Chewy ginger cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

2. Sieve together the flour, salt, sugar, ground ginger and baking powder.

3. In a saucepan, heat the butter, vanilla essence and golden syrup, set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

4. Pour the syrup mixture into the bowl of sieved ingredients.

5. With a wooden spoon, mix in the egg yolk and orange zest to form a dough (add a tiny dash of milk of you feel it is too dry to form balls).

6. With your hands bring the dough together to form 25-30 walnut sized balls of the mixture and arrange well spaced out onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper (leave at least 5cm between each as they do spread). Flatten slightly by pressing gently with the palm of your hand.

7. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or slightly golden around the edges but still a bit soft in the centre.

8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack. Once cooled store in an airtight container.

Variation: Lemon zest can be added instead of orange zest. Mix in seasonal spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice for more festive flavours. Achieve darker coloured cookies by substituting caster sugar with brown sugar.