Ginger Bread Muffins - Treacle & Syrup

Asked by champion. Answered on 4th November 2011

Full question

Hi, This is Janet from India. I just wanted a clear explanation for the "treacle and syrup" mentioned in the Christmas Bites - Bonus recipe - Gingerbread Muffins. I tried looking for the recipe on the website but couldn't find the same. Firstly Is treacle what we refer to jaggery in India (in a melted form)? Secondly about the mention of 'syrup' is this 'honey' or 'golden syrup' or 'sugar syrup' ? Kindly help. Thanks & Regards Beena Janet.

Our answer

A recipe for Gingerbread Muffins can be found in Feast on p91. The muffins are made with both golden syrup and black treacle which gives them flavour, moisture and "stickiness".

Golden syrup is a syrup made from cane sugar and is a by produsct of the sugar making process. It is fairly thick and is slightly thicker than clear honey or sugar syrup or corn syrup. The most popular brand is Tate and Lyle (sometimes just sold as Lyle's) and is distrubuted to most parts of the world. However if you can't find golden syrup then you could substitute clear honey in this recipe.

Unfortunately sometimes golden syrup can be referred to as treacle but in the UK treacle is actually the dark form of syrup which is more commonly known internationally as molasses. It is not the same as jaggery as jaggery is a crystallized sugar whereas both treacle/molasses and golden syrup are invert sugars which means they do not crystallize easily and tend to help to make baked good more moist. You can use molasses as instead of treacle in the muffin recipe and in the same quantities.