SHF #19 - Ginger honey granita with liquid truffle dessert and ginger butter cookies

Ginger…not everybody’s favourite but I for one love it! No matter in what form or shape. So when this months SHF hosted by Ruth of Once upon a feast had ginger as its theme I was really excited. One of the first things that crossed my mind was making ginger granita. But on its own that wouldn’t be enough, I needed more….chocolate and ginger go well together…so I made my liquid truffle dessert (once again) to accompany the granita. And to add a crunch to this dessert I baked simple butter cookies to which I added powdered ginger and stem ginger. The crunchy butter cookies were tasty in their simplicity, and great for dipping in the truffle dessert.
For the granita I used fresh ginger to flavour and a combination of honey and sugar syrup to sweeten it. The ginger and honey go together remarkably well. I tried to distinguish the two flavours while tasting but they seem to blend perfectly, complementing one and other.

serves 6



adapted from The Ultimate Cookie Book by Catherine Atkinson

45 g (1.6 oz) butter
25 g (0.9 oz) golden sugar
60 g (2.1 oz) flour
¾ ts ground ginger
2 tbs stem ginger, chopped

Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix the flour and the ground ginger. Add the flour /ginger mix to the butter and sugar. Using your hands combine until you get a smooth dough. Roll into a sausage shape with a 3 ¼ cm (1 ¼ in) diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF). Unwrap the dough and cut into 18 slices of about 7 mm (¼ in) thick. Place on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown. Cool on a wire rack.



650 ml (2 ¾ cup) water
160 g (¾ cup / 5 ⅔ oz) sugar
2 ½ tbs fresh ginger, minced
2 ½ tbs lemon juice
120 ml (½ cup) honey

Heat the water and sugar on low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the ginger. Allow to steep for 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice.
Pour the honey in a bowl. Pour the sugar syrup with ginger through a fine sieve into the bowl with honey. Stir until combined. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Put in the fridge until cold.
Pour the fluid into a large (metal) tin and put it in the freezer. Stir every 20 minutes with a fork during about 2 hours. Make sure to scrape the sides. Don’t over-stir because the end result should look like granita, not sorbet.
Serve in 6 miniature ramekins of about 50 ml (1 ⅔ fl oz).



150 g (5 ⅓ oz) bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped
150 ml (5 fl oz) whipping cream
1 tbs liqueur, brandy or whiskey
6 pieces of crystallized ginger

Put the chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil. Add the hot cream to the chocolate. Allow to stand for a few minutes. Stir to combine. Add the liqueur, brandy or whiskey and stir once more to combine. Pour into 6 miniature ramekins of about 50 ml (1 ⅔ fl oz). Allow to set for about 2 hours.
Decorate with a piece of crystallized ginger.

1 serving – 395 kcal
100 g ginger butter cookies – 450 kcal
100 g ginger honey granita – 110 kcal
100 g liquid truffle dessert – 420 kcal

carbohydrate 34 g – protein 2 g – fat 18 g (saturated fat 11 g) – fibre 0 g