My Best Biscuit Recipes: Easy Homemade Biscuits and Cookies

I have been baking biscuits since before this blog existed, and they remain the category I come back to most. There is something so nostalgic and wonderful about a well-made biscuit. Quick to put together, reliable to bake, and almost universally loved by whoever you share them with.

A note on terminology: in South Africa and the UK, a biscuit is what Americans call a cookie. A crunchy, sweet, hand-held baked thing you eat with tea or coffee or directly from the tin. That is what you will find here. If you are looking for the American fluffy bread/scone roll version, this is not that collection.

What follows is a roundup of my most loved biscuit and cookie recipes from 16 years of baking on this blog. Every one of these has been made, tested, and eaten with enthusiasm. I have organised them by type to make it easier to find what you are looking for.

Classic South African biscuits

These are the biscuits I grew up with and the ones I reach for most often. Straightforward, reliable, and designed for dunking.

Vanilla snap biscuits are the most popular recipe on this site and for good reason. Five ingredients, made entirely in a food processor, are wonderfully buttery and snappy. Use them plain, dusted with icing sugar, or as a canvas for decoration. This is a Donna Hay recipe, and it is one of the best biscuit recipes I know. Toasted milk powder is optional but highly recommended.

Easy South African ginger biscuits are adapted from a Lynn Bedford Hall recipe and have been on this blog since 2011. Crunchy, warmly spiced, and reminiscent of nutticrust. Made by hand in one bowl and baked in under 20 minutes. The original and the one that keeps growing in traffic every year for good reason.

Soft and chewy ginger biscuits with honey and lemon are the softer, more fragrant cousin of the classic above. Honey and lemon zest make these noticeably different and they can be baked either chewy or crunchy depending on your preference. If you are a soft biscuit person, start here.

Chocolate marshmallow sweetie pies are a South African institution. A chocolate biscuit base topped with marshmallow and coated in chocolate. Nostalgic, slightly fiddly, and completely worth it.

Shortbread biscuits

Shortbread is the purest expression of a biscuit: butter, sugar, flour, and very little else. Get the butter right and nothing else matters.

Whipped vanilla shortbread is my go-to recipe for baking with or for kids. The whipping technique gives these a lighter, more delicate crumb than traditional shortbread and the result is a biscuit that melts in the mouth. One of the best things on this site.

Alison Roman’s salted butter chocolate chip shortbread is my all-time favourite cookie. It sits somewhere between a shortbread and a chocolate chip cookie and is better than both. The salt is essential. Do not skip it.

Shortbread biscuit balls with chocolate middles are one of the most addictive things I have ever made. A buttery shortbread exterior with a piece of chocolate hidden in the centre. Completely impossible to eat just one.

Shortbread mince pie crumble cookies are a festive shortbread with mince pie filling and a crumble topping. They capture everything you love about a mince pie in a considerably easier biscuit format. A Christmas tin essential.

Nut butter biscuits and cookies

Peanut butter and its cousins make some of the best biscuits. Rich, slightly salty, and deeply satisfying.

Perfect peanut butter cookies from The Joy of Cooking are the peanut butter cookie recipe I keep coming back to. Properly peanutty, soft in the centre, and made with ingredients you already have.

The best cashew nut butter biscuits are a slightly more elegant version of the same idea. Cashew butter gives these a milder, creamier flavour and they are particularly good with a cup of tea.

Chocolate biscuits and chocolate chip cookies

The most searched cookie on the internet and a category where small details make a significant difference. I have tested a lot of these.

Chunky New York chocolate chip cookies are thick, bakery-style, and the closest thing to a New York cookie shop experience you can achieve at home. Made with chopped chocolate rather than chips for irregular pockets of melted chocolate throughout.

Air fryer chocolate chip cookies are the recipe to reach for when you want a warm cookie quickly without heating the whole oven. Ready in under 10 minutes and surprisingly good.

Espresso chocolate chip cookies add a shot of espresso to a classic chocolate chip cookie dough, which deepens the chocolate flavour considerably and adds a slight bitterness that stops the whole thing from being too sweet. One of my favourites in this category.

Fudgy walnut brownie cookies are intensely chocolate flavoured and hover etween and brownie and a cookie.

Double chocolate chip skillet cookie is a giant, shareable cookie baked in a cast iron pan and brought to the table warm. Add salted caramel and pistachio ice cream and it becomes a proper dessert.

Fruit and nut cookies

Cookies with dried fruit and nuts have a slightly more wholesome feel without sacrificing any of the pleasure.

Soft & chewy oat, raisn and almond cookies from the Magnolia Bakery in NYC. These are my favourite oat cookies.

White chocolate, cranberry and macadamia cookies are a slightly more indulgent version of the classic. The cranberries cut through the sweetness of the white chocolate and the macadamia nuts add a buttery crunch.

White chocolate, cranberry and pecan nut cookies are one of the oldest recipes on this blog and still worth making. A slightly simpler version of the one above with pecans instead of macadamias.

Strawberry, white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies use dried strawberries alongside the white chocolate and macadamia for a more summery flavour combination.

Brutti ma buoni (Italian hazelnut meringue cookies) are made with only four ingredients and are not too sweet.

Soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies are the recipe that converts oatmeal raisin sceptics. Thick, properly chewy, and made with brown butter for a deeper, more complex flavour. Also included as a gift-in-a-jar recipe which makes a genuinely lovely present.

Ginger & cinnamon cookies are perfect for an ice cream sandwich. I made a guava ice cream to pair with these.

Tips for baking the best biscuits

Keep your butter at the right temperature for the recipe. Shortbread and vanilla snap biscuits need softened butter that creams properly. Drop cookies like chocolate chip work best with room temperature butter. If a recipe calls for cold butter, like some shortbreads, use it cold.

Chill your dough when the recipe asks you to. It is tempting to skip this step but it exists for a reason. Chilling firms up the butter, which prevents spreading during baking and improves texture significantly.

Bake biscuits one tray at a time in the middle of the oven for the most even result. If you bake two trays simultaneously, rotate them halfway through.

Watch the edges rather than the centre. Most biscuits are ready when the edges are just starting to turn golden, even if the centre still looks slightly underdone. They continue cooking on the tray after they come out of the oven.

Store biscuits in a sealed tin rather than a plastic container. Tins keep biscuits crisper for longer. Most biscuits keep well at room temperature for up to two weeks.

Check out all my cookie, biscuit, and bar recipes.

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