Vanilla Snap Biscuits: a Delicious little Cookie
These vanilla snap biscuits (cookies) are easy to make and have a snappy bite. It’s a Donna Hay recipe from “Modern Classics 2”
These vanilla biscuits are the perfect little cookies/biscuits for doing icing decoration.
A few of my other baking recipes:
My best baking recipes on Drizzleanddip
More biscuit recipes:
The best South African crunchie recipe
White chocolate, cranberry, and pecan nut cookies
The best mince pie crumble cookies
Espresso chocolate chip cookies
Whipped vanilla shortbread The BEST recipe to make with or for kids
Vanilla snap biscuits: a delicious little cookie
These vanilla biscuits are snappy, buttery and delicious.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 185 gms butter
- 1 cup 220gm caster sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups 375gm flour
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- icing sugar to dust optional or decorate with icing/frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F
- In a food processor mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth
- Add the flour, egg, and egg yolk and process until the mixture forms a soft dough
- Take the dough out of the processor and knead slightly bringing it together in a ball wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of baking paper until about ½ cm / 5mm thick
- Cut the dough into approximately 7cm rounds
- Place the dough rounds on a baking sheet that has been lined with baking paper or silicone baking sheets
- Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown
- Remove the biscuits carefully from the baking tray and allow them to cool on a wire cooling rack as they have a tendency to carry over cooking and could turn too brown once removed from the oven (I generally cool all biscuits on a cooling rack).
- When cooled, dust them with some icing sugar or decorate them as desired.
Notes
These biscuits can be made in advance and stored in an air-tight container.
These biscuits are delicious and eaten as is but make a perfect canvas to decorate.
Servings: 44
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Pretty little rounds – perfect!
JUMMY!
I made this and they were terrible
Very sticky when making which made it impossible to cut without breaking or stretching
When they came out the oven they fell apart
It wasn’t that I did It wrong as I stuck o the recipe to see how it went
Do not recommend
Thank you for this recipe, it’s perfect for the biscuits I need for a bake sale at my daughter’s school. It will remain a firm favourite!
Thats great Rebecca – thanks for letting me know.
Amazing!! Love this recipe perfect !!??
#1 How much butter in oz. please and
what is caster sugar?
Hi Chris – there is a conversion table on my site. caster suger is fine white granular sugar.
How long will they keep
just perfect… i didn’t have icing sugar o i just sprinkled them with regular sugar (just lightly, so they’re not too sugary) and my kids loved them. they insisted i made some more and then they helped with the topping… dunked in chocolate sprinkles while they’re still squishy and hot. they’re crispy, crunchy and just delicious! I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quick and easy recipe or a little bi of simple baking experience. perfect for kids’ parties, fetes, stalls or just snacking on at home. Donna Hay’s a genius!
I made these biscuits for my friend’s 18th… stacked them in piles of 8 or so, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red ribbon. pop them in a nice gift bag and they’re perfect for all occasions! 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 just loved them 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Im so glad Hannah 🙂
So lovely to hear Kirsten, thanks
HOW MANY COOKIES THE RECIPE GIVES?
Hi Raquel – about 40 – 45
Hi Sam, how can i make this into slightly more christmas biscuit…. xx
Hi, add some spices like cinnamon and clove. best sam
my thoughts as well on the cinnamon and clove. thank you xx
is the dough after refrigeration (maybe longer then 30min) stable enough to roll in logs and then slice those?
Hi Gabriele, Im sorry I can’t remember. I made these a few years ago and have not made them again.
Perfect recipe – Thank you Sam!! Made them twice this week, the second batch with some Lindt shards thrown in for decadence – wonderful 🙂
Oh awesome LIsa – thanks for letting me know.
hello, planning to try this recipe soon, how much is 185gm of butter if converted to cup size?
Hi, I have no idea as I have not tested this in cup measurements. Best to convert this to ounces. Just google it for a precise conversion. Weights are always more accurate than cups in baking. cheers Sam
I just made this recipe and it was awesome!!! so quick and easy to bring together. a comment above said it was too sticky and fell apart…when you remove from the fridge, i cut the ball in half, dusted with a bit of flour and gave it a tiny bit of kneading. then rolled it out and baked. they came out BEAUTIFUL!!! great texture, not overly sweet and perfect just as they are. my husband loves them and told me to mark this recipe as a favourite! thank you!! 🙂
Hi Melanie – that is so awesome to hear – thanks for sharing 🙂
Just wondering what flour is it plain or self raising
HI Carly it would be plain flour / all purpose. I would always state if it was self raising. Cheers
What butter do you use for these?
Hi, I was just wondering why the dough has to go in the refrigerator for 30min? What does it help with?
HI Cassy – it helps the dough from shrinking by relaxing the gluten. Its a good practice with most pastry work
These are amazing! I’m not an experienced baker but I managed to do these & they turned out great. Maybe I should eat some normal food now, I keep finding myself with my hand in the biscuit tin!
Made these and although the dough was a bit sticky I just made them a bit thicker so they were easy to handle and they came out lovely and taste amazing! Will be making again very soon!
I’m so glad you liked them, Hayley. If the dough is sticky, just dust over a little more flour.
Just made these! Like others I found the dough sticky and it fell apart when I tried to handle at first, but I cut into smaller portions for rolling out and dusted them with flour, and it was much easier. They came out beautifully and my husband is a huge fan, so I have this now marked as a favourite!
I’m so glad they worked out for you. If they are sticky it means there wasn’t enough flour.
How long do the cookies stay good for?
Hi Jess, Im not sure but at least a week in a sealed container.
Just made these & they came out great ?! I decided to split my dough in half & added some chocolate chips & orange zest to one half, the other half I left plain! Yummy ?
Your flavour additions sound amazing Kyllie, thanks for letting us know.
Is the butter measurement of melted butter or solid?
Hi Abida it would be sold butter unless stated.
best cookies i have ever made… They taste for-nominal and i will definitely be making them in the future.
Hi Makailah – I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe
Unfortunately I used the wrong flour! So they turned out more like cake biscuits lol however my 3 year old loved them and was a good practice run for the next time when I use the right flour ?
Hi Mia, sorry you used the wrong flour and hope you will have success next time with the right one
I would like to know if royal icing will work well with this kind of cookie please?
Thanks
Hi Nirisha, I think it would work well but I’m not sure if the cookies would remain very crispy afterwards. I haven’t tested this and often cookies absorb water from the icing.
HI Sam
Thanks for the speedy response. I tried it today and the cookies are absolutely delicious. And so quick and easy. They got all eaten before I even got a chance to try royal icing ? ?
HI Sam
Thanks for the speedy response. I tried it today and the cookies are absolutely delicious. And so quick and easy. They got all eaten before I even got a chance to try royal icing ? ?
Haven’t tried this recipe yet …. why is the first ingredient quantity in grams and subsequent ingredient quantities in cups?? Don’t want to have to check conversion charts, so not sure if I’m going to bother to make these cookies – sorry
Hi Nicnac. The butter is in grams because measuring butter in cups is completely un-user friendly. It’s much easier to use cup measurements for dry and liquid. ingredients. I hope that helps.
Your recipe has provided me with biscuits that my Mom used to make. I cannot thank you enough…
Hello Sam,
Thank you for this recipe – i haven’t made it but I promise to give some feedback once the kids have devoured these beauties. The problem I have with many on-line recipes is that it is not clear whether metric, or UK or US cups are used. They are all different in quantity and the weight can vary greatly. Baking is such a fine art, I would like to get it right. Are you able to confirm which measurement you use for your cups. Many thanks, Alain.
Hi Alain – our cup measurements are 250ml
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Muhammad. There is nothing like food bringing back childhood memories.
I just tried these with my son, unfortunately it was so sticky it didn’t even resemble a dough, I added more and more flour and it’s still sticky! put the bowl in the fridge for now and may have to just scoop them on the tray like cookies and hope they’re edible! Although I think they will just taste like flour! I followed the recipe so not really sure what went wrong which is a shame!
HI Sophie, something very wrong because this is one of my oldest recipes and has been tried and tested so many times as you can see from all the comments. Weighing ingredients is alway better and I will test these again giving the exact weight of the flour. Scooping flour can be inaccurate. Adding flour and giving the dough a little need should have rectified the problem though
Hi. I have been looking for a good old fashioned crispy biscuit recipe for some time. Unfortunately with all my moving over the years I lost the one I was fond of. These biscuits came out perfect. I didn’t have any problems with stickiness or anything else. I am a Scots woman who lives in Italy but didn’t have any problems with weights. I just converted everything into grams. I was 20 grams short of butter so I replaced it with some oil. I had a couple of different flours but not enough to make a cake or anything so I just mixed it all and things came out perfectly anyway. Oh and I used orange and chocolate chips like one other baker. Fantastic.
This recipe is one I will go back to often.
Happy baking to everyone.
Sorry I forgot to mention that I added the flour manually and not with a mixer. I think this could help with stickiness…
Hi Maureen and glad you enjoyed this recipe. I need to make it again and convert it to grams.
Best biscuits ever!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Boe
I’m so beyond happy that i have found this recipe. It’s the most delicious, easy, fun, hardly any mess recipe. I always find it hard with cookie recipes, some times I put to much flour, or not enough because the recipe is too sticky over following all the ingredients. But this recipe required no change. Other than i did put a teaspoon of baking powder, i thought it was weird not to bake without baking powder. I highly recommend this recipe!
I’m so beyond happy that i have found this recipe. It’s the most delicious, easy, fun, hardly any mess recipe. I always find it hard with cookie recipes, some times I put to much flour, or not enough because the recipe is too sticky, But this recipe required no change. Other than i did put a teaspoon of baking powder, i thought it was weird not to bake without baking powder and a bit of salt. I highly recommend this recipe!
Hi Michelle and so glad you like this recipe. These biscuits/cookies don’t need any baking powder as they are a shorcrust/pastry recipe they do not need to rise.
Hi Sam/
i was wondering if i can mix the dough all by hand instead of a mixer?
Hi Stephanie, you can definitely mix the dough by hand it will just take a little longer. Once its smooth and all the ingredients are well incorporated you can roll out and cut & bake.
For the cookies, roughly how long would it take to bake?
Hi Zack as per the recipe listed – 10 – 12 minutes
Hi – love the look of this recipe. I wanted to cover them in decorative royal icing. Can you let me know how long these will keep>. Planning to make them as Christmas gifts for teachers but don’t want to leave all till last minute! Thanks Zoe x
Hi Zoe – I haven’t done an extended shelf-life test on these cookies as they don’t last very long in my house. I imagine a few weeks in a sealed container will be fine and royal icing hardens so that will work too.
Perfect snap biscuit recipe on its own! I decided to jazz it up a bit further and added orange rind with the juice of half an orange and chopped almonds and left the icing sugar off for this version. Made an awesome Christmas biscuit. 😊
They’re alright. Not the best recipe as the measurements and instructions are all over the place. It doesn’t specify what kind of flour, had to add own bits to make them work. It’s okay to use as a guide but not brilliant. As an autistic in the kitchen, this annoys me not being specific enough. Won’t use it again, I see others have managed but it still isn’t one of my favourite recipes.
Thanks so much for your feedback Treevey, I have been meaning to update the recipe with metric measurements and will do this soon. Thanks for the nudge, For me these biscuits need icing to decorate and sweeten.
amazing
Wow! Perfect for my snacks. Love biscuit recipe. Thank you for sharing!
yummy! I made this for a cool project and they turned out just perfect!! 100% recommend.
Hi. Can I roll the dough into little balls and flatten with a fork?
HI Tabs, I haven’t tested this cookie recipe like that and I don’t think it would be the best way to make these. Rolling an cutting them out is better.
Hey, I’m using this recipe for the biscuits at my little girl’s princess party. I am going to be using a princess dress cutter and ice them afterwards. I’m just wondering how long these will keep for. Because I have so much else to do, I want to bake them today (Wedns) for her party on Saturday. Will they keep okay for 3 days and what is the best way to store them please to keep them fresh? Thanks, Amy x
Hi Amy, they will last until Saturday no problem. Once cooled store them in an airtight container.