Ginger Crunch

In the 1970s, all New Zealand students invariably owned a copy of the Edmonds Cookery Book. Each had their own favourite recipes. Rebecca (that's her on the left in the photo, with Paul and Joan, both of whom I still see on occasion) LOVED Ginger Crunch. After she'd made it a couple of times, I too was a convert.

With its crunchy, buttery base and its soft, melting topping, it gives anything Mr Kipling produces commercially a run for its money. Unless it goes wrong like mine did; then it's more ginger chew than crunch. It was still lovely, just wrong. Again it was made in the same tin as last week's disaster.

If you do make them, store them in an airtight container (preferably an old biscuit tin) and consume them within 3 - 4 days, though they will last for up to a week (just).

Makes 12 slices.

Ingredients

For the biscuit base:

125g butter at room temperature

plus a little extra for greasing the tin

125g sugar

200g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

For the topping:

60g butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon golden syrup

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Sift in the flour, the ginger, and the baking powder, and mix them in.

Press the dough into the base of a baking tin. I line the base with non-stick baking parchment to prevent damage when it comes to cutting it into bars.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190ºC for 20 - 25 minutes.

In the meantime, melt and stir all the topping ingredients together.

To measure the golden syrup more easily, stand your tablespoon in a cup of boiling water until it heats up, then shake off any excess water. The spoon will cut into the golden syrup, and the syrup just slide off.