There is no smell more welcoming than that of freshly baked biscuits or cookies. Whether it’s for morning tea with a cuppa or for the school cake stall, you’ll find something suitable in this collection of biscuit recipes.
Test Kitchen techniques for biscuit recipes
Creaming the butter and sugar
Creaming is the term used when butter and sugar are beaten until ‘pale and fluffy’. You can use an electric stand mixer, hand-held mixer or a wooden spoon for the job, however the latter is hard work.
The mixture is ready when the butter has become paler in colour. The sugar does not need to be dissolved. In our recipes we also use the term ‘soft and creamy’. For this result the mixture is not beaten as much, should cling to the side of the bowl (soft) and barely change in colour.
Shaping biscuits
Using floured hands, roll 2 teaspoons of biscuit mixture into balls. The easiest way to do this is to scoop the mixture into a tablespoon measure. Then, push the mixture out and cut in half so that each half of the dough equals 2 teaspoons. Place the balls 2.5cm (1in) apart on baking-paper-lined oven trays. Flatten each ball slightly with a lightly floured fork into 4cm (1½in) rounds.
If the edges of the biscuits crack, smooth the cracks with your fingers by pressing the dough back together.
Biscuit troubleshooting
Unfortunately, biscuits and cookies don’t always emerge from the oven looking exactly like the photographs. Here’s our Test Kitchen troubleshooting guide to get you and your baking back on track.
Biscuits spread on tray
The mixture couldbe too soft due to over-beating the butter and sugar mixture, or the ingredients were measured incorrectly, the wrong flour (such as self-raising when the recipe calls for plain flour) was used or the oven was not hot enough.
Biscuits too hard
The ingredients may have been measured incorrectly, the biscuits baked too long or at too high a temperature or the wrong type of oven trays used.
Biscuits too soft
They may not have been baked long enough, or they may have been stacked on top of each other during cooling. Most biscuits need air circulating around them to crisp. They generally need to rest on the trays for a few minutes to harden slightly before being transferred to wire racks to cool completely.
Biscuits too brown underneath
Trays may have been over-greased, or the tray is in the incorrect position in the oven.
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Julie Goodwin’s chocolate and ginger cookies
Lemon myrtle shortbread biscuits
Spiced gingerbread biscuits
Cornflake cookies
Jam drops
Monte Carlo biscuits
Gingerbread biscuits
Gluten-free melting moments
Chocolate Biscoff melting moments
Pantry compost biscuits
Lemon and poppy seed biscuits
Air fryer basic vanilla butter cookies
Chocolate cornflake biscuits with mocha ganache
Traditional shortbread
Chocolate chip cookies
Gingernut biscuits
Dark chocolate, olive oil and rye cookies
Coconut macaroons
Gluten free pistachio and lemon sandwich biscuits
Gluten-free peanut butter cookies
Coconut jam drops
Double chocolate freckles
White chocolate macadamia cookies
Slice and bake biscuits
Chocolate chunk and raspberry cookies
Passionfruit melting moments
Shortbread fingers
Basic oat cookies
Honey snap biscuits
Peanut butter choc chunk cookies
Peanut butter cookies
Jam wreaths
Dark chocolate French macarons
Double chocolate brownie cookies
Millionaire’s shortbread
Giant macadamia, white chocolate and cranberry cookies
Mint slice biscuits
Dairy-free hazelnut and cacao cookies
Strawberry and cream biscuits
Praline custard creams
Golden cinnamon biscuits
Butter biscuits
Gingernuts
Chocolate and coconut cookies
Smartie biscuits
Honey biscuits
Afghan biscuits
Ghoriba biscuits
Banana, date and oat cookies
Chocolate lace cookies
Orange and ginger florentines
