Wanaka Gingernuts

(Makes about 30)

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 250g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 - 4 teaspoons ground ginger

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and golden syrup and beat again.

Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir with a whisk to distribute the soda and ginger evenly through the flour.

Sift dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Roll into balls and place on 2 baking trays lined with baking paper. Leave room for spreading and do not flatten.

The gingernuts will puff up and then collapse into characteristic fissures.

Bake for 15 -18 minutes until well-baked and deep golden.

Cool on a rack before storing in an airtight container.

Wines from Stephen Morris

With the gingernut there is the perennial question of starting to drink too early in the day. I'm not one for dunking biscuits or even biscotti in my wine - the crumbs in the bottom of the glass distress me. A good cup of hot black coffee would be ideal. If it's an after dinner moment, maybe add a splash of liqueur: amaretto (almond) or frangelico (hazelnut) would be natural partners.

For extra gingerness, get a bottle of Stone's Green Ginger Wine ($15 - 20) and have a good 75ml pour - either neat or over ice. Or step up to one of the easiest cocktails in the world - the Whisky Mac - half Stones, half whisky - into the glass, ice if you want...

If the biscuits were a morning treat, a neighbourly elevenses, I'd open a bottle of Lustau Amontillado. They have a quality range of sherries from $25 - 45 for a 375ml bottle. They are all good; just more refined and intense as you pay more. Lustau arguably has the finest range of aged, fuller sherries available in NZ. These aren't sweet wines like Gran drinks, but dry, nutty, complex wines. Hints of orange and molasses, mahogoney and old chests.. not wines for everyone, but something I love.