Pass the Gingernuts

Polly put the kettle on . . . as the old nursery rhyme goes.

Anne here, and today I'm talking about biscuits — not those baked items called scones in the UK and biscuits in the USA. I'm talking about those sweet treats that are called cookies in the USA and biscuits in the UK, Australia and other places. Just to make it more confusing, we also have cookies, but they are more the softer, slightly mounded treat that is half way between a crispy biscuit and a cake. Biscuits tend to be crisper and flatter — though they can also be softish. And just to add to the confusion, cookies to me are like rock cakes (see pic below). But let's not argue pointlessly about definitions — when I'm talking about biscuits, if you're American, just think cookies.

Over the years I've had a number of emails from readers asking about the gingernuts I often have my heroes crunch into. Are they the same as American ginger snaps? And do they have nuts? Never having tasted a US ginger snap, I can't answer the first question, though I think they're probably very similar. The answer to the second is, no, there are no nuts in a gingernut. And why is it called a gingernut? No idea. The web has various theories.

There was some interest from readers when I blogged about gingernuts recently on my personal blog, so I thought it might be fun to blog here about some of the other biscuits and treats my characters eat, usually with a cup of tea or coffee. The gingernuts my heroes often crunch into are crisp, sweetish, ginger biscuits, sometimes flavored also with cinnamon, cloves and other spices, and usually made with golden syrup. They can be baked crisp or soft.

Currently I have a heroine nibbling on crisp ratafia biscuits — which can come in various guises, but these ones are more like almond tuiles. I know I'm going to get queries saying, but isn't ratafia a drink? Yes, but it's also a biscuit, and a pudding, all of which are almond flavored. Ratafia biscuits and savoys (later known as ladyfingers) were often baked in long tins, and were often dipped (dunked) in sweet wine at the end of a meal. Here's Delia Smith's recipe and pic. for the almond tuiles.

Ships biscuit was a very hard, savory, twice-baked biscuit that was a substitute for bread, which wasn't available on long voyages by sailing ship. They preserved pretty well (though they often ended up weevilly) and were so hard they could break a tooth. They weren't meant to be eaten dry, however, and were soaked in the juices of stews made from whatever the ships cook could get — salt pork, fish, whatever was available. Ships took on fresh food where they could find it, but the staple ration was preserved meat and ship’s biscuit, generally served in a stew called lobscouse, which was a standard meal for sailors. (I used that word in a quiz once.)

In a Georgette Heyer (correction — it was Mary Stewart) novel once, I came across  biscuits called singing hinnies, which always fascinated me, as I had no world wide web as a child, and had only context and imagination to decide what they were. The old cook made them as a special treat for a returning heroine, as she'd loved them as a child. Since then I've found quite a few recipes. Here's one. They're a bit like Welsh cakes, which my grandma used to make.

Wiggs are a sort of bun, flavored with caraway seeds and cut into wedges.  Here's another recipe.

Currently I have a character whose favourite cake is "seed cake," which were generally flavored with caraway seeds, though I did come across one recipe that used poppy seeds. Seed cakes were very popular in the Regency, in fact my 1758 Compleat Housewife book of recipes by Eliza Smith contains five recipes for "seed cake, one of which was also called Nun's Cake — don't ask me why, but since it calls for 35 eggs, I won't be making it any time soon. Tis is her recipe.

"Jumbals" (or jumbles) also use caraway seed, and spices. Here's a recipe for them. 

Cracknels are another kind of biscuit, flavored with dried orange and lemon peel and coriander seeds, all ground to a powder. They sound delicious, but since Eliza's recipe for them calls for 15 eggs, I'll be giving that one a miss, too. Though my heroes and heroine's probably won't. There's a slightly less extravagant recipe here.

I could go on for pages, but I won't. I just thought you might find some of these Regency-era biscuits interesting and fun. And if you're interested in learning more, there's a fascinating article on the history of the British biscuit here.

So now, let's put the kettle on, and we'll all have tea . . . or coffee.  (Photo by Morgan Sessions on Unsplash)
Actually, it was a real surprise to me to discover than many Americans don't have an electric kettle or jug in the house — they use a coffee maker, or tea maker. Coming from a big tea drinking country, it's considered absolutely necessary to make tea not just with hot water — it has to be actually boiling, so here, almost everyone has a kettle. It's considered so basic a necessity that virtually every hotel room, from the most expensive to the cheapest roadside motel, will include a kettle in the room. 

So, will you join me now for a cup of tea (or coffee) and a biscuit or two? What's your favourite biscuit? I have to admit I'm partial to gingernuts, and also ANZAC biscuits. And choc-chip biscuits, and . . . 

Comments

[Denise]

Thank you Anne, you have made me yearn for some shortbread with my tea this morning as I sit here and watch The Queen’s transferral to Westminster Hall. There is such a variety of cookies produced based on region and spices and I love to sample them when I am visiting. Our local churches sponsor cookie exchanges at Christmas time, you bring several dozen and get to choose from a spectacular display to take home with you. It is a fun afternoon and adds variety to my Christmas dessert.

[Lil Marek]

With four pounds of flour, three pound of sugar, and four pounds of butter to go with those thirty-five eggs, that was one big Nun's Cake! I know that in those pre-baking powder days, the beaten eggs were what let the cake rise, but the amount of beating needed always amazes me. Beating for two hours? And I've seen recipes that call for even longer beating.
I hope the cook and her helpers took turns.

[Patricia Franzino]

Almond Crescent cookies are one of my favorites. Chocolate Chip with Walnuts, another good one. Oatmeal Raisin, put that on the list. Cookies filled with fruit. Butter cookies are always wonderful, too.

[SUSAN WARD]

My late Mother was from the North East of England Newcastle Upon Tyne and her recipe for Singing Hinnies used Ground Rice, which was what caused them to "sing"on the griddle and were usually cut into triangular wedges. She married a Welshman and moved to Wales so she baked Welsh Cakes as well. Your recipe is more like a Welsh cake than the one my Mum and her Mother and Grandmother used in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Denise, those cookie exchanges sound like fun. My godmother always used to bring a tin of home-made biscuits to Easter and Christmas. She made them with a biscuit forcer, so that even though they tasted the same, they were all different shapes, and I loved picking out my favorite shapes, imagining that they tasted different.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Lil — yes making that nun's cake was not for sissies, that's for sure. I'm sure it would be for a large household — maybe even a whole convent with those quantities — and I bet a few footmen would have been pressed into service for some of that endless beating!

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Patricia — all those sound delicious. When I used to teach English and Adult Literacy, the Italian ladies often used to bring almond crescent bikkies and they were delicious. In fact I was spoiled, as the women took to bringing in biscuits for the class every week, and we had such a lovely variety, and all delicious.

[Anne Gracie]

Thank you, Susan. I assumed the recipe I linked to was pretty authentic, as it was from a Newcastle Upon Tyne website, but then, a lot of cooks develop their own variation that then gets handed down the generations. Ground rice sounds lovely — I've made shortbread with that.
And I appreciate your comment about the name — I didn't realize they "sang" on the griddle.

[Jackie]

Until modern recipes, egg size varied a lot. So even thought the recipe may say 35 eggs, those could be very small eggs or even a mix of sizes. It makes updating old recipes interesting.

[Anne Gracie]

That's very true, Jackie — I'd say they were probably a mix of sizes, ranging from small ones from young birds and upwards. But any house big enough to make that cake would have a good supply, I suspect.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Anne, "singing hinnies" are mentioned in Mary Stewart's THE IVY TREE, which I first read many, many years ago. Now I know what they taste like. I do love Welsh currant cakes cooked on a griddle and I even made them a few times. Nice that the singing hinny is at least a cousin!

[Kareni]

What a fun post, Anne! You have me drooling now. I prefer my biscuits/cookies with hot chocolate. I like chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, Greek tea cookies, and ....

[Anne Gracie]

Mary Jo, you're right -- it was Mary Stewart I heard about them from, not Georgette Heyer. I've also made Welsh cakes, but not singin' hinnies. Did you see Susan's comment above where she said her mother and grandmother made their singin' hinnies with rice flour.

[Anne Gracie]

Of course, Kareni, why didn't I include hot chocolate? Silly me. Yum.

[Yvonne]

My speculation on nun’s cake: I note that only half the egg whites are used. This may be because nuns used eggwhites to starch their wimples. That excess of yolks is what lead in Portugal to the invention of their iconic egg yolk pastry pastel de nata.

[Constance]

This is great, Anne - I love to bake, especially cookies, and now will have some new ones to try. I remember reading “singing hinnies” somewhere a long time ago, must have been Mary Stewart for me, too. I’m wondering about the “biscuit forcer” and guessing it’s similar to what we in the US call a cookie press. It’s an open tube, into which a metal cut-out plate is inserted in one end. The tube is then filled with dough, and pressed through the cut-out. Each press comes with lots of different cut-outs, great fun to use with kids.

Re the electric kettle, I first discovered them when staying with a friend in London in the 1970s. As a tea drinker, it was love at first sight! But trying to find one in the US back then was impossible. Now they’re fairly common. We have a large metal one at home and I had a sweet bright red plastic one in my office that boiled just the right amount of water for my oversized tea mug!

Already tried the recipe from your blog — it’s a keeper!

[Mary T]

I love home made cookies - almost any kind. One of the best things about Christmas is the tin of cookies my sister makes for me. I'm not a cook, so I don't know too much about how they are made. I'm just interested in eating them. I don't even know what my favorite is called, but they have cream cheese in them, so I just call them the cream cheese cookies -YUM!

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

Anne - what a yummy column! I love almond cookies (biscuits). They're round, and usually have an almond pressed into the top. The outside is on the crispy side and the inside is just slightly chewy. Haven't had them in years, but I still remember the taste and smell. I also love those little Iitalian cookies that often come wrapped in twists of paper - Amaretti. And then there are the jelly diagonals that my mother made. The cookie dough was in a long strip. She made a thumb print trail down the middle, and that's where the jelly went. The cookies were then cut in slender pieces. Sigh. I'm having an attack of instant nostalgia. Anad now I desperately need a tasty biscuit with my morning coffee...

[Karin]

My favorite cookies are chocolate chip with walnuts, or oatmeal cookies with walnuts, or almond crescents(also called vanilla kipfel). Actually anything that has nuts in it is fine with me.
I think it would be lovely if U.S. hotel rooms had electric kettles, and we could actually get tea made with boiling, and not just hot, water.

[Jeanne Behnke]

Yummy - now I'm hungry! I love shortbread, almond crescents & oatmeal cookies for sure. I don't like to bake so if I see homemade cookies of any kind, I usually grab one.

[Annette N]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful recipes....I have printed out a recipe for Singing Hinnies. Every recipe made me want to bake and eat.

Thanks again.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks for that suggestion, Yvonne. Starching the wimples, eh? That might make a good blog topic — the many and varied ways that people approached their laundry.

Re the delicious little Portuguese custard tarts, the version I read about their origin was that the local wine-makers used heaps of egg-whites in their process and donated the leftover yolks to local convents, where the nuns turned them into custard tarts which they sold to make money for the convent.
I'm sure there are many versions of the story.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Constance — my godmother probably called her gadget a biscuit press — the "forcer" came from me. Hers sounds exactly like the US version you described.

I'm glad you liked the biscuit recipe — was it the gingernuts one or the ANZAC biscuits? Curious minds want to know.

I'm glad to hear that electric kettles are more widely available in the US now. Even so, several of the US people I have visited in the past didn't have one, which astonished me.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Mary — I just googled "cream cheese cookies" and found this recipe, which had a lot of good ratings. I might try them.

https://preppykitchen.com/cream-cheese-cookies/

I love baking, but generally give most of what I bake away, as otherwise I'd eat them all! I did a lot more when I was working in a day job, and we'd take it in turns to bring something for morning tea. I loved trying out different recipes. Nowadays Christmas is the big baking time for me, and my friends are always happy to receive whatever I make.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Binnie Syril — I googled your mother's "jelly diagonals" , which sounded fun and tasty, and found quite a few recipes, some of which were called Jam diagonals" (UK and Australia terminology) and some of which were called "Split second cookies"

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/split-second-cookies/

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Karin — when I was teaching adult literary, the ladies in the class used to bring biscuits in to share and some were Greek or Italian variations on those almond crescents, both yummy.

Hotel rooms here also generally have a small fridge, which is very useful. They stock it with booze and chocolates though, for which you pay an exorbitant amount if you eat them, so most people I know buy their own milk and booze and chocolate and any other supplies they want.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks Jeanne — I don't suppose these virtual cookies will hit the spot for you.
I must confess, I'm dying to try Mary's cream cheese biscuits.

And a lot of people have mentioned oatmeal cookies — the ANZAC biscuits I mentioned are made with oatmeal, and they're yummy. But they require golden syrup, which I believe is not widely available in the USA and Canada.

[Anne Gracie]

Annette, I hope you like the singin' hinnies — I'd be very interested to see how they go. Thanks.

[Vicki L]

Whatever cookie (biscuit) I have in my hand is my favorite. However, Kroger makes an especially good one that I JUST LOVE....chocolate cookie with pecans and caramel. They aren't crispy - still soft-ish and chewy. I love love love those.

Love ginger cookies of any description. Chocolate Chip cookies and bars. Christmas jewels (pecans and candied fruit in a sugar cookie kind of batter). On and on and on.

Loved hearing about all kinds of other cookies. Maybe I'll make some of the new to me ones. Any excuse to eat a cookie!

[Constance]

It was both recipes, Anne! The gingernuts were a huge hit - and I’ve been asked to make them for a neighbor’s annual Octoberfest! The Anzac biscuits turn out to be very similar to a cookie my French Canadian mother-in-law remembers her grandmother making in northern Quebec almost a century ago for her sons to take on logging trips. That led to a whole host of stories she’d never shared with me before, so extra thanks for that!

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks for letting me know, Constance. How lovely that the Anzac biscuits prompted a whole host of stories from your French Canadian mother-in-law. I sometimes worry that precious family stories get lost because most people watch TV in the evening, instead of sitting around the fire telling stories. Perhaps the answer is more cookies. *g*

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Vicki — yes the discussion of all these cookies is quite inspiring — and more-ish, isn't it? I now have a handful of new cookie recipes that I'm going to make for Christmas gifts. Of course, I'll have to try them out first. Oh dear, there goes the diet!

[Yvonne]

That’s interesting! When I was in Portugal late last year there were no winemakers in the version I was told, simply religious using the whites for stiffening and the resulting egg yolk surplus. I suspect we will never really know.

[Christina Courtenay]

Coming in very late on this (sorry!) but in Sweden when I was a child the hostess had to provide seven different types of biscuit for any proper tea/coffee party, for instance for birthdays or christenings. My mother used to only make three but other relatives did the whole lot. I loved them all, but I much preferred eating the dough to the finished cookies :-D

[Anne Gracie]

Yvonne, it wouldn't surprise me if both versions were quite true. There's probably a regional variation in the stories. Not that it matters, though I do enjoy the stories about the origin of various things.

Those little tarts are delicious, aren't they? A local bakery that only bakes Portuguese-style custard tarts opened near me a couple of years ago . One would think that a business with such a narrow specialization — which opened at the start of the pandemic, what's more— would be a risky proposition, but it seems to be flourishing. I wonder what they do with the whites.

[Anne Gracie]

Wow, seven different kinds — that's some expectation! But in those days an afternoon (or morning) tea was a big production — at least it was in rural areas, where people had to travel to meet up. I remember them as Events.

When I was small, my mother put on lovely afternoon teas, and she made biscuits, scones —fruit ones served with just butter and plain ones served with jam and cream — a light-as-a-feather sponge cake (de rigeur for any afternoon tea at that time) a fruit cake and a variety of little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. I used to love the crusts — we'd curl them up and put a dab of butter and some jam or honey on it, as a tiny snack. The rest of the crusts would be used in bread-and-butter pudding, which I still love.

And until I was four, and we moved into a town, she did it all with no electricity and a wood-fired stove — while working full time, and with four kids! Pretty amazing.