These chocolate-covered tea biscuits are just like homemade McVitie’s digestive biscuits, only better! The cookies are lightly sweetened, delicate, and flaky. They soak up tea or coffee perfectly, and they’re one of my absolute favorite cookies.
Digestive biscuits are an addicting sweet treat I discovered years ago thanks to my friend Emma. I’ll never forget the day she handed me a mug of hot black tea topped with a bit of milk and a plate full of McVitie’s chocolate digestives. I had never seen these British cookies before and the moment I dipped one into my tea I was hooked.
Digestives are an odd name for a biscuit, I know. Sounds more like medicine, right? We’ll just call them medicine for the soul.
The biscuits themselves aren’t overly sweet. They’re flaky and a bit dry. I enjoy them plain but the best way to enjoy them (IMO) is to dip them in tea as you might dip Oreo cookies into milk. They become soft and you need to eat them quickly before they get too soggy and dissolve.
Some biscuits come plain without any chocolate, but I think the chocolate makes them better.
How to Make Digestive Biscuits
I found a recipe for digestive biscuits in Nigella Lawson’s How To Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food. It’s a great recipe on it’s own but after a few experiments, I’ve made some changes. She uses two ingredients that most people probably don’t already have in their pantry: spelt flour and Demerara sugar.
I tried swapping the spelt flour for whole wheat and didn’t love the results. The spelt flour stayed. Then I tried swapping the Demerara sugar for light brown sugar. The results? Just as good. But if you have Demerara sugar in your pantry already, that can be used as well!
I also tested an all-butter version of this recipe that omitted the shortening completely. I don’t care for shortening and would always prefer to use real butter. Butter tastes better! The problem is that these cookies just don’t taste like digestive biscuits if you use all butter.
I recently found an organic shortening that uses coconut oil in place of the nasty hydrogenated fats. It worked great and there was no coconut aftertaste, which I had been worried about. You can use regular shortening; the recipe will work either way.
I also swapped the whole milk for cream and added milk chocolate on top. These cookies are total comfort food to me. They make tea time just a little bit more special.
What Are Digestive Biscuits?
Digestive biscuits, sometimes known as sweet-meal biscuits, are semi-sweet biscuits that were originally created in Scotland in 1839. They were originally intended to aid in digestion, hence the name. The term “digestive” was due to the belief that they had antacid properties from the use of sodium bicarbonate. Some producers also used diastatic malt extract to “digest” some of the starch that existed in flour prior to baking.
How Long Will These Keep?
These will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Where to buy
McVitie’s Digestive is the most popular biscuit in the UK. If you’d like to try them before experimenting with homemade digestive biscuits, I’ve seem them sold in the international grocery aisle of some national grocery stores, including Giant. They can also be found in gourmet and specialty food shops. You can also purchase them online.
More Cookie Recipes
Love homemade cookies? Be sure to also check out my recipes for Corn Cookies, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Shortbread Cookies, and Snickerdoodles!
Digestive Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 7 1/4 ounces spelt flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (Demerara sugar may be substituted)
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold and cut into cubes (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- all-purpose flour for rolling out the dough
- 1 cup milk chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place an oven rack on the center shelf and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the rolled oats, spelt flour, salt, baking powder and light brown sugar to a food processor and pulse several times until the rolled oats are chopped into smaller bits. Leave a little bit of texture in the oats to add flakiness to the cookies.
- Move the oat mixture to a large bowl and add the shortening. Using clean hands, rub the shortening into the oat mixture until it’s crumbly. When the shortening is almost completely incorporated, add the butter and do the same thing until everything is incorporated with a few bigger pieces here and there.
- Add the cream slowly, stirring the mixture with a spatula or wood spoon, until the biscuit dough comes together. Kneed it in the bowl a few times.
- Lightly flour a clean surface, then roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a small cookie cutter (I used a 2 1/2-inch cutter) and cut out the biscuits, placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Re-roll the dough until all of the biscuits are cut.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden with faintly browning edges. Allow to cool completely.
- When the cookies are cool, place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate in 15-30 second increments, stirring well each time, until the chocolate is shiny and melted (this can also be done over a double boiler).
- Use a pastry brush to generously brush the melted chocolate onto the cookies (you can also carefully dip them into the chocolate). Place the cookies in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
- Serve the biscuits with black tea for dipping. Store leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
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I adore digestives and these look awesome Jennifer! I bet you’d love hob nobs – my weakness!
Thanks! I tried hob nobs recently and wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was (they were also delicious)
As a Brit, I have to disagree :-) There is a world of difference between digestive biscuits and hobnobs! I’m not quite sure what that comes down to from an ingredient point of view :-), but they taste completely different to me!
Agree. I think hobbnobs are more “oatty”
So gorgeous, love that chocolate topping!
Oh yum! Digestives are one of the few baked goods that I love but have never really thought about trying to make myself. Now I think I have to!
These look great, Jennifer. Glad you decided to put chocolate on them….it certainly does make everything better!
never heard of this! looks amazing. The pictures are beautiful, especially the last one!
Valentina
Valentina Duracinsky Blog
ooooooh these digestives look SO tasty!! like graham crackers with chocolate on top, mmmmm
These look perfect. They have oats in them which means they’re breakfast appropriate right? :P
SO beautiful!!
Great snack idea. I think that some recipes should as easy as possible, just like this one. Little effort, great result!
They came out seriously looking just like the ones I buy from the grocery store. Soo crunchy and love the chocolate on top. Awesome!
I want to curl up by a fire with a cup of tea and a plate FULL of these biscuits!! Beautiful!
The biscuits are simply lovely, Jennifer. I’ve not heard of them before, and I applaud your desire to swap out the fat for a better one. Good to know about the organic shortening. Brava!
I love these cookies. It has been forever since I have indulged in a store bought version but these homemade ones, well, you are a genius. I am pinning and printing this recipe for a later date. I may have to sneak one …or two….or three. LOL Have a great day Jen.
Oh yes … I’ve dipped many a digestive biscuit, with or without chocolate, milk or dark, into my tea! Would love to have a go at my own, but I’m surprised that they contain shortening. I know they used to contain the dreaded hydrog fats (gone now, thankfully). Must give these a try!
Nigella’s version gave the option of shortening or lard. But I think lard is just too difficult to find for many people. I have about 6 grocery stores near me and I couldn’t find it.
Nice one Jen! I love that you tested and retested these. [Because you know, you have nothing better to do than see if it works with ww instead of spelt flour ;) Hope the cookbook is coming along well.] So glad to know about this recipe, and the shortening you found. I’ll have to check it out.