← Nouns Cooking · Bakery

Ingredients

• 50 g Butter
• 50 g demerara or light brown sugar
• 50 g Golden syrup
• 50 g plain flour, sifted
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Brandy or cognac (optional)
• 200 ml double (heavy) cream, to fill (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F) and line two baking trays with baking paper. Oil the handles of two or three wooden spoons.
2. Warm the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small pan over low heat, stirring now and then, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it boil.
3. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour, ginger, lemon juice and brandy until smooth.
4. Drop level teaspoons of the mixture onto a tray, only four at a time and well apart: they spread to about 10 cm.
5. Bake for 7–9 min, until lacy, bubbling and a deep golden brown. Leave on the tray for about 1 minute, until just firm enough to lift with a palette knife.
6. Quickly wrap each one around a spoon handle, seam-side down, and leave to set for a minute before sliding off. If they harden before you get to them, warm the tray in the oven for 30 seconds to soften them again.
7. Repeat with the rest of the mixture, baking one tray while you roll the last. Just before serving, whip the cream to soft peaks and pipe it into the snaps.

Tips

• The brandy is optional and gives only a faint flavour; leave it out for an alcohol-free batch.
• Unfilled snaps keep crisp for a week in an airtight tin; once filled they soften within an hour or two.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Great British Chefs BBC Food