Homemade Custard Creams are a nostalgic teatime favourite – two buttery, melt-in-the-mouth biscuits sandwiched with a sweet buttercream. Made with custard powder for that recognisable flavour, they’re easier than you’d think and way better than shop-bought.
There are two treats that I remember my own Granny baking.
The first is, of course, her famous Coconut Ice. The second is Custard Creams. Even my Mum raves about this recipe as the best custard cream recipe she’s ever used.
High praise indeed!
Custard Cream Biscuits have long been regarded as the favourite biscuit of us Brits, but nothing really beats one fresh from the oven, sandwiched with easy homemade buttercream. It’s a firm family favourite in our house, with a batch lasting a little less than a few hours, because you can’t just have one!
There’s not much more that can be said about these classic little cookies because they really do speak for themselves.
So what are you waiting for? Whip up a batch of the best ever Custard Creams you’ll ever taste! You can thank me later.
Tips for Perfect Biscuits:
• Use Block Margarine or Butter: For the best texture, stick with block margarine or butter – spreads from a tub are too soft and can make your biscuits spread too much.
• Chill Before Baking: If your dough feels a bit soft, pop it in the fridge for 10–15 minutes before rolling. It’ll be easier to handle and help the biscuits hold their shape.
• Cool Before Filling: Make sure your biscuits are completely cool before adding the buttercream. Warm biscuits will melt the filling and make a mess.
• Pipe the Buttercream: For the neatest finish, use a piping bag with a nozzle to add the buttercream filling – but a spoon will do the job just fine too!
More Biscuits You'll Love:
Custard Creams
INGREDIENTS
For the Biscuits
- 170 g Butter or Block Margarine at room temperature
- 55 g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
- 170 g Self-raising Flour
- 55 g Custard Powder see below for substitutions
For the Filling
- 50 g Butter or Block Margarine at room temperature
- 100 g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°c (160°c for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 4 or 350°F) and grease a couple of baking sheets with a little butter.
- In a large bowl cream the butter/margarine & icing sugar until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the flour & custard powder a little at a time until the mixture forms a paste (ie. a soft dough)
- Divide into small balls - about a teaspoon-tablespoon per biscuit - and place onto your pre-greased baking sheets with a bit of space between. Flatten each ball lightly with a fork.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until the appear dry on top.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack. Mix the butter & icing sugar to form the butter cream and once the biscuits are completely cool, pipe or spread a little butter cream onto half the biscuits and sandwich together with the other halves.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
- See my Tips for Biscuit Success above for more tips for the perfect Custard Cream biscuits.
- Custard Cream cookies are best enjoyed the day they are baked, but they can be stored in an airtight container for a few days. The texture may change over a few days - this is normal for home-baked biscuits.
- If you want to freeze your Custard Creams, I recommend freezing the dough before baking. You can freeze the entire dough or divide it into batches. Remove the dough from the freezer and defrost it at room temperature before baking. Then bake and finish with buttercream as normal.
- See the Free-from & Vegan box below for tips on how to make your Custard Creams vegan or free-from.
Frequently Asked Questions for Custard Creams:
What are custard creams?
Shop bought custard creams always come in the iconic rectangular shape, with the words “custard cream” pressed onto them, surrounded by a squiggly design. You can buy cookie cutters that allow you to replicate this, but I like the good old fashioned fork-press finish… just like my Granny used to make!
How do you make custard creams?
Can you use plain flour?
So, in this recipe you would use 2 tsp of baking powder, alongside the plain flour, in place of self-raising flour.
Help! I can't get custard powder.
A good substitution is actually some Vanilla Jello Powder!
Alternatively, you can just use some corn flour (corn starch), and add a little vanilla extract for the custard-like flavour. And for the full custard-powder-effect, you could even add a smidgen of yellow food colouring - although that's purely optonal!
Free-from & Vegan:
Dairy-free: To make these dairy-free Custard Creams, simply use a dairy-free margarine for the biscuits and the buttercream. Custard powder doesn’t usually contain any dairy, but be sure to double-check your ingredients when serving to those with allergies or intolerances, or when using any substitutions.
Nut-free: There are no nuts used in this custard cream recipe, but as always, be sure to double-check your individual ingredients allergens list.
Vegan: As there is no egg in this Custard Creams recipe, so simply follow the dairy-free tips above to make this a vegan Custard Creams recipe.
N.B. Any advice or suggestions to make recipes “free-from” or vegan are purely that – suggestions. Please be careful to double check all ingredients individually, taking extra caution when serving to those with allergies & intolerances.
Originally published in January 2018. Updated in May 2025.
Thank you to Naomi Seiler for creating the updated photos.
52 responses
Lovely biscuits. Will make mine a bit smaller next time as only had 10 biscuits – or maybe I will just make double quantity!
How many is it supposed to make?
I get 17 from mine. The balls need to be small…. Smaller than you think is small.
I get 28 biscuits (56 halves) 8g of dough per half
Fantastic recipe. I have now made these a couple of times for family and they love them!
Cooked these in the work bake off and everyone was asking me for the recepie. So nice :)
My granddaughter is dairy intolerant so wasn’t sure if the recipe would work with dairy free butter. It most certainly does and she absolutely loved them as did the rest of us! Will definitely be making these again for her
Is “dairy free butter” the same as lactose free butter?
No. Lactose free and dairy free are different. Lactose free still contains milk proteins, lactose is the sugar in milk. For my dairy free daughter I use Flora to make these. Hope this helps x
What might ‘custard powder’ be here in the states please?
You can buy it on Amazon or in one of those British product stores
I cooked these for 12 minutes. Perfect but very delicate this they broke, how can i make them structurally more sturdy.
Hi.leave them to cool slightly before transfering them from backing tray to rack
You can make these into peppermint custard creams by using half bournville cocoa powder with the custard powder and peppermint flavouring. Then flavour buttercream with peppermint and green colouring.
I made these last week when I saw your recipe just delicious, could you add vanilla th the filling for a different taste
Can I substitute self raising gluten free flour for regular flour? Would I need to adjust recipe quantities?
Yes, I made these with gluten free flour and they worked fine, just a little more crumbly, I followed the same quantities as with regular flour.
Add 1/4 tsp xantham gum to GF flour and they work perfectly
Thank you for this info, Cathy. I try always to make a second version for a friend who just cannot tolerate gluten at all. She deserves the extra effort!
I always make gluten free for my own daughter, the effort is really worth it, just so she can have a treat as well
Amazing recipe! First attempt at custard creams and it went brilliant.
More generally, it’s wonderful not having to wade through dozens of paragraphs of a life story every time I want a good recipe – your little openers are perfect!
Very good recipe. Delicious. Thank you.
This is a smashing recipe. The biscuits go down great every time. Well done Amy and thanks for sharing in such an easy to follow way. I wish my nana had made these.
Be mindful that they start to singe really quickly so don’t take your eye off them. 170 degrees and bang on 12 minutes in our fan oven. Definitely leave them twenty minutes or so before transferring to the rack because they crumble otherwise.
I know others have said that the buttercream makes plenty so it must just be us who make double the amount….
Finally, we like to add a good blob of quality strawberry jam to the middle of ours. It goes lovely with the filling and gives us a sort of Viennese Whirl.
Fabulous.
.
Nom nom nom
Easy recipe and turned out just like picture. Family all said they were more like Viennese whirls and nothing like custard creams. Will try again, next time I will put a drop of jam with the butter icing.
Could these be made a day in advance for an afternoon tea That’s if no one eats them all first!
Yes. What I’ve done in past is make the biscuits and then do buttercream The morning i need it (also stops temptation to pinch one)
These look lovely – can you tell me roughly how many biscuits the recipe makes please?
I used a teaspoon per biscuit and it made 22 halves…so 11 biscuits.
I get 17!
Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe. Though have to agree the melt in your mouth cookies are more like viennese swirls than custard creams. Will be making these again no doubt.
This recipe is easy to follow and great end result. Everyone in my household love them. Will definitely be making these again
How easy are these to make. Just love them.
Love this recipe, I’ve made it quite a few times now, my husband seems to like them,they don’t last long, they turn out perfect everytime. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I will use it over and over.
Looked for a really good recipe for these biscuits and tgey truly were delicious!
As others recommended leaving in for 12 minutes and let them cool before transferring to the rack. Made some of the fillings lemon butter cream and some vanilla as added a little flavouring
Perfect
I’m going to try them using dairy free and gluten free for my grandson
So fingers crossed they turn out just as good as the original recipe !!!
Absolutely delicious. Everyone comes back for a second biscuit and so many people have asked for the recipe
Made these a few times now , some a bit crumbly & some too hard, so I’ve found that 16 mins @ 180 & leave on wrack for at least 20 mins & they are perfect, also I roll mine into 15g balls so their all the same size. It’s my perfect ‘go to’ recipie so thank you for making it so easy to follow.
I am planning on making these today. Would mixing the flour with the custard powder before adding it be alright.?
Thank you.
Lovely easy recipe. Real melt in the mouth biscuits. I’ve made them a few times now and they’re a big hit with everybody who tried them. Thanks
I had some leftover creme patissiere, so it would have been rude not to thickly spread it on top of these. They were *incredible*.
I found 13 minutes at 165° in my fan oven was perfect. I left them to cool on the tray for 20 minutes, while I was making a batch of doughnut dough for the next day, before transferring to the wire rack and they firmed up nicely.
10/10 would make again… probably tomorrow, knowing my lot!
Do they freeze please?
Is it the icing sugar which causes them to be hard and crisp like shop bought biscuits? Unlike homemade cookie recipes which use brown and white sugar which tend to be soft and chewy?
I’ve made these for a church lunch a couple of times and they always disappear fast! (In Canada, it’s peanut butter cookies that are marked with a fork, so that people know what they are.) I’m sure this is the same recipe I got from an elderly lady (no longer with us) and she called them, “my custardy biscuities”.
Great recipe!
Love it. I’m gonna save it.
Tried these they were beautiful but very crumbly, any tips for them being a bit firmer
Can I freeze them please
Love this recipe! Had them in a lovely café in Braemar last year and wanted to make them myself when coming back to Sweden. Sometimes I add some peated single malt in the butter cream ;)
I usually keep them in a tin in the fridge and they stay good for a very long time (if htey last that is….)
Read the reviews and thought this would be a safe bet. Followed the recipe very strictly and had some good looking biscuits at the end. My mum loved them and said they tasted like luxury Viennese whirls rather than custard creams (a good thing). But I found them so extremely sweet and sickly to be enjoyable. I ate one but I definitely don’t want any more. Perhaps worth bearing in mind if you don’t like very sweet biscuits/cakes, however I can see that I am in the minority judging by the other feedback!
Ok so I’m revising my review. For some reason the next day they tasted really nice so I think it was me that was the problem, not the recipe!
Can someone convert these ingredients for an expat living in Canada. I don’t know how to work in grams. Many thanks, can’t wait to try the recipe.
this was also my mum’s recipe that we had growing up – so melt in the mouth! – teh only thing we did differently was to dip the top of each custard cream into some dark chocolate – divine!
First time making these yesterday, have to say how delicious they are
Just wondering how long they keep after making them please