OUR SPICY TREATS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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At this point, you can shape the resulting dough into a ball and knead it gently four or five times on a lightly floured board. Then roll or pat it out to about 1/2" thickness . . . cut the pastry with a biscuit cutter (or the rim of a small drinking glass) ... and arrange the disks, leaving about 1-1/2 inches between them, on a greased baking sheet. The recipe will make approximately 15 large or 30 small biscuits

Brush the tops of the pastries lightly with melted butter or cream, and bake the ginger rounds in a 425°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Serve them up hot!

JAMAICAN GINGERBREAD

This robust loaf is from The Garden Way Bread Book by Ellen F. Johnson (available for $9.95 postpaid from Garden Way Publishing Co., Dept. TMEN, 1539 Ferry Road, Charlotte, Vermont 05445).

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift together 3 cups of flour, 2-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of allspice. In another—and larger—bowl beat 2 eggs until they're light in color and slightly thickened. Add 1/2 cup of melted butter (or part butter and part light oil which was our preference), 1/2 cup of un sulfured molasses, and 1 cup of evaporated milk (or you can use—as we did—a half-and-half blend of milk and cream).

Beat the liquid ingredients again, then stir in 3 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger root (if that's unavailable, 1 tablespoon of ground ginger will do), 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger, and 1 cup of chopped nuts. Now, fold in the flour mix ture—blending it in with a spatula until it's just incorporatedand pour the batter into a large, well-greased loaf pan. (Again, we predusted our container with ground ginger.) Bake the bread for 50 minutes n, until its top feels springy and a test straw in the middle comes out clean.

Let your Jamaican treat rest in the pan about 10 minutes before removing it to a rack. Finally, serve thin slices topped with sweet butter, whipped cream, or whipped cream cheese. Ah . . . delicious!

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