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Upstart’s Epic Gingernut Biscuits Recipe

Wendy Schollum

Kiwi’s have been enjoying Gingernut biscuits since the 1800s! Here you will learn how to make Upstart’s special biscuit dough and turn it into a big plate of crunchy Gingernuts… YUM!

REMEMBER: always ask permission from a grown-up before baking

What you need:

Makes approx 15 medium-sized biscuits.

  • 8 rounded tablespoons (tbsp) of plain flour

  • 2 teaspoons (tsp) baking powder

  • 2tsp bicarbonate of soda

  • 2-3 tsp of ground ginger

  • 1-2 tsp of ground mixed spice

  • 4 rounded tbsp coconut oil (you can also use butter or margarine)

  • 2 ½ tbsp brown or caster sugar

  • 2 tbsp of golden syrup

What to do:

You will need an adult’s help and supervision and must keep your hands and workspace clean

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

  2. In a large bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients
    (the flour, baking powder, soda, ginger, mixed spice and sugar)

  3. Using clean, dry hands, use your fingers to rub the coconut oil into the dry mixture until it looks like very fine breadcrumbs

  4. With an adult’s help, gently heat the syrup in a pan until it’s runny.

  5. Pour the warm syrup into the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.

  6. Continue to stir until the syrup has spread evenly through the whole mixture.

  7. Use your hands to squash the bread crumbs together and roll it into a big ball of dough.
    Don’t give up just keep working it into a ball, it will get there.

  8. Roll the ball into a fat sausage shape, slice it into even parts and roll each part into a ball.
    We made 16 balls!

  9. To sugar-coat your Gingernuts, roll each ball in a bowl of sugar.

  10. Place the balls onto a baking sheet or greased tray and squash them flat with a fork

  11. Bake in small batches for 15 minutes.
    Make sure you give each biscuit space on the tray to spread out while baking.

  12. When cooled, store your biscuits in an airtight container and enjoy!

Inspiration Station

We love this recipe as it is but you could experiment with it by:

  • Changing the amount of ginger or mixed spices (warning: too much ginger tastes bad!)

  • Swapping the syrup for honey

  • Making the biscuits bigger or smaller

  • Creating a topping (dark chocolate would be yummy!)

Did you give it a go?

Send us a photo of your gingernuts and you might find your baking featured in a future issue of Upstart magazine… AND win a prize!