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Apple ginger gems July 14, 2010
I was pulling out the roasting dish the other day and I came across my mother’s gem irons. In these days of madeleines and macarons, the humble gems seem to have faded quietly into the distance. Saturday mornings were often the time when the irons would come out and Mum would whip up a batch of gems while Dad toiled in his vegetable garden. There’s nothing quite like gems warm from the oven slathered with some real butter. For a couple of days I had visions of ginger gems until I finally gave in and searched out my mother’s recipe. I’ve played with it a little, added some apple, and used my food processor to do some of the donkey work but I soon had a plate full of the golden lovelies to try. I can remember Mum’s original gem irons were indeed made from cast iron but somewhere along the way she must have replaced them with heavy aluminium ones, which produced smaller gems that I remember. After making two dozen, I still had some batter left so I used the remainder in small round-bottomed patty tins and that worked, too. You can sometimes pick up the original irons at places selling second-hand goods. They are worth looking out for.
Apple ginger gems 100g butter, softened Pre-heat the oven to 230C and put the gem irons in to heat. Place the butter and sugar in a food processor and blend for about 30 seconds then add the eggs and beat again. Add the milk, apple and golden syrup and pulse a few times to combine. Sift the flour, spices and soda into a bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid ingredients stir to combine. Take the hot gem irons from the oven and drop about 1/4 teaspoon of butter into each one – it will sizzle. Spoon in the batter and bake for 12 minutes. Turn out the gems when cooked and reheat the irons and repeat. Halve and serve warm with butter.
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