These Digestive biscuits are made with whole wheat flour and oats and sweetened with jaggery. They are crisp, crunchy, and crumbly with an earthy sweetness and nutty taste. You should try making these biscuits at home because it is so easy, and tastes much better than the store-bought ones!
Digestive Biscuits are mildly sweet, crunchy and crumbly biscuits, that originated in Scotland. These are one of the most popular biscuits in the UK. They are similar to Graham crackers sold in the US. Here is a simple recipe to make your own digestive biscuits at home.
Table of Contents
Who invented these biscuits?
But before getting to that, aren’t you intrigued why the name digestive in the first place? I love to know the history of how a certain food originated. And if you hadn’t thought about that by now, I’m sure I definitely got you thinking.
The digestive was first developed in 1839 by two Scottish doctors to aid digestion at a place called Logie Steading in Forres. The term “digestive” is derived from the belief that they had antacid properties due to the use of sodium bicarbonate when they were first developed. Historically, some producers used diastatic malt extract to “digest” some of the starch that existed in flour prior to baking. {Wiki}
Digestive biscuits are popular in India too. My favorite way to enjoy it is by dunking it in some chai. They soften up and just melt in your mouth. They aren’t easy to spot here in the US, but you will find them in certain ethnic, Indian stores and easily in World Market.
I came across this recipe by Kruthi Bipin on one of my Facebook baking groups. I had saved this recipe then and I’m glad I finally tried them out. The only change that I made to the recipe was swapping brown sugar for jaggery.
Ingredients needed
To make these digestives at home, you will need,
- Whole wheat flour (atta) and powdered oats
- Unsalted butter
- Milk
- Jaggery
- Baking soda
Jaggery is unrefined sugar, rich in molasses and minerals. Though it has the same calories as refined sugar, it is much better than sugar. If you’d like to know more about jaggery, you can read this article.
This is not the classic English tea biscuit recipe, but a rather healthier take on English digestive biscuits. And I’m sure you will love it after trying these out too.
The final outcome was a crisp, crunchy, and crumbly biscuit with a nice, earthy sweetness and nutty taste. These are almost guilt-free! Yes, I know there’s butter in there, but if you divide 4 tablespoons butter amongst 15-16 biscuits, I think it can be overlooked 😀 The technique is similar to the bourbon biscuits, except that there’s no cocoa powder here, and we swap the refined flour for wheat flour and powdered oats.
How do you make digestive biscuits?
These cookies come together in 4 easy steps;
- Prepare the dough
- Chill the dough for 15 minutes
- Roll out the dough and cut-out using a desired-shaped cookie cutter
- Bake
Handy tips to keep in mind while making these cookies
Use room temperature ingredients, so that you don’t end up overworking the dough
Avoid overmixing the dough. Overmixing activates the gluten, making the resultant cookies less crumbly.
To make it workable, chill the dough for some time.
It is easier to roll out the dough between 2 parchment papers, cut into desired shapes. I stuck with the classic shape. But it would be fun trying out other shapes, to make it even more appealing to the little ones, which is what I will do next.
I rarely get excited about baking with whole wheat, except for its use in a few of my favorites- date and walnut cake, banana bread, and carrot cake at times. But these digestive biscuits turned out to be very impressive. I’m definitely going to be making more of these, and in different shapes to keep it interesting, or cover them partly in dark chocolate perhaps!
I had fun making these biscuits as I involved my son, Ethan, into helping me. He was eager to even roll out the dough.. 😀 He couldn’t manage that though he helped me with the cutouts 🙂 And we did end up gobbling a few as soon as the baked biscuits were cool enough to eat.
Livestrong states these following benefits of digestive biscuits-
WHOLE GRAINS
Whole wheat flour is used at large in most brands of digestive biscuits and incorporating whole grains into your diet helps you manage weight and lowers your risk of heart diseases and other diseases such as diabetes.
FIBER
Although digestive biscuits are not a significant source of fiber, they may be able to push you toward meeting your needs. You need 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat or about 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Meeting your daily fiber needs not only alleviates constipation but may also reduce your risk of chronic illness. Also, fiber aids in appetite control and is beneficial to those trying to lose or maintain a healthy weight.
NOT MUCH SODIUM
As per the food labeling guidelines, a food is designated as low sodium if it contains about 140 milligrams of sodium. A serving of two digestive biscuits contains 160 milligrams of sodium which is not very far off from the limit.
High intakes of sodium is linked to high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
A healthy diet should limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams a day, or if you’re over the age of 50, have high blood pressure or are of African descent, limited to 1,500 milligrams a day. Including lower-sodium foods like the digestive biscuits may help you stay within the daily sodium recommendations.
I hope you guys will love this classic British biscuit as much as the bourbons and will give this a try too. And if you do, do let me know how it goes 🙂 I’d be happy to hear!
How to make digestive biscuits at home – Step by step instructions
Step 1: Prepare the dough
Measure out 3/4 cups of rolled outs and grind to a powder.
In a mixing bowl, sift 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Add powdered oats (about 80 grams), 1/2 cup jaggery powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Whisk well to incorporate everything well.
Add 4 tablespoons of butter, work the butter into the flour with your fingertips to resemble breadcrumbs.
Add milk, a tablespoon at a time and knead until you have a dough. You may need more or less milk, so add it gradually. Do not overwork the dough. Just knead until the dough comes together. I added a total of 3 tablespoons of milk.
Step 2: Chill the dough
Flatten the dough into a disc and transfer it to a cling wrap. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
Step 3: Roll and cut-out
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Transfer the disc to your work surface. Place it between two parchment papers and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. If it crumbles, accumulate it and roll out. The use of parchment paper will help you roll it out nicely.
Use a cutter to cut into desired shapes.
Transfer to a baking tray lined with Silpat/parchment paper. Gather the scraps, form a disc, and repeat the same procedure of rolling out and cutting it out until all the dough is used up.
Use a skewer/fork to poke holes all over the cookies.
Step 4: Bake
Bake for 15 minutes, until the cookies are a light golden in color. Check after 10 minutes of baking, as the time taken to bake will depend upon the thickness of the cookies, if they are thinner, they will be done around 10 -12 minutes. I baked in two batches, kept the other batch in the refrigerator while the first was baking.
Remove the tray from the oven. Let it cool for a minute on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack, and let it cool completely. They will become crisp and crunchy on cooling, transfer to an airtight container.
Notes
- The whole wheat flour used here is atta, the flour that is used in making traditional Indian flatbreads like chapati, roti, etc. This is finer as compared to the American whole wheat flour which is a bit coarser. American wheat flour will work in the recipe equally well, simply adjust the quantity of milk to knead the dough.
- These biscuits are mildly sweet, just right for the sweetness in a digestive biscuit. You can reduce it to 1/4 cup for lesser sweetness or increase it to 3/4 cup for more sweetness.
- Storage: These have a good shelf life, it will easily last 2-3 weeks in an airtight container or jar.
★ If you try these digestive biscuits, I would love to hear from you! I’d appreciate it if you could rate and leave a review below in the comments. Your reviews help others know the recipe better too. Thanks so much 🙂
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Digestive Biscuits | Whole Wheat & Oats Digestive Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour* 100 grams
- 3/4 cup rolled oats, measure and grind to a powder, 80 grams
- 4 tablespoons softened unsalted butter 56 grams
- 1/2 cup tightly packed cane jaggery powder or light brown sugar, 75 grams
- 3 tablespoons cold milk, adjust as required
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, skip if using salted butter
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, sift the whole wheat flour and baking soda. Add powdered oats, jaggery powder, and salt. Whisk well to incorporate everything well.
- Add butter, work the butter into the flour with your fingertips to resemble breadcrumbs.
- Add milk, a tablespoon at a time and knead until you have a dough. You may need more or less of milk, so add it gradually. Do not overwork the dough. Just knead until the dough comes together.
- Flatten the dough into a disc and transfer it to a cling wrap. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Transfer the disc to your work surface. Place it between two parchment papers and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. If it crumbles, accumulate it and roll out. Use of parchment paper will help you roll it out nicely.
- Use a cutter to cut into desired shapes.
- Transfer to a baking tray lined with Silpat/parchment paper. Gather the scraps, form a disc, and repeat the same procedure of rolling out and cutting it out until all the dough is used up.
- Use a skewer/fork to poke holes all over the cookies.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until the cookies are a light golden in color. Check after 10 minutes of baking, as the time taken to bake will depend upon the thickness of the cookies, if they are thinner, they will be done around 10 -12 minutes. I baked in two batches, kept the other batch in the refrigerator while the first was baking.
- Remove the tray from the oven. Let it cool for a minute on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack, and let it cool completely. They will become crisp and crunchy on cooling, transfer to an airtight container.
Notes
- The whole wheat flour used here is atta, the flour that is used in making traditional Indian flatbreads like chapati, roti, etc. This is finer as compared to the American whole wheat flour which is a bit coarser. American wheat flour will work in the recipe equally well, simply adjust the quantity of milk to knead the dough.
- These biscuits are mildly sweet, just right for the sweetness in a digestive biscuit. You can reduce it to 1/4 cup for lesser sweetness or increase it to 3/4 cup for more sweetness.
- Storage: These have a good shelf life, it will easily last 2-3 weeks in an airtight container or jar.
- Measuring cup used, 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml
Tried this recipe today and found the biscuits to oaty, too sweet and not salty enough, also not short enough to be like digestives. I followed the recipe to the letter but you never know. It could be because I ground the oats and grains in my stone flour mill. At a guess I’d say 1/3rd less sugar, more flour and half the amount of oats (if any at all, in fact) would probably come out about right. I’ll have another go once these are gone. Won’t take long. ;o)
Hi Colin! I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out the way you expected them to. Since these are oat and wheat cookies, so you’d need some amount of oats in the recipe. But please skip it or cut back on the qty if you didn’t like the flavor of the oats in these cookies and make it with 100% wheat flour.
Also, the wheat flour that I’ve used is ‘atta’ the one that is used to make chapati or roti. It’s store bought and fine like refined flour.
Did you use white or brown sugar? I’ve used jaggery which has a different flavor profile. You can cut back on the sugar to 1/4 cup as suggested in the notes.
These cookies are an adaptation of Indian digestive biscuits which are not really salty. So feel free to increase the salt as per your palate.
My digestive biscuits turned hard..it’s not like showed in pictures.n I had to add more milk as dough was not binding
Hi Mugdha! Not sure what went wrong.If you measure out everything correctly, you may not need more than a couple of tablespoons of milk as that can vary due to factors like quality of the flour, humidity etc. You only need the dough to clump together and not knead it. I’m guessing you kneaded the dough too long due to which it could have also made the biscuits hard as over kneading cookie dough or over beating cake batter always results in tough, dense cookie or cake.
Hi these looks delicious…. wanted to check Is the butter in room temperature or cold and can I use steel cut oats instead of rolled oats ? Pls let me k ow ASAP as am planning to make today . Thanks
Hi Preeti, butter is softened, keep it out of the fridge for about 30 minutes, then rub it in the dry mix. I’m not sure how the texture of the cookies would turn out with steel cut oats as rolled oats are quite soft. You can try though, I think it should be okay. It would be great if you could try the recipe as is, and make changes in the future to customize it so you have something for reference.
Ok sure Thank you so much for ur response.
Hi
Thanks for the recipe. I tried it yesterday and biscuits came out nice. I added some fennel seeds as well. I have to mention, measurements seem a bit off as 80gms of ground oats are way more than 3/4 cup. I had to adjust butter and milk accordingly as butter and milk mentioned in recipe did not bring everything together. To make a dough I had to add more butter and more milk.
I’m sorry that you had issues, Kisna! I want to clarify that it is not 80 grams of ground oats, I’ve clearly mentioned, 3/4 cup of rolled oats, measure, and grind to a powder. 3/4 cup of rolled oats = 80 grams as per my measuring cup. I re-checked it right away after reading your message, by weighing and powdering it again. I use a 250 ml dry measuring cup. After powdering it, in fact, it is about 3/4 cup. I understand a lot of people use different cup measures, ranging from 235 to 250 ml, which is why I also list down metric weights when it comes to baking. So if you used a weighing scale, you would be weighing 80 grams of rolled oats and not powdered.
Secondly, I’ve mentioned in the recipe, you may need to add more tablespoons of milk to bring the dough together. For me, 3 tablespoons of milk were enough. Because you had extra oats flour in the dry ingredients, you would definitely need a few tablespoons more of milk, and the dough would come together.
Hello Freda,
I had bookmarked this recipe probably when it eas first published. Could only try it last Sunday. It turned out just awesome. We all loved it. My husband suggested to add raisins which I will be trying soon. Thanks for sharing this wonderful healthy recipe.
Regards,
Mahima
Hi Mahima! I’m so happy that you finally got a chance to try it. Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, appreciate it 😊
Hi Mayanka! May be next time, powder the jaggery in the blender to break down those crystals and then use it in the recipe.
Hi,
So I tried this recipe and used jaggery, the jaggery was fine and had tiny crystals and on baking those crystals melted so the biscuits had these pockets of melted golden jaggery.
What can be done to avoid this ?
Thanks,
Mayanka
Thank you so much for the simple, yet delicious recipe! My family loved it and rest assured my afternoon tea has found the perfect companion in your biscuits. Will make again and again for sure.
Hi Saptarshi! So glad to hear that, thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂
Just made these this evening to have a healthy alternative to my usual Parle G’s or Good Day’s that I like to dunk in my morning chai or coffee…these are superb! Great recipe for jazzing up with some unique ingredients, too! I’ll have to see how I can experiment next time, maybe adding some cumin for a little savory, or ginger for spicy sweet!
Hi! Thanks for sharing your feedback, so glad to know you enjoyed these 🙂 Yes sure, the possibilities are endless, have fun experimenting with different flavors 🙂
Thanks a lot for the wonderful recipe. The biscuits tasted very nice indeed!
After making the first batch I decided to jazz the taste a bit. I did so by adding dried orange peel powder to the dough. The biscuits are now full of the aroma of oranges.
Regards, Brototi
May I ask what brand of jaggery Tom purchase for this? I’ve not used it before, but will order from Amazon go you can provide recommendation as to what to buy. Thank you.
Hi Susan! I use this brand, https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3CD2NR/ref=mp_s_a_1_7_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1543973800&sr=8-7&keywords=jaggery+powder&dpPl=1&dpID=51PddJd6eqL&ref=plSrch , you can also use coconut sugar that’s easily available in most stores if you are in the US.
I loved this recipe. I always wanted to bake something that is healthy and indulge in guilt free binging. This recipe caught my eye and I must thank Freda for this. It was super easy and quick. Looking forward to see more such healthier recipes from you. Thank you.
Thanks for your feedback, Anu! I’m glad you loved it 🙂
Whoa! You made digestive biscuits at home from scratch, Freeda! You are a superstar, my friend 😊 And they are so PERFECT!
I’m addicted to digestive biscuits but always feel guilty picking up the second one, not knowing what really goes into them. Now I can enjoy them guilt free.
First of all beautiful pictures. I am so glad your recipes have such elaborate recioes with step by step pics. I am bookmarking this recipe as I was looking for something like this to bake!!
Digestive biscuits are one of the favourite biscuits in my home, as so easily available here never thought baking at home, but after looking at yours my hands are itching to put the oven on 🙂
Thank you for the history of digestive biscuits. I was always curious but never searched!
Jaggery is the hero of this recipe. I am in love with these biscuits
Freda, loved reading about why these biscuits are called digestive biscuits. Still very popular in UK, I know my family can’t think of having a cup of tea at 4 without some digestive biscuits. Yours look so perfect like the ready made ones but without all the additives.
Ahhaaa !!! love these healthy digestive biscuits. So perfectly baked and a wholesome share indeed Freda 🙂
Thanks a lot, Sasmita 🙂
Firstly, loved Ethan as the new hand model for the blog and hope he continues to do so. Freda, beautiful images, clever use of jaggery instead of sugar and such delicious looking biscuits. Homemade is best and I am sure it was loved by little Ethan and all at home. I am bookmarking this to try later for sure. I love whole wheat bakes, even though they don’t provide the same texture as APF, the result is a much healthier bake ideal for everyday consumption. Thanks to FB friends, so much to learn and share! Cheers.
Thanks so much, Vidya 🙂 Yes I agree for day to day consumption, whole wheat is definitely a smarter choice. I do love to indulge in apf bakes once in a way 🙂 I still need to start baking bread with whole wheat, atta has always been a let down when it comes to baking breads 🙁
I love digestive cookies. My morning will start with cup of herbal tea and this cookie. Looks so crunchy and delicious.
Thanks, Uma 🙂
This is one perfect bake Freda…the biscuits looks so crispy and crunchy… awesome combo with a cup of tea
So true, I enjoyed these with my morning coffee 🙂 Thanks, Lathiya!
Finally I can comment. DEv pawlo!
Amazing pictures and love the wheat grains in the picture. Just where did you get it?
The biscuits are absolutely neat. Love that as for the recipe will maskafy younger one to help me bake them she is the cookie/biscuit baker in my place.
The whole wheat digestive biscuits sound so healthy and wholesome and the pics are simply stunning !!
Digestive is one of my favorite biscuits but off it at the moment. Wondering why can’t I try them at home! They look amazing, so good that you can’t make out that it’s home made!
Hi the biscuits looks amazing..can we use oil instead of butter
Thanks! I’ve never tried making any sort of biscuit with oil, so I’m not really sure. I guess it should work ok for this recipe, but I can’t be certain.
These biscuits looks perfectly crisp and baked. I am big fan of these and now want to try them soon
WHat a prefectionist you are, those digestive biscuits looks more prefect than the store bought ones. Nothing can beat the homemade biscuits na.. Would love to munch some.
Thi sure recipe of digestive biscuits sounds so healthy and yummy I am sure it will taste better than the store bought ones, bookmarking it to try soon.
The prettiest of the digestive biscuits I have seen in a long time. I absolutely love the stunning visuals.
What a healthy share Freda. Loved it. You always amazed me with your wonderful bakes. Bookmarking it 😊
Wow.. these look really perfect ..just like the store bought ones.
Wow they looks perfect and crunchy. You are awesome dear..Bookmarked 😍
Thanks a lot, Jolly 🙂
Hi, I’ve fallen in love with the recipe. I’m gonna try it today. I don’t mean to be rude, just a suggestion “you forgot to mention about adding the jaggery powder in the dough making process”.
Thanks, Prameela. Oops, thanks so much for pointing it out, will add it 🙂
You are most welcome😀