Talk:Cornish fairing

But what type of ginger cookie?
I believe it would be helpful to know whether a Cornish fairing is a snap (a crisp ginger biscuit) or whether it's like a gingerbread cookie (soft). Netuser500 23:48, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

a cornish fairing is a snap. is it permisable to place a recerpie on this page? as i have one Gwaytya 13:33, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

A cornish fairing should be hard and crunchy, but all the ones I've eaten have been what the British would call a biscuit and I suppose you Americans would call a cookie - it's round, crumbly, 2-3" wide and maybe a eighth to a quarter of an inch thick, and gets soft when stale. What I think of (as an English person - not Cornish personally, though I have west country family from both sides of the Tamar) as a ginger snap is a film of very thin gingerbread rolled up like a brandy snap, and a fairing is definitely thicker and more cookie-ish than that. 91.84.82.80 14:10, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

i have read that they origonated in launceston at the maid hiring fairs. and were origonally more of a bread crumb based gingerbread. how do i find a reference for this? all i have is it in an old cookery book Gwaytya —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gwaytya (talk • contribs) 12:12, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

A recipe from Lostwithiel WI

 * 6 lbs. flour
 * 3 lbs. raw sugar (unrefined sugar?)
 * 2 lbs. butter
 * 1/2 lb. lard
 * 1 3/4 lbs. candied lemon-peel
 * 3 lbs. syrup
 * 3ozs. bicarb. soda
 * 1 1/2 ozs. tartaric acid
 * 1/2 oz. powdered ammonia
 * 1 1/4 ozs. ground ginger
 * 1 1/2 ozs. mixed spice
 * 1 gill water

"Rub fat into flour, sugar & spice mix, make hollow for syrup. Add soda to half the water, just bring to boil, pour into syrup. Repeat with tartaric acid, stir syrup mixture until all frothy, mix into flour with lemon-peel. This should make a very soft paste. Roll into strips about an inch thick & cut inch lengths off. Place on a greased sheath with plenty of room between as they will spread. Bake in a warm oven. If they spread too much add a bit more flour next time."
 * I have paraphrased a little, & no time is given, but 20-25 mins. would be about right. I think this recipe makes a soft biscuit. Archolman 17:53, 2 May 2011 (UTC)