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Easy Biscuit Recipe

Published: Updated:
Our favourite

214 Reviews

Total Time
25m
Prep Time
10m
Bake Time
15m
Makes 24
Makes 24
easy
Easy

About our Basic Biscuit recipe:

This quick and easy homemade biscuit dough is a baking staple to have in your recipe collection for perfect, buttery biscuits every time.

Using Nielsen-Massey vanilla essence, this basic biscuit recipe creates the perfect dough for homemade biscuits.

How to freeze biscuit dough

Once you've combined the ingredients for your simple biscuit dough, you can pop it into an air-tight container and freeze it - it’s easy to prepare your biscuit dough well in advance. Just defrost and bake on the day! 

What's the secret to a great homemade biscuit?

To create buttery, crumbly biscuits with crunch, we recommend chilling the biscuit dough for at least one hour before rolling it out and cutting out your biscuits.

Also, when you're beating together the butter and sugar, be careful not to over-mix them - this can lead to the butter separating, which will affect your biscuits' finished taste and texture.

How to make Christmas biscuits?

Transform your basic biscuit dough into festive stained glass biscuits that sparkle with Christmas cheer.

Roll out the dough to an even thickness, then use a star-shaped cutter to stamp out each biscuit. To make our jam star effect, cut a smaller star shape in the center of half the biscuits and fill it with a dollop of your favorite jam before baking. Alternatively, bake the biscuits as full stars and decorate with intricate icing patterns once they’ve cooled—think delicate snowflakes, swirls, or a dusting of edible glitter. Perfect for gifting or serving at your holiday gatherings.

Top Tips

When it comes to icing, the possibilities are endless, and the right choice can elevate your baked goods to the next level. If you’re aiming for a glossy finish try our fondant icing or glace icing which ideal especially for decorating cookies with intricate designs. See how to use the flood icing technique with Juliet Sear. 

Substitutions and Variations

Substitutions

Are you on the hunt for a vegan biscuit recipe that's just as good as our regular biscuits? Look no further! Our vegan biscuit recipe yields 20 delicious buttery biscuits.

Variations

Why not explore our full biscuit collection? We have seasonal biscuit ideas from Halloween ghost biscuits, to iced Easter biscuits and love hart biscuits, the hardest thing will be to pick which biscuit recipe to bake first.

Why Bake Our Biscuit Recipe

⭐The ideal foundation for homemade biscuits

⭐Perfect for novice bakers

⭐Great for getting the kids involved in baking

5 ingredients7 steps

    Method

    1. Step 1

      Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat it with electric beater or wooden spoon until soft and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

      Ingredients for this step

      • 300gAllinson's Plain White Flour
      • 0.5 tspBaking Powder
      • 0.5 tspSalt
    2. Step 2

      Sift the flour into the creamed butter and sugar then bring the mixture together with your hands until a dough is formed.  Flatten the dough into a disc then wrap the biscuit dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

      Ingredients for this step

      • 90gUnsalted butter (softened)
      • 100gSilver Spoon Caster Sugar
      • 1Egg(s) (free range)
      • 0.5 tspNielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
    3. Step 3

      Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4).

    4. Step 4

      Roll the chilled dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s about 0.5cm thick.

    5. Step 5

      Cut out your biscuits using a 7cm fluted biscuit cutter (or a novelty shaped cutter of your choice) and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Roll up the trimmings and repeat the stages above to make more biscuits and use up any leftover dough. You should have approximately 24 biscuits.

    6. Step 6

      Bake your biscuits for 12-15 minutes until they are golden on top, cool slightly on the tray then move them to a wire rack to cool completely before eating or icing them. 

      Tip: These cookies are delicious topped with melted chocolate and sprinkles or glacé icing and a cherry.

    7. Step 7

      The baked biscuits can be stored in an airtight container and are best eaten within 2-3 days. Alternatively, freeze your biscuit dough (double wrapped in cling film) for up to 2 months. Allow to defrost in the fridge before baking. 

    Ingredients

      • 150gButter (unsalted) (softened) 
      • 150gSilver Spoon Caster Sugar 
      • 1Large egg(s) (free range) 
      • 1.5 tspNielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract 
      • 300gAllinson's Plain White Flour, plus extra for rolling  

    Utensils

    • Large bowl
    • Food mixer/electric hand mixer with beater attachment
    • Cling film
    • Rolling pin
    • Cutters
    • Baking sheet
    • Wire cooling rack
    • Air tight container

    Nutritional information per 23g serving

    • Energy 109cal
    • Fat 4.1g
    • of which Saturates 2.4g
    • Carbohydrates 16g
    • of which Sugars 5.1g
    • Protein 1.8g
    • Salt 0.16g

    214 Baker Ratings

    In the recipe section there’s no mentioning of salt or baking powder. Only when (if!) looking at the ‘method’ tab does it show these ingredients. Had to throw the first batch away because of it

    Love this?
    1 baker loved this!

    They taste great. Just a point though - Step 2 states to cream the butter and sugar after adding the flour to the mixture!! Just the order of the recipe is wrong.

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