For the base
125g soft butter
100g light brown soft sugar
2 tbsp ginger, peeled and very finely grated
210g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground ginger
For the icing
20g butter, melted
2 tbsp golden syrup
35g icing sugar
½ tsp ground ginger
1 Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cream the butter and sugar with the grated ginger until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour, baking powder and ground ginger. and fold to a firm dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth; if it's crumbly, dampen your hands whilst kneading.
2 Line a 20x30cm oven tray and press in the ginger dough. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.
3 After 15 minutes, make the icing. Put the butter, golden syrup and ginger juice in a small pan and warm until runny, beat in the icing sugar and ground ginger to a smooth paste.
4 Remove the base from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before pouring over the icing. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares.
Taken from Guardian article on 16/5/14:
Rosie Sykes is head chef of Fitzbillies (fitzbillies.com) and co-author of The Kitchen Revolution (Ebury Press, £25). To order a copy for £19.99 with free UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk