Time to re-up the ginger oatcakes. This time I’m going to add a bit of extra butter, as the last batch were very flaky and dry after a few days in storage, probably as I added all the ginger without adding any extra liquid. Also this time I’m writing down the amounts of ginger I’m using, so I know how much to use next time (which will probably be more :). Oh and I’ve upped the sugar level a bit, as 1/4 tsp wasn’t really worth adding.

Note to self: plan for next time is below!

• 200g medium oatmeal, extra for dusting
• 50g oatbran
• 25g porridge oats
• 1 Tbsp linseed (flax seeds)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 20g grated fresh ginger
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger
• 50g crystallised stem ginger, minced
• 100g butter, diced
• 75ml boiling water

180C fan oven. Toast oats and linseed for 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes.

Meanwhile prep the rest of the ingredients and mix them in a bowl. The butter is supposed to melt in the boiling water, but I had to nuke it to melt. Then I remembered I was adding hot oats to it, so this wasn’t necessary. I went on to realise that I could not only use cold water, but cold ginger beer, for extra ginger flavour!

So: add the oats and form dough. Dust counter with oatmeal, press out dough, then roll out to about 5mm. Cut out, using the tessellating power of hexagons to reduce re-rolling needs :)

Then the fiddly lifting on a spatula to the baking sheet.

Into the 180C fan oven for 20 minutes, then flip them, then 10 more minutes.

Really – flipping? Is that really necessary? I’m going to try not flipping some of them and see if it makes a difference.

Cool on the baking parchment.

Once cooled I tested flipped versus non-flipped with some cheese.

I couldn’t tell the difference, so I can reduce the faffing next time by not flipping.

Which makes me wonder if I can reduce the faffing further by not even separating the biscuits next time. Using the tessellating powers of hexagons I could just roll out on baking parchment, cut hexagons, and bake for 30 minutes. Worth trying next time.

As for the ginger taste: it’s great when you get some stem ginger, but otherwise it’s lacking heat. I’d considered adding some black pepper while making these for some heat, and when Soph suggested the same thing it confirmed this was the way forward. So my plan is to remove the fiddly fresh ginger, up the stem ginger, and add black pepper.

Update: after nibbling on these for a few days I’ve noticed some of the stem ginger is a bit overdone, in some cases even a bit burnt and bitter. I think that it might be better to use stem ginger in syrup, rather than the dry crystallised stuff.

Updated recipe:

• 200g medium oatmeal
• 50g oatbran
• 25g porridge oats
• 1 Tbsp linseed (flax seeds)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger
• 100g stem ginger (the in syrup kind) minced
• 100g butter, diced
• 75ml ginger beer

Oven to 180C fan. Toast oats and linseed for 20 mins, stirring every five minutes.

Meanwhile mix everything else in a bowl.

Add hot oat mix to bowl, which should melt butter and form wet dough.

Roll out on parchment paper, put on baking tray, cut hex shapes and leave as single block.

Cook for 30 mins. Cool on parchment paper on rack, then separate.