli biscuits are the biscuit for you, blending fiery ginger with hot chilli and the perfect amount of sweetness.
• A simple recipe ideal for those of you who are new to baking.
• This recipe makes 30 ginger cookies so make the dough and split in half. Bake half and save freeze the second half of the dough for baking up fresh another day.

Chilli & Ginger Biscuit Recipe Steps:

• Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and roll each cookie into cherry tomato sized balls and place on a lined baking sheet.
• Allow plenty space between each cookie sized ball of dough and do not press down, the cookies will flatten as they bake.
• Now place in the oven at 200C/180CFan for 12-14 minutes to bake.

Why do you chill the dough?

The cookie is chilled for at least 2 hours in the fridge or longer if time allows. The purpose of chilling the dough is to firm it up. If it goes into the oven cold the balls of dough will melt down into the shape of a cookie.

If the dough is too warm when you roll it out, the biscuits will spread out too much during the baking process. You don’t want to be left with flat biscuits.

• In the oven the balls of cookie dough will flatten out and cook.
• Once the cookies are baked, remove from the oven and place them on a wire baking tray to cool.

Recipe Ingredients & Substitutions:

Chilli:

These ginger and chilli biscuits really do pack a punch, there is a hit of both ginger and chilli. However, if the chilli is too much you can simply reduce the amount you add to the dough.

Indeed if chilli isn’t really your thing you can leave it out altogether. You will still be left with a lovely ginger biscuit.

Stem ginger, point worth noting:

It is worth mentioning that when making these ginger and chilli biscuits you need to add stem ginger to the dough mix. You must use stem ginger, which comes out of a jar and is covered in syrup. Although you don’t add any of the actual syrup to the dough, the grated stem ginger is covered in it, and this very much helps bind the dough together.

So please do not replace the stem ginger with, say crystallised ginger, as this would result in the dough being too dry to roll out.

Butter:

I use unsalted butter in this recipe, but you can substitute with salted butter if that’s all you have. I would not be tempted to use margarine, as you need the solidity of butter to help bind the dough together.

How long will these easy ginger cookies keep?

These cookies are great enjoyed still warm from the oven with a hot cup of tea, which is how I enjoy them. However, once cooled, place them in an airtight container where they will keep for 4-5 days.

Can you freeze these ginger cookies?

I do not recommend freezing these easy ginger cookies as they will soften too much during the defrosting process.

Instead what I like to do is freeze the cookie dough. Make a batch of dough, bake one half and place the remaining dough in a container suitable for the freezer.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the freezer and allow to defrost in the fridge before rolling into balls and cooking as directed.

Alternatively roll the dough into cookie sized balls then freeze, then you can cook direct from frozen. Just allow a few extra minutes in the oven to ensure they are properly cooked.

Recipe hints & tips:

1. Always chill the dough before baking! Chilling the dough means that the biscuits won’t spread too much once they are in the oven.
2. Don’t be tempted to press down of flatten the cookies, leave them rolled in balls and they will spread in the oven when being baked.
3. Leave plenty space between each ball of cookie dough to allow the cookies space to spread in the oven.
4. This dough freezes really well. You can either freeze the whole ball of dough, or roll the dough into cookie sized balls before placing into the freezer.
5. Allergy advice: egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions:

If you like these simple biscuits then try some of our other simple bakes:

• Sticky Gingerbread Bundt Cake
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies
• Lemon Butter Biscuits
• Orange Butter Biscuits
• Spiced Christmas Cookies
• Custard Creams

These cookies are also delicious served with our Mulled Apple Juice.

If you enjoyed this bake have a look at our Ultimate Guide to Baking with Kids, full of great recipe suggestions for baking with children.

Ginger & Chilli Biscuits

Wonderfully spicy ginger biscuits with a kick of chilli, a quick and easy bake.

5 from 10 votes

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Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Resting Time: 2 hours hrs

Total Time: 2 hours hrs 32 minutes mins

Servings: 30 biscuits

Calories: 72kcal

Author: Lesley Garden

Equipment

• chopping board
• grater
• Sharp kitchen knife
• large mixing bowl
• Electric Whisk
• Kitchen scales
• measuring spoons
• 2 Baking sheets
• Baking parchment or silicone liner

Ingredients

• ▢ 100 g stem ginger (roughly 5 balls, very finely grated)
• ▢ 75 g light muscavado sugar
• ▢ 125 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• ▢ 180 g self raising flour
• ▢ ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ▢ 4 tsp ground ginger
• ▢ 1 tsp hot chilli powder

MetricUS Customary

Instructions

• Prepare the stem ginger by grating it very finely. If you don't have a fine grater, use a regular grater, then chop the grated ginger with a kitchen knife.
• Cream together the sugar and the butter until really well combined and light in colour.
• Add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix well until everything is thoroughly combined. Then place the dough in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but ideally overnight.
• When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and roll into balls the size of a cherry tomato. Place the balls onto a lined baking tray, taking care to space them out as the biscuits will flatten in the oven when baked.
• From this mixture you should get between 26-30 biscuits. Bake in batches rather than overcrowding the baking sheet.
• Place in an oven at 200C/180CFan/390F for 12-14 minutes until the biscuits are golden in colour.
• Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet onto a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the biscuits from the sheet onto the wire rack to harden.
• Store the biscuits in an airtight container and enjoy them for several days.

Notes

• You can alter the amount of chilli and ginger that you add to these biscuits. If you want to leave out the chilli altogether you will still have a delicious ginger biscuit.
• I use stem ginger, which comes out of a jar and is covered in syrup. Although you don’t add any of the actual syrup to the dough, the grated stem ginger is covered in it, and this helps bind the dough together. If you can’t find stem ginger then crystallised ginger would be a good alternative, but it is dry. So, I suggest adding a teaspoon of golden syrup if using crystallised ginger.
• Always chill the biscuit dough as this will stop the biscuits from spreading when baked in the hot oven.

Nutrition Facts

Ginger & Chilli Biscuits

Amount Per Serving (30 g)

Calories 72 Calories from Fat 27

% Daily Value*

Fat 3g5%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 8mg3%

Sodium 24mg1%

Potassium 14mg0%

Carbohydrates 9g3%

Sugar 4g4%

Vitamin A 130IU3%

Calcium 4mg0%

Iron 0.1mg1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •

Course : Baking

Cuisine : British

Keyword : biscuits, chilli, cookies, ginger

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