Meet the Matilda biscuits: they’re tough, spicy, and they’ll last, just like our soccer stars
“Sugar ’n spice and all things nice,” says the old nursery rhyme. “That’s what little girls are made of.”
Yeah, well, not really. Just look at those Matildas. That’s what little girls are made of. Guts and intelligence and generosity and skill and sportswomanship. Whether the Australian women’s national soccer team wins games or not is almost immaterial. They’re winning already.
So in honour of the Tillies, I baked some biscuits, the irony being that they’re made of sugar and spice and all things nice. But they’re also crisp, tough and spicy. And they’ll last. Just like their namesake.
Ingredients
250g plain flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
good pinch of sea salt
125g butter, chopped
125g brown sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup (see note)
1 scant tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional). Prepare two baking trays by lining them with baking paper.
Step 2
Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and sea salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle.
Step 3
Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a medium pan, stirring, until the sugar has melted.
Step 4
Remove from the heat, wait for 60 seconds, then add the bicarb, stirring as it froths up.
Step 5
Pour the hot mixture into the flour mixture, and bring it together with a spatula until there are no streaks of flour.
Step 6
Use a teaspoon to scoop up a portion of dough (see note), then roll it into a ball in your hands. Place the biscuit on a tray lined with baking paper, allowing a little room for spreading.
Step 7
Press down lightly to flatten and sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar (see notes).
Step 8
Bake for 10 to 11 minutes until golden.
Step 9
Remove from oven and stand on tray for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Use a hot spoon to measure the golden syrup, and it will slip off easily.
- If the warm dough is a bit soft to handle, chuck it into the fridge to firm up for 10 minutes.
- For evenly sized biscuits, weigh each portion before rolling. I did 20g for small and 25g for medium.
- The best way to flatten biscuits on a tray is to take a small square of baking paper, place it on top of each biscuit, and press down with the base of a glass to flatten. Using your fingers is too uneven, and using anything without the baking paper risks the dough adhering to the presser.
- Why do I specify 10 to 11 minutes? Because it depends on how you like your biscuits. The longer they bake, the crisper they will be. Take them out of the oven at 10 minutes when they are still slightly soft, and they will harden as they cool into something firm and chewy. Or leave them in another minute if you like them shatteringly crisp. Depends which team you’re on.
- Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before baking! It’s like bringing on Sam Kerr. (Once I get a metaphor in my hands, I can run with it all day.) The perfect ratio is 1 tbsp granulated sugar to 1 tsp cinnamon, plus a good pinch of sea salt. Mix it up and sprinkle a little on top of each biscuit before baking.
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Jill Dupleix is a Good Food contributor and reviewer who writes the Know-How column.
