Ginger kisses

Photographer: Emma
Makes approx 30

These ginger kisses are for my boyfriend.  He’s rather partial to them you see and prior to me making these ones he had only ever eaten ginger kisses of the store bought variety.  A fact which as a passionate cook and foodie is rather hard to stomach (excuse the pun!).  And so we set about trying to create the perfect ginger kiss.  We discussed the texture of the sponge biscuit, the level of spiciness and the ingredients which would make up the filling; would it be butter icing, mock cream or a cream cheese variation?  We decided that the perfect ginger kiss was more spicy than your average store bought one, perfectly spongy, and lastly sandwiched together with a cream cheese filling scented with a hint of lemon.

And so here is our recipe for ginger kisses.  We think they are pretty delicious and hope that you do too!

INGREDIENTS

Ginger kisses
250g butter, softened
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in ¼ cup hot milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Icing
6 tbsp icing sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice
200g cream cheese
½ cup cream

METHOD

Ginger kisses
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Lastly stir in the milk/baking soda and the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
4. Pipe out even circles of mixture onto greased baking trays and bake for 7-10 minutes. Watch them closely as they can turn quickly . Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Icing
1. Place the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice into a bowl and using electric beaters mix until beginning to combine. Pour in the cream and beat until smooth.
2. Spread icing onto the underside of one ginger kiss then sandwich a second on top.