This sweet treat is the perfect thing to enjoy over a cuppa with friends and family.
Ingredients
- 55g butter
- 55g Demarara sugar
- 55g golden syrup
- 50g plain flour
- ½ level tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp lemon juice
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ / 160℃ / gas mark 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. Oil a thickish handle of a wooden spoon, and then lay it on a cooling rack.
- Add the butter, sugar, and syrup to a Cooks Professional frying pan. Heat gently over a low heat until the butter has melted, and the sugar has dissolved. Stir occasionally, and drag your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan. When you can no longer hear the gritty granules being scraped along the pan and most of them have disappeared, you’ll know the sugar has dissolved. This should take roughly 15 minutes. Don’t allow the mixture to boil, as it may crystallize.
- Leave the mixture to cool slightly; after roughly 2-3 minutes, sieve in the flour and ginger. Pour the lemon juice and stir well, to ensure it’s mixed thoroughly. Drop four teaspoonfuls of the prepared mixture onto each of the prepared baking trays, making neat circles about 10cm or 4 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for roughly 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture is well spread out, looks lacey, and is a dark golden colour. Once baked you’ll need to work fast to shape the brandy snaps before they cool. It will be easier to bake one tray at a time. Remove each tray from the oven and leave for a minute or so to firm up slightly, then use a fish slice to lift a brandy snap from the baking tray. The mixture will need to be firm enough to remove, but still pliable enough to shape. You can check whether it’s ready by releasing around and under the edges with a small palette knife.
- Quickly roll a circle of the warm mixture around the handle of the oiled wooden spoon, and join the brandy snap underneath./ Press lightly together to seal, then slide the brandy snap off the spoon and leave it to firm up on the wire rack, again with the join underneath. If any of the circles harden up too much to work with, return them briefly to the oven for a few seconds to soften them up again.
- Repeat until all the mixture has been used. If the mixture in the pan becomes too firm to drop in neat spoonfuls, roll a teaspoonful of it into a small, smooth ball using your hands, and flatten it slightly on the tray with your fingers. When the finished brandy snaps are cold, you can store them in an airtight container. They will keep for up to a week. For added decadence, prepare some whipped cream with an electric whisk, then add to a piping bag. Pipe the cream into your prepared brandy snaps, and serve with a good cup of tea.
Lead image: Agcreations via Getty Images.