Going Ginga

Ginger crunch (p63) - it's another Kiwi favourite, but as it happens, I'd never made it before. Any ginger crunch I've had in recent years has been of the Couplands variety, which I never liked that much. I'm not sure why, but I find the icing tastes like baking soda.

I was flicking through my Edmonds book at work yesterday, (yes, I have been taking my Edmonds book with me just about everywhere. It's a worry) looking for some baking I could do using only ingredients I already had at home - with just $2.80 remaining of this week's budget, I didn't have the luxury of purchasing extra ingredients.

I spotted the ginger crunch recipe, which doesn't require anything exotic, just the usual butter, sugar etc, plus a bit of ground ginger and golden syrup. Just what I was looking for. Thinking aloud, I said, "I might make ginger cunch tonight", a statement which was met with much approval - but only if I brought some in to share with everybody.

Reflecting that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to eat all of it myself, I took this suggestion on board. After clearing up the dishes from the previous day's pot roast, I made a start on the ginger crunch. Like most Edmonds recipes, it was very straightforward: make the base, press it into a tin, then make the icing while the base is cooking.

I did find that the base mixture was very crumbly. This was a little worrying as you're supposed to knead the dough before putting it into the tin. I had a go at kneading, but it just kept falling to pieces, so I gave up and pressed it into the tin. Using the back of a spoon to spread and press it, I found that the crumbly mixture eventually became smooth and even.

When I had the base in the oven, I got out a saucepan to make the icing. It doesn't take the full baking time to melt the butter, golden syrup, ginger and icing sugar into an icing - I started mine too early and then spent about 10 minutes just trying to keep it warm without ruining it.


Handy hint: If you have sensitive teeth, do not put a fingerful of hot ginger icing in your mouth: Ouch.

The icing goes on warm as soon as the base comes out of the oven. This is a bit unusual, but means the icing is easy to spread. It's also easy to see where the icing is too thin, because it's quite transparent where it's not thick enough. Once you've got the icing looking even, cut the slice while it's still hot - again unusual, but it seems to work.

As promised, I turned up this morning with a plate of ginger crunch. Unsurprisingly, it's been well received. There's no better way to ensure workplace popularity than by bringing in baking. And if I do say so myself, it's really good ginger crunch: way better than the bought stuff. Remember how ads used to say "just like homemade"? These days people make stuff and say "just like a bought one". No way! Homemade is so much better!