Challenge #2: Tamarind – Tamarind spice biscuits

Overall success: Wow! That is a GINGER nut on steroids.
Level of difficulty: simple
The Jim score: 8/10 – a bit tagine-y

I do not really have a sweet tooth so choosing this recipe took a while. I went through all sorts of ideas: can I count a tamarind martini as sweet? Maybe tamarind ice cream? Shall I make a chutney and that can be counted as sweet? After much deliberation and too much time procrastinating, the wonderful Daniel Lepard appeared in my search results with tamarind spice biscuits.

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The recipe was pretty simple and I really enjoyed delving back into the baking cupboard. I haven’t baked anything but sourdough bread in quite a while so it was really nice to dust off the mixer, dig out some baking sheets and retrieve the scales. It also meant that whilst I did this I organised the whole cupboard so I’m feeling pretty smug. I changed very little from Dan’s recipe except the egg size (large was all I had) and the amount of taramind. Here’s how it went:

Tamarind and ginger biscuits
The quantities below made 24 biscuits.

125g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
45g tamarind concentrate
1 large egg
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garam masala
200g chopped glacé ginger
250g plain flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

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Weigh out then beat together the butter, sugar, tamarind and egg until smooth.

I then chopped the glacé ginger and there is a lot. I couldn’t believe it was all going in and checked the recipe a few times, but indeed, 200g was written and so I went with it.

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This was then added to the mix and beaten in. Then the flour and bicarb was stirred in thoroughly before picking small (walnut-sized) bits of mixture, rolling them into small balls between your hands, and placing 5cm apart on a tray lined with nonstick baking paper. I baked them on three baking sheets for about 20 minutes on 150C fan-assisted.

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The result really was a taste sensation. A properly punch in the face ginger nut with added spices. The tamarind in this gives a kind of zingy flavour too. If I made these again (which I would) I would change the garam masala to mixed spice.

Dave – yours are in the post. Make sure your socks are on tight before you tuck in!

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6 Responses to Challenge #2: Tamarind – Tamarind spice biscuits

  1. Sue Wilkinson 27th October, 2013 at 11:00 pm #

    I love the sound of these because I love ginger and the aromatic spices sound good.

    But the bit I loved the most about this write-up is the bit where you say there are some in the post! Win!

  2. dopiaza 27th October, 2013 at 11:02 pm #

    Wow, that is a *lot* of ginger! But it’s a Dan Lepard recipe (good choice), so it must be right. I’m going to hold fire on passing comment though, as you say there are some in the post! I’m excited – I get to taste the result! I shall now wait until I have tried them.

    [Makes note to self. Must ensure a good proportion of future challenges are for recipes where the end results are readily postable.]

  3. Alex 28th October, 2013 at 10:03 pm #

    A pimped ginger nut? Yes please.

  4. dopiaza 29th October, 2013 at 10:44 am #

    So, the postman called this morning with a small package. Half an hour later, I’m sat at my desk with a cup of coffee and one of Anya’s Tamarind spice biscuits by my side. I’ve eaten half of it already and my mouth is tingling. These are ginger nuts with attitude – boy are they spicy! The fieriness is strong, but it isn’t overwhelming, there’s a subtler background flavour too – something tangy but more mellow. The texture is good, just crisp enough around the edges, just chewy enough in the middle.

    Anya, these biscuits are superb. The 8/10 you rated at the top of the page is too skimpy. They warrant a 9/10 at least.

  5. Sue Wilkinson 29th October, 2013 at 11:01 am #

    Absolutely delicious. I love ginger biscuits and these are winners all around. I didn’t taste the tagine, just rich gingery spice and sugar. They travelled very well and retained their crisp shells.

    My personal score for these is 9.5/10
    The only thing missing for the final .5 of a mark is granules of golden demarera sugar sprinkled over the top to sit glistening and crumbly in the perfect biscuit cracks and fissures.

  6. Anya 29th October, 2013 at 11:27 am #

    YES! Just a sniff of a point away from a Torvill and Dean moment.

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