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Hi Bold Bakers!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My recipe for Homemade Biscoff Cookies is one of the best! Biscoff cookies are a classic tea cookie known for their buttery texture and lovely spice. One of my favorite things to share is my recipes for things you folks think you can only buy at the store or pick up at a bakery.
- For those of you who may have never had them before, they are THE cookie behind Speculoos or cookie butter. Yeah, they’re those cookies and when homemade, they’re heaven.
- The other thing that makes my recipe for Homemade Biscoff Cookies so great is that I show you how to make them look just like the ones you get in a box. All you need is this cookie stamp and a prep time of only 20 minutes. After baking these Homemade Biscoff Cookie are so lovely and aromatic. I love these on their own, ground into crumbs and used in my No-Bake Cookie Butter Cheesecake or of course made into my Homemade Cookie Butter!
IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was updated and improved on 4/18/2024, to include a new step-by-step tutorial video, explanations of key ingredients, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and more Pro Chef Tips.
Table of Contents
- What are Homemade Biscof Cookies?
- Tools You Need
- Key Ingredients and Why
- How to Make Homemade Biscoff Cookies
- Can I Make Homemade Biscoff Cookies in Advance?
- How to Store Homemade Biscoff Cookies
- FAQs
- Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
- More Homemade Cookie Recipes for Your Favorite Store-Bought Brands
What are Homemade Biscof Cookies?
Biscoff cookies are a type of spiced shortbread biscuits originating from Belgium.
- They are thin, crunchy cookies with no eggs but with a caramelized, slightly sweet flavor, often infused with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- They’re often served with coffee or tea, and they’re also a common ingredient in various desserts and baked goods, such as No-Bake Cookie Butter Cheesecake.
- Biscoff cookies gained popularity internationally, especially after the spread made from them became widely known.
Tools You Need
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Glass measuring jug
- Stand mixer with whisk attachment
- Silicone spatula
- 2 Cookies sheets
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Cookie stamps and cookie cutter
Key Ingredients and Why
-
All-purpose flour
- All-purpose flour has a protein content of 9-11%, providing the cookies’ necessary gluten to form a tender, crispy crunch instead of chew.
-
Baking powder
- Baking powder in Biscoff cookies leavens the dough by releasing carbon dioxide gas bubbles during baking.
- The gas bubbles created by baking powder contribute to a softer, more tender texture in the finished cookies.
-
Baking soda
- Baking soda in Biscoff cookies acts as a leavening agent by reacting with acidic ingredients in the dough to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles during baking.
- These gas bubbles help the cookies rise, resulting in a lighter texture, while also contributing to their spread and browning during baking.
-
Ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground allspice, and ground cloves
- Ground spices add a warm, aromatic flavor to Biscoff cookies, enhancing their overall taste profile.
- These spices also contribute depth and complexity to the cookies, creating a rich and satisfying sensory experience with each bite.
-
Butter, at room temperature
- Softened butter in Biscoff cookies provides moisture and richness for a tender texture and buttery flavor.
- Its creamy consistency aids in even flavor distribution, ingredient binding, and structural integrity for uniform texture during baking.
- Softened butter promotes browning and caramelization, enhancing appearance and depth of flavor.
- I prefer salted butter for extra flavor but unsalted butter will also work.
-
Granulated sugar
- Granulated sugar provides the primary source of sweetness in these delicious cookies.
- When creamed with the softened butter, granulated sugar incorporates air into the dough, resulting in a light and fluffy texture.
- During baking, granulated sugar helps the cookies spread out and promotes browning, contributing to their appearance and texture.
-
Dark brown sugar
- Dark brown sugar in Biscoff cookies adds depth of flavor with its molasses content, enhances moisture retention for a softer texture, and contributes to a richer color during baking.
- You can make it at home using our recipe for Homemade Brown Sugar.
-
Vanilla extract
- Vanilla extract in Biscoff cookies enhances their flavor with a sweet aroma that complements the spices.
- Make your high-quality vanilla extract using our recipe for Homemade Extract.
How to Make Homemade Biscoff Cookies
-
Make the Biscoff cookie dough:
- Mix dry ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, mix together flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream butter and sugars: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Incorporate flour: Turn the mixer to low and gradually blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. The dough may feel dry and crumbly.
-
Chill the cookie dough:
- Bring the dough into a ball, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.
-
Prepare to bake:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C), fan assist.
- Then line 2 baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
-
Shape the cookie dough:
- On a lightly-floured surface, roll the dough out to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness.
- Cut out your cookies using a 2 x 3 inch (5 x 7 ½ cm) rectangle cookie cutter and carefully transfer to your prepared baking sheets.
-
Bake the Biscoff cookie dough:
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until golden and brown.
- Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Can I Make Homemade Biscoff Cookies in Advance?
Yes, you can make homemade Biscoff cookies in advance. If you have rolled out or shaped the Biscoff cookie dough, here’s how you can store and bake it:
- Refrigerator Storage:
- Place the rolled-out or shaped dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap or another sheet of parchment paper. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezer Storage:
- Place the rolled-out or shaped dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure the pieces of dough are not touching each other.
- Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap or another sheet of parchment paper and freeze the dough on the baking sheet until firm.
- Once firm, transfer the individual pieces of dough to a freezer-safe container or resealable plastic bag.
- Label the date and freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
- Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes to soften slightly before baking. Bake per the instructions in this recipe.
- Alternatively, freeze this cookie dough for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature for 1 hour before rolling out.
How to Store Homemade Biscoff Cookies
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
FAQs
What is the Flavor of a Biscoff Cookie?
Biscoff Cookies are like delicate shortbread cookies with a whole lot of spice and a deep caramel flavor. These cookies start with butter and flour, then with the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves, they are transformed into Homemade Biscoff Cookies. All of the above make them best friends with a cup of coffee.
Is Biscoff the same as Speculoos?
Yes and no, but yes! Speculoos is the cookie butter made from Biscoff cookies. So Biscoff cookies are the cookies, and when made into a sweet spread or Biscoff cookie butter, it then becomes Speculoos.
Can you use vegetable oil, olive oil, or coconut oil instead of butter to make Biscoff cookies?
I do not recommend substituting softened butte with oils in this recipe.
- Cookies made with oil would lack the rich, buttery taste.
- Butter is composed of approximately 80% fat, 15% water, and 5% milk solids. In comparison, oils are generally considered to be nearly 100% fat, with minimal to no water content. Fats coat the protein to inhibit gluten formation, so the results tend to be more crumbly.
- Oils can’t be creamed until fluffy to incorporate air like butter does, which would lead to a dense result.
Why do you still need a mixture of spices when you’re using allspice?
Allspice is NOT a mixture of different spices. It’s a SINGLE spice all of its own. A round small brown pea-sized thing that can be ground.
As a substitution for each teaspoon of allspice, you can use 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and a pinch of ground nutmeg.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
- Make sure your butter is softened correctly. Specifically, you’ll know it’s soft enough when you push the butter with your finger and it makes an indent, but it doesn’t easily squish right through.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can mix up this dough with a handheld electric mixer.
- Be sure that your butter is softened before you begin or the dough may mix up too crumbly and be difficult to roll out.
- Be sure to cream the butter and sugars well before you add the dry ingredients.
- I used a Biscoff cookie cutter that comes with the Biscoff stamp to cut these cookies but you can cut them into any shape that you wish. Make sure to roll the cookies out to 1/4 inch (6 mm) so that they bake up nice and crisp.
- Cut these into rounds and use them with my 2 Ingredient Vanilla Ice Cream to make the most delicious ice cream sandwiches.
- If you don’t have a convection setting on your oven, bake these at 350F/180C for 16-18 minutes, either 1 pan at a time or rotating the pans halfway through
More Homemade Cookie Recipes for Your Favorite Store-Bought Brands
- Homemade OREO Cookies Recipe
- Homemade Nilla Wafers Recipe
- Homemade Chips Ahoy! Cookies Recipe
- Homemade Graham Crackers
- Homemade Animal Crackers Recipe
And don’t forget to follow Bigger Bolder Baking on Pinterest!
IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe was updated and improved on 4/18/2024, to include a new step-by-step tutorial video, explanations of key ingredients, answers to the most frequently asked questions, and more Pro Chef Tips.
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
Homemade Biscoff Cookies Recipe
My Homemade Biscoff Cookies recipe is crunchy, buttery, aromatic, and just the right amount of sweet!
Servings: 26 cookies
My Homemade Biscoff Cookies recipe is crunchy, buttery, aromatic, and just the right amount of sweet!
Servings: 26 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (10 oz/282 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (8 oz/225 g) butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 oz/115 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (1 ½ oz/42 g) dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Turn the mixer to low and gradually blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. The dough may feel dry and crumbly.
- Bring the dough into a ball, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C), fan assist. Then line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness.
- Cut out your cookies using a 2 x 3 inch (5 x 7 ½ cm) fluted rectangle cookie cutter and carefully transfer to your prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until golden and brown. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure your butter is softened correctly. Specifically, you’ll know it’s soft enough when you push the butter with your finger and it makes an indent, but it doesn’t easily squish right through.
- If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix up this dough with a handheld electric mixer.
- Be sure that your butter is softened before you begin or the dough may mix up too crumbly and be difficult to roll out.
- Be sure to cream the butter and sugars well before you add the dry ingredients.
- I used a Biscoff cookie cutter that comes with the Biscoff stamp to cut these cookies but you can cut them into any shape that you wish. Make sure to roll the cookies out to 1/4 inch (6 mm) so that they bake up nice and crisp.
- Cut these into rounds and use them with my 2 Ingredient Vanilla Ice Cream to make the most delicious ice cream sandwiches.
- If you don’t have a convection setting on your oven, bake these at 350F/180C for 16-18 minutes, either 1 pan at a time or rotating the pans halfway through.
In the Netherlands, and in Belgium, where this cookie is from, the cookie is actually called speculoos! (The cookiebutter is called Speculoospasta). I think Biscoff is the brand name outside of these two countries. The thing that makes this more confusing, is that speculoos is also the Belgian name for the Dutch/Belgian speculaas cookies. The speculaas cookies are a lot more heavily spiced, and they are a traditional treat for Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas). The origin of the speculoos cookies lays in Belgium, where the spiced speculaas cookies were not commercially feasible in the beginning of the 20th century due to… Read more »
Why add allspice (a mixture of cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg) when you’re already adding those ingredients?
No, please do more research. Speculoos, Spekulaas, Spekulatius, all the same thing. They are a type of crispy spice cookie with honey added and are traditionally printed with an image of Holy Figures and Windmills. These are eaten around Christmas time in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Biscoff came much later….
Hi, Gemma. Can I use olive oil or vegetable oil to substitute butter in cookies and for this recipe? I ran out of butter. Thanks
Though these cookies are good, they unfortunately didn’t taste like biscoff cookies. Also, the preheat oven step should be moved to after the chilling dough step. They were difficult to roll out for me. The hour was too long; maybe my fridge is colder. Also no need to grease cookie sheet when using parchment paper.
Hi! I am confused. Grease and line two cookie sheets?
I usually line my cookie sheets with parchment but I don’t grease them first. Is that what you mean? Grease the cookie sheets then line them with parchment paper? If so, what’s the purpose of the grease?
Also, the type of cookie cutter doesn’t really matter does it? I searched and searched on Amazon and couldn’t find that one.
These are more like lightly spiced short bread cookies.
I wonder how much instant coffee would make them taste like Alaska Airlines serves? I think I will try a teaspoon in the first batch…
These cookies were so easy to make and taste amazing! I used a rice flour blend, have to be gluten free due to celiac’s. I had my fingers crossed they would work and they did! The cookies came out with a hint of nutty flavor from the flour I used but it’s actually quite nice with all the spices. They also are amazing dipped in a cup of coffee! I will definitely add this to my cookie rotation and look forward to making these again. <3
I have not made this yet but noticed that ALL of the “oz” measurements appear to be volume and not weight. Then this makes the metric measurements WAY off!
2 cups of flour is 240 grams
1/2 cup of sugar is 100 grams
1 cup of butter is 223 grams
1/4 cup of brown sugar is 50 grams