The Back Yard Lemon Tree

I have a love hate relationship with Christmas in Australia. Pros are that it’s summer and we can go to the beach, eat mangoes and cherrries and have water fights in the back yard after Christmas lunch. Cons are that it’s summer, its humid and hot and we spend far too much time making and baking food when it’s just to hot to enjoy eating. The reality of the Australian Christmas really hits when you’re baking Christmas cookies in the heat and humidity of December in Sydney. I’ve solved this problem by only making Christmas cookies that can be made in two parts with the dough made and stored in refrigerator or freezer and baked later for convenience.

These Swedish ginger thins are a brilliant Christmas cookie for the Australian conditions. You make up the dough, stash them in the freezer for 24 hours and in the cool of the morning or evening or whenever you can bear to put on the oven, you bake them off. I usually make two double batches of this dough and bake them off in tranches over the festive season. I generally have enough to see me through to Easter. This dough lasts brilliantly in the freezer. A fact I verified this year in June when I unearthed a lonely log of dough from the depths of my freezer from a Christmas 18 months past. I sliced and baked it and it still baked up beautifully.

It’s not just for the convenience that I love these biscuits they are really outstanding for themselves. In fact if I was forced to choose one Christmas cookie to take to a desert island it would be this one, Thin, crispy and beautifully spiced. I make other cookies for Christmas but this is a family favorite. One of my nieces loves them so much I have to make a tin of cookies for her alone.

Swedish Ginger Thins

Adapted from Simply Recipes

• 250 grams (8 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 small eggs (or 1 1/2 large eggs)
• 1/3 cup of molasses or treacle*(see note below)
• 3 cups of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of bicarb soda (baking soda)
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground black pepper

1. Cream butter until soft, then add sugar and beat until pale and creamy
2. Beat in vanilla and eggs, then add molasses and beat until well combined
3. Sift all dry ingredients – flour, bicarb soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and black pepper and whisk so they are well combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to butter mix and mix until all dry ingredients are just incorporated.
5. Mould into three logs about 5 cm (2 and 1/2 inches) in diameter. I usually make more rectangular logs of similar dimensions. The dough is quite sticky and moist so I mould them on baking paper, then wrap the logs in the baking paper, seal them in zip lock plastic bags or an airtight container then stick them in the freezer. Freeze until logs are very firm (preferably overnight)
6. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 180C or 160 C fan forced (350F)
7. Take a log out of the freezer and slice the log into the thinnest slices you can manage. (No more than 2mm (1/8 of an inch) The thinner the biscuit the crisper the thin will be. Line baking trays with baking paper and place thins on tray about an inch apart.
8. Bake for about 7-12 minutes until the edges are very dark, you can almost burn these biscuits and they will taste more delicious for it. Check after about seven minutes, timing will depend on your oven, how thinly you have sliced the dough and how large your thins are. My biscuits usually take about nine to ten minutes.
9. Take the thins out of the oven and allow to cook on the tray before removing to wire rack. If any of the thins are not quite firm enough you can wack them back in the oven to back for 4-5 minutes, until they are baked hard enough.
10. If you bake the thins crisp enough they keep well in a airtight tin for at least one to two weeks but you can bake them off in small batches, because the dough keeps well in the freezer for months if not years!

Makes about 8 dozen biscuits

*This is from an American recipe. American baking molasses is closer to our treacle than Australian or British Molasses. I have used Australian molasses in this recipe, it makes a less sweet biscuit but does not bake as hard or so crisp so I prefer to use treacle.