Digestive cookies (or digestive biscuits) are the backbone of British baking (that's what I read in a book). I was looking for a recipe with British origin in the Reader's Digest Cookies book and found this one to be very simple to bake with ingredients easily available.
I have not changed anything in the recipe and also don't have anything to write in the My Notes section because it's pretty straightforward. Just mixing dry ingredients and wet ingredients, forming a soft dough, rolling it out and cutting shapes with a cookie cutter. How difficult is this?
Digestive Cookies Recipe |
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Makes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Mins | 15 Mins | 45 Cookies |
| Author | Category | Method |
| Madhuram | Cookies | Baking |
Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoons Rolled oats/quick cooking oats
- 5 tablespoons Butter
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/3 cup Milk (I used 2%)
Procedure:
- In a large mixing bowl sift all the dry ingredients except oats and sugar. Stir in the oats.
- Take out the butter from the refrigerator, cut up into small pieces and add it to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender further cut the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you don't have a pastry blender you can do this with your fingers or fork too, but it's more work.
- Stir in the sugar and add milk little by little to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth.
- Press the dough into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off start preheating the oven at 375F for 15 minutes. So by the time the oven preheats it will be 30 minutes and you can start working on the cookie dough. Also butter 2 cookie sheets.
- Lightly flour the surface. Roll out the dough into 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Gather the dough scraps, re-roll and continue the same procedure until all the dough is used.
- The cookies tend to stick to the floor, so use a spatula to lift and transfer the cookies to the baking sheets. Place them 1 inch apart. Prick all over with a fork.
- The baking time depends on the thickness of the cookies and the material of the baking sheet. Note that cookies baked on a dark-colored non stick baking sheet tend to bake faster and if not alert the bottom will get burnt. My second batch cookies were thinner than the first batch. So the first batch took 13 minutes, while the second batch was done in 10 minutes. Look for golden color cookies. If baking both the batches at the same time, place each baking sheet in individual racks and shift sheets halfway through baking.
- Leave the cookies in the baking sheet itself for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Taste:
- These digestive cookies taste exactly like sweet chapathi (or what we call chakkara roti in our house). I don't if everybody makes this chapathi. First you roll out the chapathi dough, apply generous amount of ghee and sprinkle sugar all over, then fold it and apply ghee and sugar on each fold and roll it out once again and then cook it on a hot tava. So these cookies taste exactly like that. If you like the sweet chapathi you will definitely like this one too. Initially you may feel that it is very sweet but once you eat one cookie you will get addicted to the sweetness and will reach out for one more.
- As for the texture, it is crispy but not "melt in your mouth" type of crispness but quite similar to a hard candy. After reading hard candy don't assume that you cannot bite it. It's definitely chewable and very tasty.
Hello Madhuram,
I stumbled upon your website while searching for eggless baking recipes.I have tried the oat-raisin cookies with flaxseed and they are heavenly. I am new to baking and wanted to try these out. I am not sure what is the “disk” when you say – “Press the dough into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes.” Can you please elaborate what this means and where can I get it?
Thanks,
Purvi
Purvi, thanks for trying the oatmeal raisin cookies. Pressing into disk means, simply flattening the dough ball into a disk (circular) shape, just you would do while preparing rotis. Simply gather together the dough and flatten it with your palm. Please feel free to ask any questions regarding baking. Do not hesitate.
Hi Madhuram,
Baked these cookies today.I must say they came out well.
I have tasted digestive cookies however these tasted like sweet chappathi.Maybe the next time i will add more tbs of oats and reduce the quantity of sugar.Thanks.Enjoy your vacation.
Hi,
Hope you are having a great time at Chennai. Have a great time and enjoy your break. I have nominated you for the Kreativ Bloggr Award. Please do visit my blog and post it on your site.
Regards,
Shobha
Thanks Shobha.strong>
I am so gonna try this Madhuram. SOunds perfect.
omg i loveee digestives! haven’t had them for a long time since i turned vegan and i think the store bought ones have milk powder or eggs.
Hi Natalie, these digestive cookies were good but since I have not tried the store bought ones, I don’t know if these taste exactly like store bought ones.
The “taste” tab describes these well. However, they
are nothing like traditional “Digestive” biscuits.
Maybe there is too much sugar in the recipe? I was
disappointed that they were not soft and crumbly–
I should have listened to the “taste” description.
I have not baked anything with whole wheat flour.Can use the wheat flour bought from the indian store as I have it on hand.Thanks.
Have been eating whole wheat cereals all the time and haven’t tried digestive cookies eversince. I think I’ll try this one for a change. Thanks for sharing this recipe. 😀
Never tried making digestive cookies at home. This is a great recipe.
Will let you know when I try!
This is a great recipe, you are right it is a good British classic. All of my family members like to have at least 2 with their tea. So this is one recipe I will be trying out fo rsure, I did not relise that it had such little butter, will need to try them out soon 🙂
they are absolutely amazing madhu, must try this sometime.
Cookies look lovely. My children like these digestive cookies.
Will try to make it for them.
Awesome Madhu.Love the delicious cookies.Cannot say they are made of whole wheat and not APF.
The sweet roti recipe is good as well ;P
Cookies looks so good Madhuram..Did your son like it? I mean would the kids like to have these cookies? If so , I can also make them for my son..
Yes, yes he liked it. My husband felt that it was too sweet for him.
Woww… looks soo yummyyy… very tempting snap..
Sounds pretty simple, but they look awesome.. oh darn my oven…
That is a pretty straightforward recipe. Looks perfectly baked Madhu!
love to try it out sometime..we are big fans of digestive cookies
Cookies look perfect!
I love digestive cookies…and I must comment on on the format of your blog posts, I love the separate tabs for ingredients, procedure, etc. Unique but still user-friendly 🙂
Thanks Mia.
Cookies look perfect. This is a simple recipe for me. Would love to make some for my daughter. I have had the sweet chappatis you are talking about.
I have eaten sweet chapathis couple of times and love it..Who
doesnt like sugar?The cookies look too good!
Looks perfect !
Wow they look completely store bought….never attempted these kind….looks perfect
Madhu, cookies looks so beautiful!:) err…pastry blender? I don’t have it. Can we use food processor instead? Thanks for sharing.:)
I’m sure you could use it Sonu.