Homemade Digestive Biscuits
Homemade Digestive Biscuits crunchy, crumbly, and with a satisfying wholemeal, oaty flavour, are miles ahead of packet versions. Making them yourself is so easy and you’ll avoid the palm oil and ultra-processed ingredients found in big brands.
Perfect for dunking in a cuppa, you can even eat these with cheese as they’re relatively low in sugar. Or turn into an extra special sweet treat with a layer of melted chocolate to make Homemade Chocolate Digestives.
This is a completely updated version of a post first published in 2019.
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn commission on qualifying purchases.
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THE INVENTION OF DIGESTIVE BISCUITS (AND HOW THEY WERE RUINED)
Digestive biscuits were invented in the early nineteenth century by two Scottish doctors. They claimed that the inclusion of bicarbonate of soda (still used to treat tummy troubles today) meant the biscuits helped with digestion. But while the digestive’s healthy aura was always a bit of a swizz, I do think the originals had a few things going for them.
Firstly, digestive biscuits traditionally contained wholemeal flour and oatmeal. And both are good for your fibre intake. Secondly, digestives used to contain less sugar than many biscuits. Semi-sweet, I think they should be equally at home with a piece of cheese as being dunked in a cuppa.
But oh dear. What happened to the oaty, wholemeal digestive of old with its satisfying balance of sweet and savoury? I say, ruined by too much white flour, too much sugar, and ultra-processed ingredients like industrially processed palm oil and partially inverted sugar syrup.
And what’s been lost? Wholemeal flour and oats which, for me, are the hallmark of a proper digestive biscuit.
HOMEMADE DIGESTIVE BISCUITS
In contrast, I think my Homemade Digestive Biscuits are a thing of beauty to the eye and tongue. But don’t take my word for it. Because since I first posted my recipe back in 2019, I’ve received lots of great comments and 5-star ratings. People are amazed at just how good they are. Not just as good as the most famous brand, but even better many tell me.
Just looking at a homemade digestive, you know it’s going to be good. It has a pleasing, rustic texture thanks to wholemeal flour and oatmeal. If you’re not familiar with oatmeal (and it means different things in Britain and the USA) I tell you more below.
There’s sugar, but only about a teaspoon per biscuit unless you want to add more. The original bicarbonate of soda is in there too, giving a little rise, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.
OATMEAL: WHAT IS IT?
Here in Britain, oatmeal (and oat flour) is made from ground oats (for US readers, what you call oatmeal is our porridge). You’ll find it in some supermarkets, many health food shops, and of course online.
But you can easily make your own oatmeal from rolled or porridge oats. Just whizz the oats in a blender, food processor or coffee grinder. Fine or medium oatmeal can be used for digestives, depending on your preferred texture. For the batch of biscuits you see in this post, I used half fine and half medium oatmeal.
OTHER INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE DIGESTIVES
The only other other ingredients you’ll need for my homemade digestives are butter for richness, salt for balance, plus a little beaten egg to bind the dough.
I include a small amount of plain/all-purpose white flour for lightness, but you can replace this with more wholemeal if preferred. These simple ingredients come together to create a biscuit that really is delicious. Crunchy, crumbly, and with a satisfying wholemeal, oaty flavour.
And for a very special treat, it takes just a few minutes extra to turn them into incredible Homemade Chocolate Digestive Biscuits.
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE DIGESTIVE BISCUITS
You’ll find a recipe card at the end with ingredient amounts and full instructions. But I recommend you read this whole post for extra tips plus images to guide and inspire you. For the best results use digital scales and metric measurements as these were used to test the recipe
MAKING THE DOUGH
While you could make the dough in a food processor, it’s so quick and easy by hand I don’t bother. Simply put into a mixing bowl the oatmeal, flours, sugar, salt, plus bicarbonate of soda if using, and stir together.
Now grate in the butter, still cold from the fridge, dipping the block into the mixture now and then if it sticks to the grater.
Stir in the butter then rub it in with your fingertips. Finally, add just enough of the beaten egg to create a dough, bringing together into a ball with your hands.
CUTTING OUT & BAKING
Like all doughs containing oats, the one for digestive biscuits can be a little sticky. This is where a silicone mat is useful to cover your work surface as it reduces sticking. I use one for loads of baking jobs, and they make cleaning up easier too. Sprinkle the mat or your work surface with wholemeal flour (or oatmeal, although flour is less sticky) and transfer the dough onto it. Flatten slightly then sprinkle over more flour or oatmeal.
Roll out evenly 3 – 5 mm thick depending on whether you’d like them thinner or thicker. Then use a cutter to stamp out the digestives. Gather and re-roll the scraps to make more biscuits. Repeat until you’ve used up all the dough. For the ones you see in this post, I rolled the dough 5 mm thick and used a 6 centimetre cutter. This gave me a total of 14 chunky digestives.
As you cut them out, transfer the digestives to baking trays. Use either non-stick, lightly grease with butter, or line with baking paper. Because I want them to look like traditional digestive biscuits, I make a pattern of holes using the non-pointy end of a wooden skewer.
Baked in an oven preheated to the temperature shown in the recipe card, your Homemade Digestive Biscuits should take 12 – 18 minutes to cook through and turn golden brown. When done, transfer to a wire rack and leave until completely cold before storing in an airtight container
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE DIGESTIVES
If you want to turn all or some of your digestives into incredibly delicious Homemade Chocolate Digestives all you do is dip the flat side of each cold biscuit in melted chocolate, then leave to set.
I’ve given amounts and full instructions in the recipe card. You can use dark or milk chocolate, although my preference is a 50:50 mix. I find this gives an intensely chocolatey taste with a creamy texture. Lovely!
HOMEMADE DIGESTIVE BISCUITS ARE THE BEST
I think these Homemade Digestive Biscuits knock the socks off any you can buy. Made with real, wholesome ingredients they’re so much more satisfying than over-sweet, shop bought versions with little flavour.
Whether you want to dunk them in a cuppa or include in a cheese board, try them once and, like so many others have found, you’ll never go back to packet digestives again.
If you’ve made my Homemade Digestive Biscuits I’d love to know what you thought. Please do leave a comment and recipe rating.
Homemade Digestive Biscuits
Semi-sweet and oaty, Homemade Digestive Biscuits are miles better than the packet versions. Easy to make and perfect to dunk in tea or even eat with cheese.
See Recipe Notes for Homemade Chocolate Digestives.
Before starting, please read the accompanying blog post for extra tips and images to guide you.
Ingredients
- 100 g fine or medium oatmeal (see Recipe Notes for making your own)
- 50 g plain wholemeal flour (plus extra for rolling out, or extra oatmeal)
- 50 g plain white flour (can be replaced with more wholemeal flour)
- 50 g caster sugar (can be increased to 75 g for a sweeter biscuit)
- 0.5 tsp salt (can be reduced if using salty butter)
- 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (optional: traditional but not essential)
- 75 g cold butter (plus extra for greasing if necessary)
- 1 medium egg, beaten (you may not need it all)
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 190°C /170°C fan /Gas 5 /375°F.
Lightly grease one large or two standard baking trays or line with baking paper.
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Take a mixing bowl and add all the ingredients EXCEPT the butter and egg. Stir together.
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Grate the butter into the dry ingredients, dipping it into the mix now and then if it sticks to the grater. Rub in until you have a mixture that looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
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Gradually stir in enough of the beaten egg to start bringing the mixture together: you may not need it all. Finally, use your hands to form a soft dough.
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Sprinkle your work surface, ideally covered with a silicone mat to reduce sticking, with wholemeal flour (or oatmeal, but flour is less sticky). Put the dough on top and sprinkle with more flour or oatmeal.
Roll out 3 - 5 mm thick, depending on whether you'd like thinner or chunkier biscuits.
Use a round cutter, 6 - 8 cm in diameter, to stamp out biscuits and transfer to the prepared baking tray/s, leaving space between them for a little expansion.
Gather up the scraps, re-roll and cut out more biscuits until all the dough is used up.
Tip: rolling the dough 5 mm thick and using a 6 cm cutter should give you approximately 14 biscuits.
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Prick a series of holes into each biscuit using the blunt end of a bamboo skewer, cocktail stick, fork or similar.
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Put the tray/s in the preheated oven and bake until cooked through and golden brown (approximately 12 - 18 min).
Tip: if your oven cooks unevenly, turn the tray/s around halfway through.
Transfer biscuits to a wire rack until completely cold before storing in an airtight container.
Best eaten within 2 weeks but may keep up to a month.
Recipe Notes
Note 1. OATMEAL
If you don't have oatmeal, you can make your own by whizzing up rolled or porridge oats in a blender, food processor, or coffee mill.
Note 2. HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE DIGESTIVES
Make the Digestive Biscuits as per the recipe and leave until completely cold.
- Break into pieces 100 grams of chocolate (dark, milk, or a combination).
- Microwave. Put in a microwave-safe container. Melt on full power in 10 - 20 second bursts, stirring between each one, until just a few small pieces of un-melted chocolate remain. Stir vigorously until completely smooth.
- On a stove. Put in a heatproof bowl above a pan of gently simmering water. Stir constantly until just melted, making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
- Take one of the cold digestives and hold in your fingertips, flat side downwards.
- Dip the flat side into the melted chocolate then lift out, letting excess drip off and/or smoothing it off back into the bowl using a palette knife, silicone spatula or similar.
- Place the biscuit on a wire rack chocolate side up.
- Repeat with the rest of the biscuits and chocolate.
- Leave until the chocolate is completely set before storing the biscuits in an airtight container.
RELATED RECIPES
Here in the US, a package of a certain brand name biscuit costs about $5.00, which is way too expensive. After trying numerous digestive biscuit recipes and being disappointed with the results, I was wary to try one more. But I am SO glad I did! THIS is what I was looking for. They taste like a blend between a rich tea biscuit and a hobnob — which is perfection in my book. And they stand up so well to dunking. I have *finally* found the perfect digestive recipe.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Rachelle! Hugely pleased you’ve found your favourite digestive recipe!
Rachelle, can you tell me what type of (US) oatmeal you used. Can’t translate “medium oatmeal” into US terms.
If you can’t find the US equivalent to oatmeal/oat flour, you can whizz rolled/old fashioned oats in a blender or coffee mill to make your own!
I have been trying to find a good, authentic digestive biscuit recipe for quite sometime. I have tried many others found on the web, and also played around making-up my own. None however come close to this one. Thank you Moorlands Eater for the recipe and the delicious digestives – I will now end my quest and just use your recipe – 5 stars for sure.
So glad you’re enjoying my recipe, Harry! Thanks for taking the time to comment and for your 5-star review!
I loved these biscuits choc imc. Tbanknyou
That’s great, thank you!
Really good, just like the real thing.
Thank you, Chris! Although I’d argue THESE are the real thing! 😄
I followed the recipe exactly (I used brown sugar instead of white), and they turned out perfectly! I will never buy packaged again. I love a couple of them with tea in the evenings, and these really are far superior in taste and texture. It was a little difficult to pace myself the first time I made them! This will definitely be a well used keeper. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment and 5-star rating, Caroline! So pleased you enjoyed my recipe 🙂.
These are pretty solid. Definitely not particularly sweet – I added a little more sugar (it’s not like it’s a diet food anyway) and it was still rather subtle in its sweetness. I’m not entirely sure I like the impact of the baking soda on the flavor, but overall, this is a really nice little cookie. Only thing is – I definitely got way less of these than the recipe suggests using a glass with an 8cm diameter, and I don’t think I rolled them too thick. But that’s really not an issue. Also, I used some gluten-free flour (rice based) and it works great.
Thanks for your 5-star rating!
If you prefer, you can leave out the bicarbonate of soda – it will make little difference to the result.
Fabulous recipe! Thank you! I used whole oats and popped all ingredients except egg into food processor and oulsed 10-12 times. Transferred to bowl and added egg . I did use kosher salt and white sugar. They cooked unevenly at the suggested. I turn off the oven and let them dry out and harden. Next time I’ll lower the oven temp a bit. Fabulous flavor and deeply satisfied my urge for a good Diggy B!
So pleased my recipe satisfied your urge! 😄
Recently started baking and found your website. Absolutely love this recipe. I have a new batch cooking in the oven as we speak.
Really enjoy your website and recipes, thank you for sharing these! 🙂
Thanks so much for your lovely comments about my recipes and I’m so pleased you’re enjoying the digestive biscuits!
Ever so pleased to have found your recipe and you website ! I had already weighed about a cup of flour, aiming to follow a recipe I had picked up of arrowroot biscuits… only to find out I had none ! I had plenty of cream of tartar, but that’s no arrowroot ! Well I was puzzled…
So I thought “let’s try some other simple biscuits -as arrowroot ones were meant to be- and why not Digestive ??
After some running through Internet, well, my choice fell on your recipe. No idea why BUT wow, what a treasure Island !
I followed your recipe as you wrote it, only adding – I tried to find the English word for this : walnut expeller shell flour ? (tourteaux de noix) – I was a bit dubious I admit, with the one and only beaten egg to bind the ingredients as a mixture… But it did the job !!
It’s delicious ! I shall wander through you other recipe and enjoy new trials !!
Thank you from Belgium ♥
Thank you Patricia for your very kind and interesting comment! I hadn’t heard of tourteaux de noix but have looked it up now and can imagine it’s a delicious addition to my digestive biscuits. Sounds wonderful!
Following my comment : the first time I bought this “tourteau” at an oil producer in Dordogne (the Moulin de la Veyssière) ; we were granted a very interesting visit !! That’s where I learned that almost everything is used in the walnut ! The residue of pressed walnuts is called “tourteau”. After the cold pressing (or extraction) of the walnut, oil is obtained on one side and ‘tourteau’ on the other ; it used to be given to the cattle, but if finely grinded, one gets a “flour”; apparently one shouldn’t add no more than 10% ‘tourteau’ of the total amount of flour in a recipe. the second time I had the chance to buy some, it was in another oil mill, in a village just below Vezelay ! This last one was much much harder, so break the ‘tourteau’ pellets was quite a challenge !
Thanks again Lynne.
Very interesting, Patricia!
I can’t wait to try this, the comments speak for themselves! Has anyone tried freezing these? I’m wondering if I can make a big batch and keep them in the freezer baked? If not, maybe I’ll just keep some dough in the freezer!
Although I haven’t frozen these biscuits before, I don’t see why you couldn’t (baked or unbaked). Do let me know how it went if you give it a go!
I made these using sprouted wheat flour and blended rolled oats. I suggest scraping the blended oats through a coarse strainer or sieve before measuring, because I found myself picking out more large bits than I had realized were in there. By weighing and measuring, I found the US equivalents were 1 cup for both flours, 1/2 cup granulated white sugar, and the 75g butter was 6 Tablespoons as marked on my (US) stick of butter. I was out of baking soda so I used the same amount of baking powder, it worked fine. My butter was salted, they taste fine with no changes. And my large egg was just enough to make the dough hold together, maybe because the wholemeal sprouted flour craves liquid. I rolled them out using waxed paper instead of flour, which worked well. I forgot to poke holes, but it didn’t matter, they stayed flat and baked beautifully. They’re perfect with my morning coffee, or with cheese and an apple later on. And they dunk better than McVitie’s! I’m keeping my extra cup of oat flour on hand because I’ll definitely be repeating this recipe!
Thanks so much for the detailed feedback – so glad you enjoyed my recipe and how interesting you used sprouted wheat flour! I like that my digestives dunk better than a certain brand too 😁.
I made them again, adding 100g (a cup) of ground pecans. No other changes were needed because pecans are naturally sweet and fat, and they’re so good! You have to try it!
That sounds lovely!
I made these with my 6yr old daughter. She declared I am the best chef in the world after eating one. I don’t think I can take all the credit – it’s a great recipe.
How lovely! And thanks so much for letting me know.
This is a perfect recipe, thank you so much for sharing it! I’ve baked for years, but never thought of making chocolate digestives until we and the ‘local’ (miles away) shop ran out. Usually I try out a recipe, then keep adapting it until it turns out the way I hoped it would. Followed this one to the letter – including whizzing porridge oats to make oatmeal – and the result was biscuits which look exactly like your photo. They’re the best chocolate digestives we’ve had in years. Just the right amount of crunch, not too sweet, a hint of salty tang, and that wonderful butteriness rather than eugh-what’s-that oily-undertaste which has crept into commercially made biscuits. They were an all round winner with the family, and I expect I’ll know the recipe by heart in a week or so. Can’t wait to try more of the recipes you’ve shared!
Thank you for the lovely detailed feedback, Suzy!
Every time I make these I’m still surprised at how good they taste from just a handful of simple ingredients. Can never go back to the commercially made version now! Thanks again 😊
I’ve tried other recipes for digestive biscuits and this one is by far the best and the easiest to follow. It might sound mad but they really taste like digestives, only better! These will definitely be a regular bake from now on. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you, Sarah! You just can’t go back to shop bought digestives once you’ve tried the real thing, can you? 😋
This is a great recipe! I was looking for a digestive biscuits recipe for a long time and I finally found yours. I was so impressed with the result that I tried your ginger oat cookies the next day. They all have become our favorites. Thank you!
Thank you for your great comments, Katarina! So glad you enjoyed the ginger oat biscuits as well as my digestives 🙂.
These are fabulous!! followed the recipe EXACTLY. and made them in my food processor. Added half the egg, pulsed a bit more then dumped the dough into the rest of the egg and worked it by hand to a moderately stiff dough, Loved rolling them out on oatmeal……so healthy and so easy to work with. Made 15 cookies and I cooked then at 375F for about 20 – 25 min ….lovely golden brow, crunchy and so very tasty. Thinking without the chocolate maybe 80 cal per cookie?? didn’t calculate….lol…….I will definitely try more of your recipes!! Thanks so much!! mxo
Thank you so much for taking the time to give your lovely feedback 😊!
These were really good. We covered them with chocolate and they were even better the next day. Will definitely be making them again. Thank you.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed them.
Digestives are one of my favourite biscuits and these ones top all that I’ve already tried.
They taste so much better than any you can buy, have a great texture and are also crisp.
I followed the recipe using only wholemeal flour, everything worked fine and the biscuits turned out perfect!
Thanks very much for your time and a great recipe 👍👍
I’ll definitely be making more digestives and trying out some of your other recipes as well.
Thank you for your lovely comments, Alan! Always such a pleasure to read that people are enjoying my recipes 😊.
Thank you for a great recipe! They turned out great the first try, and no mystery ingredients. I’m looking forward to trying your other biscuit recipes!
Thank you for your lovely comments!
Hi, I’m Lucia and I live in Italy.
Thanks for this very special recipe.
We like digestive cookies a lot and it wasn’t easy to find a good recipe for these cookies, but finally, after a lot of research, I found your site and your fabulous recipe.
I have to admit that chocolate is really wonderful.
I congratulate you. (Sorry if you find any spelling mistakes but I used google translate)
Thank you for your lovely comments! (And your spelling is perfect by the way 😀)
A simple and relatively healthy recipe for a lovely biscuit. I so agree with your reasoning about making homemade . I will be baking these again. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Steph! And thank you for taking the time to give your feedback.
Love this recipe..Thank you..
Thank you Leela!
Thank you for a most excellent recipe!
Thank you, Ingrid. Glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing, fantastic, thank you. Just made first batch. Easy and quick and delicious. Sold!
Thank you for your lovely comments Pala! So pleased you enjoyed my digestive biscuits recipe!
Just made my first batch. They are really good. Definitely going to try the chocolate version next.
That’s great to hear, Graham!
Many thanks for taking the time to give your feedback and I hope you enjoy the chocolate version (I know you will!).
I tried your recipe, they turned out to be great. All devoured in less than an hour. I felt they were a bit hard, any tips for making them little soft next time? Will surely me making them all the time now:)
Hi Ayesha! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
The digestives should be crunchy as they’re a British biscuit rather than a soft cookie, but definitely shouldn’t be hard.
Over-worked dough can sometimes result in a hard biscuit so try to handle the dough as little as possible. Also over-baked biscuits will be harder.
Hope this helps!
First attempt at the digestive biscuits recipe was a success – they turned out just like in the picture. Will be making them regularly instead of buying the supermarket version (which I have done for years thinking they were good for me!)
Thanks for your feedback, Diana. So pleased to know that your first attempt at my digestive biscuits was a success!
I have a question before starting, what is oatmeal 🙈 can I make it by grinding/blending oats down to a powder or does it have to be bought specifically, really want to make these as I am in a country that doesn’t sell digestives, thanks in advance!
Yes! you can make your own oatmeal by grinding or blending the oats which are usually sold for making porridge 🙂
So please to have found this excellent recipe and the oatcake/ biscuits are better than any you can buy. Thank you so much.
Thank you for your lovely feedback Jacqui!
Made these with 100% wholemeal and golden caster sugar, I was thinking as they were baking I wonder if these will turn out like my other attempts with other recipes ‘like cardboard’ but I was amazed at the taste and texture of these biscuits, much better that shop bought. Many thanks for a wonderful recipe will never buy McV’s again.
Thank you, Tony!
So pleased that you had great success with my digestive biscuit recipe. I’m still always amazed at how good they are, especially considering the simple ingredients.
Many thanks for taking the time to give your feedback and rate the recipe!
Very good recipe. I’ve also used 100% wholemeal and coarse oatmeal instead of medium oatmeal and the biscuits turned out great. These have become a firm favourite in my household. I can’t seem to keep any for storage for a day let alone store in an airtight container!
Thanks for your 5-star comments, Steve!
I think part of the popularity of this recipe is that, as you’ve found, you can adapt it to your own tastes: more or less wholemeal, different grades of oatmeal etc.
Many thanks for taking the time to give your feedback and rate the recipe.
Looks lovely, will try this recipe! How long can you store the biscuits?
Thank you Neeraja!
Although the biscuits get eaten within a week in our house, there is a comment further down saying that they last up to a month in an airtight container.
Do come back and let me know how it went if you try the recipe!
Delicious biscuits, I used rice flour instead of regular (to cut the gluten right down ) and soft light brown sugar with the fine oatmeal, chocolate will be applied to half ..many thanks !
Good to know that these biscuits are delicious with rice flour too, Helen!
Many thanks for taking the time to give your feedback and rate the recipe.
Looking forward to making a batch of these for my dad. Trying to make him some healthy alternatives. Looks like a lovely recipe and really nice history of digestives in your blog as well! Thank you for posting. 🙂
Thank you! I hope your dad enjoys them 🙂.
Glad you enjoyed reading the post including the history of digestives too.
I took delivery of some wonderful flours today, including a medium biscuit oatmeal and an organic fig, spelt and pumpkin seed flour. I used both of these plus some plain flour. One of your reviewers, Lisa, suggested golden syrup instead of egg which was a brilliant call. I veganised them using vegan butter and the syrup to bind it. The result was 16 absolultely deliciously crunchy digestive biscuits. I used just over half the sugar and totally forgot about the bicarb but I dont think it made much of a difference. Fabulous recipe that will now be a very firm favourite in this household. It is a shame you cannot add photos to posts 🙂
Thank you for your lovely feedback, Adrienne! Great that you’ve adapted it to suit you and the wonderful sounding flours you have.
I saw your biscuits on Instagram and they look fab!
I will look into the possibility of allowing photos on comments here. However, like all blogs, I do receive spam comments that have to be filtered out and, as some of them are rather ‘graphic’ shall we say, I’m not sure I want them sending me photos too! 😱
Thanks again for taking the time to give your feedback. 🙂
That’s a great recipe, thank you.
Excellent recipe, thank you. Just made a batch, still warm, very tasty.
Thank you Lara. So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I followed the recipe and used 100% wholemeal flour and some dusty old oat bran found in the back of the pantry and the biscuits turned out just like those in the pictures. Very easy to make and delicious.
Thanks for the great feedback Kevin! Glad you found the biscuits delicious despite the dusty old oat bran 😄
im not sure if i did something wrong, I would get a food scale, i tried to convert the recipe to cups but it did not come out as expected. i would try it again and give feedback
Hi,
Judging by other commments, most people who follow the recipe to the letter get good results so, as you suggest, it may be that an error crept in when you converted it to cups?
I would definitely get some scales for baking as it’s the best way to get the accurate measurements usually needed.
If so, I hope you have another try and let me know how you get on!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I will be making a VEGAN version for my mum!
Can I substitute the egg with a vegan EGG REPLACER ( Bob mills) or ground up flaxseed ?
And as for the BUTTER, can I use CASHEWS BUTTER instead? I choose cashew because it has a neutral flavour Without affecting the all over original taste .
Any wise suggestions from your good self ?
I look forward to your prompt and favourable reply!
Thanks much!!!!
Elison from Singapore !
Hi Elison,
I’m sorry but I don’t use vegan egg replacers so really don’t know whether using them in this recipe would work.
I’ve also never used nut butters instead of dairy butter so can’t vouch for that.
Thanks for your interest in my recipe though!
Hi Elison. Give it a go and make sure you keep everything really cold during the rubbing in phase. And let us all know how you got on!
Hi Elison,
I have stopped buying products with palm oil after reading about the distressing human rights abuses against women plantation workers in the New Zealand Herald. So no more McVities Digestives for me. I made this recipe with 75gm of NZ extra virgin olive oil. For the egg, which I reckon is there to provide a sticky binder, I substituted a tablespoon of golden syrup, warmed in the microwave to make it runny. I reduced the sugar a bit as a result. The mix was wet enough to roll and flatten well. The result was quite crisp and held together better than I would have thought. The taste was dangerously delicious! Substitute a different oil or dairy-free marg if you don’t like olive oil. Hope that helps!
Many thanks for your input Lisa. I’m sure others will find this helpful.
My pleasure. It was your lovely photos that inspired me to try making digestives for the first time ever. 🙂
I have just made these, and tried one- delicious.
I have been looking for the perfect digestive biscuit recipe for ages..
Thank you.
Thank you for your kind comments Lynn! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
This dough was very easy to make, but difficult to roll out and cut. It was quite dry and crumbly. I used whole oats that I pulsed in the food processor to make them smaller bits. Should I have ground then further for more of a “cornmeal” texture?
Hi Deborah,
Did you use all of the egg to bind the dough? I find I don’t need all of even a small egg to get the dough to come together, so it’s a bit odd that yours was dry and crumbly.
Perhaps then it was that the oats were in too large pieces. So yes, maybe try processing them until they’re a little finer if you try again?
Could i use fine oatmeal instead of medium oatmeal?
Hi Celina,
Yes, you can use fine, medium or coarse oatmeal. Each will give a slightly different texture to the finished biscuits.
Hope you like them: do come back and let me know!
Do you know how long these last for (assuming in an air-tight container)? Have you ever tried freezing them or freezing them pre-baked? I would like to make a batch, but we just don’t get though biscuits very quickly and would hate for them to go to waste.
Thanks!
Hi Lara,
They usually get eaten in around 4 days in our house, so I’ve never really had to worry about storing them. However, if you scroll down the comments, you’ll see one from Sue Godfrey who let me know that the biscuits keep for about a month in an airtight container.
If you want to store them longer than this then I’d freeze them pre-baked. I’ve never frozen baked biscuits, but I expect you’d run the risk of them going soft.
Hope this helps.
I never make a biscuit before, am very happy to try this recipe which turn out very tasty my family really liked it. I can’t wait to make them again
Thank you Waziri! So pleased that you used my recipe to make your first biscuits and enjoyed them.
Many thanks for taking the time to get in touch. 🙂
Having attempted a number of digestive biscuit recipes (even from posh chefs!), which either resulted in a pile of mealy glue or something that was like rolling sand, at last I have found your recipe that works well without tinkering and is totally delicious. The little bit of sweetness is fab with our local Stilton cheese and what’s more I can use the lovely oatmeal from the mill where my husband volunteers. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Thank you, Gerry! I agree that you get good results from what’s really quite a simple recipe.
That’s lovely that you can use local oatmeal and Stilton. Funnily enough, I made a batch of these digestives yesterday and today have been to a deli to get one of OUR local blue cheeses to go with them: Dovedale Blue from the Staffordshire Cheese Company.
They are delicious especially with cheese. The only problem is having a sweet tooth I would prefer them a little sweeter.
Is it possible to add another 25g without upsetting the mix?
Hi Jeff,
Yes, as I say in the post, I wanted these biscuits to go with cheese which is why they are relatively low in sugar.
I haven’t tried making them with more sugar, but doubt another 25g would do any harm.
Please do let me know if you try it, as I’m sure other sweet-toothed folks would be interested!
I’ve made these a few times, recently changed the recipe to gluten free flour, coconut flour & added some addition mixed seeds to the recipe. Wow amazing!. As a diabetic I put very little sugar in them.
Thanks for the basis of the recipe
Many thanks for the lovely feedback Clive! So pleased that you enjoyed the recipe and I love the sound of your additions.
I’m sure it will be useful to others to know that the recipe works with gluten free flour too.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe.
I started making your digestive biscuits at the start of lockdown and haven’t looked back and the recipe is now in use in several of my friends kitchens. No more shop bought ones for me. Well done another batch is being mad3 as we speakxx
That’s great, Sue!
Thanks for taking the time to write such lovely feedback.
Tried this recipe a while ago and loved it. Now I’ve done two variations: the first with chopped walnuts, excellent with cheese; and the second with ground caraway seeds – delicious with or without cheese! Thanks for the inspiration.
Love the sound of your variations, Zena!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and share them.
Great taste and as the previous comment suggested – no more shop bought Digestive biscuits have always been my favourite. May I suggest some some variations.
If you prepare a finer texture then pop the porridge oats in a blender for a second. Additional tastes then put in 3 tablespoons of Ovaltine. I fancied the malt taste but malt powder is about £11 a kilo. So I tried Ovaltine.
And we always use rapidura sugar when ever sugar is required. When rolling out I have two strip of plywood 3mm thick. You get more biscuits and so it lasts longer. Lol Altogether a great taste.
Glad you liked the recipe Peter and many thanks for your tips!
Just made these today in order to make a cheesecake base, after tasting one, I will be making a lot more they are wonderful. I used all wholewheat SR flour, turned out great. Thank you.
Thank you, Sue! So glad you enjoyed the homemade digestive biscuits as much as I do. 🙂
Being a bloke, I can’t work out what ‘oatmeal’ is. Holland and Barrett don’t list it, some websites say it is porridge, others say it’s various kinds of oats themselves. I know this is ‘doh!’ But imagine you don’t know and try googling it! Should I mill some regular porridge oats into a kind of coarse flour? Help!!!!
Hi Tim,
The quick answer is YES you can just grind up your ordinary porridge oats to make oatmeal which, in the UK is just a type of oat flour! 🙂
The longer answer is: in the US, oatmeal is the term for porridge which can be made from different types of oats: in addition to what the UK calls ‘porridge oats’ (fine textured, slightly powdery oats), ‘jumbo’ or ‘rolled oats’ (bigger, flat oats), they also have steel cut oats which take longer to cook.
But here in the UK oatmeal means a flour that’s made from oats, sold as fine, medium or coarse.
I’ve occasionally seen the Mornflake brand of oatmeal in supermarkets and I see that the Grape Tree chain sells it, but I buy unbranded packs of oatmeal from a local whole food shop.
Hope this helps!
It does – thank you greatly. Now I understand. Time to get man-baking (just like baking but with a lot more mess…)
Good luck!
If you put oats in a blender or beat with electric mixers, you get a mix of broken oats and oat flour – coarse oat flour. Is that the same as medium oatmeal? In Sainsbury’s you can now get Mornflake medium oatmeal which looks like American’s answer to steel cut oats (maybe smaller) plus oat flour to bulk out. Is that medium oatmeal? I’m not being funny but oat flour in the Uk is sold as such (Doves farm) and oatmeal is an American word for porridge so what is UK oatmeal and why use such an ambiguous term? If you do reply this late, a photo of the offending item would be super helpful!
Thanks for your interest in my recipe. I don’t think the term oatmeal is ambiguous in the UK though: it’s just ground oats!
For an image of the different grades, see my more recent recipe for Savoury Digestives: https://moorlandseater.com/savoury-digestive-biscuits/
Scroll down to the section ‘Wholemeal and Oatmeal Goodness’ where I talk about the grades there, plus US oatmeal/porridge, and oat flour (Doves Farm is the one I’m referring to).
Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter whether you use a package that says ‘oatmeal’, ‘oat flour’, or you whizz up rolled oats: you will get the same end result in your digestive! You can also call the homemade version oatmeal or oat flour; it makes no difference.
Hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe if you try it.
Hi I decided to make these biscuits instead of the normal shop bought ones. I am now making a double batch while I have got the oven on when cooking a roast. The biscuits always come out lovely and keep in an airtight container for about a month. No more supermarket ones for me.
Thank you for the lovely feedback, Sue! I agree it’s certainly hard to go back to shop bought digestives after you’ve found homemade are so much nicer.
It’s great to know that they keep for about a month too. Not that they are likely to last that long in our house 😋
Many thanks for taking the time to comment & rate the recipe, Sue.
Recipe works really well. Even for a novice baker like myself. I may even try to bake something else now!
So pleased to hear that, Mark! Thank you for taking the time to rate the recipe and give feedback: hope you enjoy your baking journey!
These biscuits are my new favorites! With the chocolate coating, they are heavenly.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I even managed to make them almost look good by rolling the dough with an old bottle of rhum!
Thank you for the lovely feedback, Marguerite!
So glad you found my recipe as you seem to enjoy the homemade chocolate digetives as much as I do!
Followed the recipe whilst on lockdown,so straightforward and easy. Excellent result,it’s goodbye to McVities these are in a different league 😊
Thank you for the lovely comments, John!
I have to agree: shop bought digestives taste of nothing but sugar to me after I’d tried homemade.
Think this recipe is brilliant, it is SO easy & SO good, proper digestive biscuits & you know exactly what is in them. Discovered this about a month ago and have made them repeatedly since, they are equally delicious just as a biscuit or with cheese. Am looking forward to trying other recipes from this site, they all look so good! Thank you!
Thank you for your lovely feedback, Kim. Really pleased you like the digestive biscuit recipe ☺️. Do let me know if you try any other recipes!
I love these digestive biscuits. Easy to make and taste so yummy! Yes I am fed up with bought biscuits and cookies being full of cheap ghastly ingredients so homemade is best!
Thanks for the feedback Alison, so glad you enjoyed the digestive biscuits! Shop bought biscuits & cookies just aren’t the same once you start making your own, are they?
my digestive biscuit turns so hard,please solve for me
Sorry to hear that! It’s not a problem I’ve ever had with this recipe. Hard biscuits are usually a result of over-baking (under-baking makes them too soft). If you’ve followed the recipe and suggested timings, then the only thing I can think of is that your oven perhaps runs a little hot? Maybe reduce the temperature next time and keep a close eye on how they’re doing?
It’s usually because of over working the dough.
That’s a very good point, Alison. Thanks for your input!