Ginger Crunch is New Zealand's most beloved slice — a buttery shortbread base with a strong ginger bite, topped with a thick layer of ginger icing that sets to a crackly, fudgy glaze. It is found in every NZ café, bakery, and fundraising cookbook, the afternoon-tea companion to every cup of coffee in the country.
Ginger Crunch (or Ginger Slice) is a New Zealand café baking institution. The base is a buttery shortbread with ground ginger; the topping is a thick ginger icing made from icing sugar, butter, and a generous amount of ground ginger (and sometimes crystallized ginger). The contrast — the crisp, crumbly base and the soft, spicy-sweet icing — is what makes it addictive. Every NZ café has it in the cabinet; every fundraising cookbook has a version. It is a specifically Kiwi invention, distinct from British gingerbread (which is cake-like, not a slice) and Australian ginger slice (which uses less butter and is less intense).
A square of golden shortbread with a thick layer of pale-gold icing, dusted with crystallized ginger. Bite in: the base crumbles buttery and crisp; the icing is soft, intensely gingery — a sweet burn that warms the whole mouth. Dip it in coffee; the icing softens further. It is the most NZ café thing there is.
The base is a classic shortbread (butter, sugar, flour, ginger) — it must be baked only until pale gold (overbaking dries it). The icing is the defining element: it is thick (almost fudge-like), made by melting butter with golden syrup and ground ginger, then whisking in icing sugar to a spreadable paste. The icing sets firm (but not hard) at room temperature, giving the characteristic crackly-but-chewy texture. Crystallized ginger on top is the traditional garnish.
Variations
Some add crystallized ginger to the base too; some use more ginger in the icing; some add lemon zest; the thickness of the icing varies.
On the Palate
Where Ginger Crunch sits in the New Zealand flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
10 steps · 25 min active + 20 min waiting
- 13 min
Preheat oven to 180°C; line a 20x30-cm tin.
- 25 min
Cream 150 g butter with 80 g sugar.
- 35 min
Sift in 200 g flour and 2 tsp ground ginger; mix to a dough.
- 420 min
Press into the tin; bake 20 minutes until pale gold.
Watch outPull the base at just pale gold — bake it darker and the shortbread dries out and loses its crumble.
- 515 min
Cool in the tin.
- 65 min
Make icing: melt 80 g butter with 2 tbsp golden syrup and 3 tsp ground ginger.
- 73 min
Off the heat, whisk in 250 g icing sugar to a thick spreadable paste.
Watch outWhisk the icing sugar into the warm butter-syrup off the heat until thick and spreadable — it should be pourable-thick, not runny, so it sets crackly not hard.
- 83 min
Spread over the cooled base.
- 93 min
Top with chopped crystallized ginger.
- 101 min
Cut into squares when set.
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