Gingerbread and Pear Biscuits

This gingerbread biscuit is a new and delicious take on a classic recipe. It combines pear and ginger to deliver a fruity biscuit with a mellow ginger flavour. Sweetened with a few spoons of molasses, the gingerbread isn’t too sweet and perfect as a mid-morning treat for toddlers. This made around 30 biscuits (of different shapes and sizes).

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tbsp blackstrap molasses
• 1 egg
• 350g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1-2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 100g dried pears, chopped finely (available in health food shop or larger supermarkets). I used scissors to chop them up.

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and molasses together in a large bowl. It is imperative that the butter is soft otherwise this is really hard work (although you could also use a food mixer). Mix until well combined.
2. Mix in the egg.
3. Sift the dry ingredients into the mixture.
4. Add the chopped pears.
5. Mix well. It should come together to form a firm biscuit dough. Add more flour if it is too wet and add some milk if it is too dry. I used my hands to bring the mixture together.
6. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
7. When ready to cook the biscuits, roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm thick. Cut out the biscuits with your preferred cutter and lay them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake at 180c for 10 minutes. When ready, they should be firm to touch. If you prefer a crumbly texture, you could leave them for a few more minutes.

Nutritional Highlights: These gingerbread biscuits aren’t too sweet and don’t contain any refined sugar but, alas, they are still biscuits and so are not a hotbed of nutritional content! The blackstrap molasses does contain iron and the pear brings Vitamin C and fibre. First served at: 20 months A-L rating: We had to hide the biscuit tin because she just wanted ‘more’ and ‘more’! Freezer friendly? We never had the opportunity to freeze them but I imagine that they would freeze well. Adult adaption: A lemon icing would work nicely.

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