There are songs I adore as a whole, but certain parts of them I deeply love: the first seconds of “This Charming Man” and “You Surround Me”, or the very ending of “One Headlight”, for instance.
The same happens with these bars: I liked them as a whole – and you will too, especially if you do not overbake the base as I did – but the ginger icing is especially good. Actually, after spreading the icing over the shortbread I licked the spatula so eagerly I burned my tongue. :S
Ginger crunch bars
from Donna Hay magazine
Base:
2 2/3 cups (374g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
2 teaspoons ground ginger, sifted
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
250g cold unsalted butter, chopped
Ginger icing:
150g unsalted butter, chopped
¼ cup corn syrup
1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger, sifted
1 2/3 cups (234g) icing sugar, sifted
Make the base: preheat the oven to 180°/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan, line with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Butter the foil, but not the overhangs.
Place the flour, baking powder, ginger and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process in short bursts to combine*. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs – the base will be crumbly when you press it into the pan, but will come together as the butter melts in the oven. Press into the base of the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and firm to touch. Set aside to cool completely.
Now, the icing: place the butter, corn syrup and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat and cook for 2-3 minutes or until butter is melted. Add the icing sugar and whisk to combine. Pour icing over base and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Carefully lift up the ends of the foil liner, and transfer to a cutting board. Cut in bars with a sharp knife.
* I made 2/3 of the recipe and used a 20cm (8in) square pan; when I made the base, the food processor was pretty full, but processed it normally
Makes 20
20 comments:
Oh Patricia, I love that you actually make all the DH recipes I droll over. I should follow your lead. These look divine and I can't believe you got the edges/top of the frosting so perfect!
This looks insanely good. I love the ginger icing.
Calling my name! (And my Dad's which is a great excuse to bake some) and to practice such stunning sharp top/edges.
yummy ginger topping delicious
Che carini!! Molto belli e immagino che buoni sono:) La foto eè stupenda!
Un bacione
These sound and look awesome - no wonder you licked the spatula - ouch!
these look fantastic. i can almost smell the ginger through the computer screen. i always adore your stories, your photos and your creations. these are no exception
Ouch about your tongue! I've done that and then felt such a fool - why did I try and lick molten sugar?!
The bars look great and you've sliced them so neatly. Mine always crumble
Love the sunny colour! Ginger icing sounds super - think I could sub the corn syrup with golden syrup? Or even honey?
Xiaolu, you and I are in sync! :D
The icing sets pretty well, so it was not hard slicing the bars.
Thank you!
xx
Naomi, thank you!
Hey, sweetie! I hope you bake some for him! :D
Torview, thank you!
Oxana, grazie mille!
xx
Patty, :D
Susan, thank you! You are far too kind, my dear.
xx
Katie, I think we love food - too much. :D
I almost could not slice these because of my overbaking the base... :S
Marisa, thank you! Golden syrup was the ingredient used in the original recipe (by Donna Hay), but I'm not sure about honey...
Ginger icing? I'm sold! Lovely pictures.
Bake for...sentence has an error?
Why do many bloggers put ingredients in cups, etc., then butter (or other ingredients in metric? how much butter is that? thank you, sorry, I seem to be metric challenged. GORGEOUS ginger shortbread and thanx for your beautifully yummy photo; and I am putting it together as soon as I solve the metric thing!!!
wonderful ginger yumminess.
Kasey, thank you!
Emmy Lou, you are right - I've corrected the error.
You can get some help here: http://tkmeasures.blogspot.com/
Thank you!
Lora, tks for stopping by!
I love gingery cookies. That icing sounds so good. I will absolutely have to try this recipe in the near future, especially with the upcoming holidays.
I'll be honest, I've never thought to make ginger icing but I'd be licking it off the spatula as well. I might even have to make two batches. One to lick and one to ice the bars with.
Hi again Patricia! I was thinking about making these sometime in the next month or 2 and wanted to check whether the oven temperature is for convection (fan-forced) ovens or not? I only recently found out that current DH magazine recipe temperatures are for convection ovens, so I was a bit concerned. Thanks!
Hey, sweetie!
My oven is pretty regular - not fan-forced - sometimes I have to bake my cakes/cookies, etc for 5-8 minutes longer than the recipes call for, but everything has worked well so far.
I hope you enjoy the recipe, Xiaolu!
xx
These look delicious!! And i often have the same problem of wanting to lick the spoon when the goods are still hot! Also in total agreement about the favourite parts of songs, I love the start of 'This Charming Man' so much I use it as a ringtone so I get a little boogie every time i get a call! :D Thanks for the recipe! xx
Amber, I wish I had that as my ringtone, too! That is super cool.
Thank YOU for stopping by!
xx
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