Custard Creams
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.
Top Tips for Custard Cream 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!
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More Biscuits You’ll Love:
• Scottish Shortbread
• Classic Chocolate Digestives
• (My Favourite) Walnut Biscuits
• Empire Biscuits
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.
Custard Creams are one of the most popular biscuits (cookies) here in the UK. They are delicious shortbread-esque biscuits, with a light custard flavour, sandwiched together with a sweet buttercream.
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!
Custard creams are super easy to make. You start by mixing your butter and icing sugar in a bowl, before adding your flour and custard powder to make a thick paste (ie. soft dough). You then shape that into balls before pressing with a fork and baking.
Once baked and completely cool, you mix up a buttercream with butter and icing sugar. Finally, you sandwich your biscuits together with a nice spreading of the buttercream, before enjoying with a cup of tea!
Yes! You can absolutely use plain flour in place of self-raising flour in custard creams, but you will need to add the raising agents that you would usually find in self-raising flour.
The general rule of thumb is to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 150g of plain flour.
So, in this recipe, you would use 2 tsp of baking powder, alongside the plain flour, in place of self-raising flour.
Birds Custard Powder is a staple in UK homes, but I know it isn’t available everywhere.
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 optional!
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.
For more info on common food allergies, please see food.gov.uk | For more info on coeliac disease, please see coeliac.org.uk | For more info on a vegan diet, please see vegansociety.com
Originally published in January 2018. Updated in May 2025.
Thank you to Naomi Seiler for creating the updated photos.
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.
Under the ingredients list is a “cups US” option which gives US ingredient amounts.
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!
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….)
Can I freeze them please
Tried these they were beautiful but very crumbly, any tips for them being a bit firmer