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There was going to be a gathering of girls (I say girls, that’s what we were when first we gathered aged 11 in our smart navy blue uniforms) and we were to gather at a friend’s house to eat takeaway food and drink vin ordinaire by the gallon. So I thought it would be nice to provide a sweet thing for after. Luckily I chose ginger rather than chocolate as someone brought along a giant box of Maltesers and we’d never have wanted chocolate biscuits after that. But ginger was wolfed.

So the biscuits then.

Preparation time: 25 minutes + chilling
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Serves: 6 overgrown schoolgirls

Ingredients

• butter - 110g
• light brown sugar - 90g
• 1 egg - beaten
• plain flour - 175g - sifted
• ground ginger - 3tsp
• crystallised ginger - 2 Tbsp - chopped

Mix together the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the egg. Add the flour, ground ginger and crystallised ginger and knead together to form a ball. Wrap the big ginger ball in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 180?/gas mark 4. Grease a couple of baking sheets or line them with non-stick baking paper. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place these small balls on a the baking sheet and flatten slightly with a wettened fork. The biscuits will spread on cooking so be sure to give them all plenty of space, indeed you may end up cooking the biscuits in two batches, but it’s hardly a disaster is it?

Bake the biscuits for 18 minutes, until lightly golden on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Eat.

Verdict: They’re ginger biscuits with chewy bits of crystallised ginger inside, of course they’re delicious.

Drink: Initially a cup of tea, later in the day any combination of wine, gin, vodka you care to try, though probably best in separate glasses unless you’re going for the full regression to aged 17.

Entertainment: Bellowing out the words to Temptation by Heaven 17 at the very tops of our voices.