Homemade Custard Creams Recipe: these British classics are even better when they're homemade. Recipe uses North American measurements.
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Homemade custard creams are the perfect vanilla sandwich cookies. If you're not familiar with the English classic biscuit or cookie as we would say, than you're missing out. I spent a year in England, long ago, and I became a huge fan of the humble, store bought custard cream along side my cups of tea. And this homemade custard creams recipe is the perfect way to make your own.
Perhaps it's because of the weather in England, or maybe not just the weather but the lack of central heating. It tends a be a little damp and cold, even in the house. And when you're feeling a little cold and damp there's nothing better than a hot cup of tea. And my personal experience is that you are very, very rarely offered a cup of tea without also being offered a biscuit to go with your tea. If you're having a cup of tea in England you're likely to offered Penguin bars, jammie dodgers, or a custard cream to go with it. In North America we have lots of cookies, but we don't have these little biscuits to go with a cookie in quite the same way as the Brits do. If you are a vanilla fan, you'll love the custard creams. They were my favourite biscuit.
It is believed the custard cream originated in England around 1908 during the Victorian period. The store bought version of the cookie is stamped with an elaborate pattern of ferns and swirls in keeping with the Victorian obsession with ferns. It's a British favourite to this day, and often considered the number one biscuit for dunking in tea.
North American Measurements
Custard creams can be a little tricky to locate at grocery stores outside of the UK. And when you're searching for a homemade custard creams recipe they are usually in British measurements. I've adjusted the custard creams biscuits recipe for North American bakers using cups instead of weights for measurement. This should make it much easier for the North American baker to make these at home without having to get a British scale out to weight everything.
Bird's Custard Powder
Custard creams are a sandwich biscuit or cookie. They are vanilla, but also have the distinct color and flavor of custard. They're made with Bird's custard powder. Two cookies are sandwich around a creamy custard buttercream filling. You should be able to locate Birds custard powder at most grocery stores, but if you're having trouble finding it look on-line or at your local British shop. The Bird's custard powder is a kind of like a vanilla pudding mix, but I would not try substituting it. The cookies themselves are a kind of shortbread biscuit with a golden brown colour and a crumbly texture. They really are the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of tea.
Homemade vs. Store Bought
As with most things in life, the homemade version is way better than the store bought ones, and worth the extra effort. Yes, you could pick these up at store, and even if you live outside of England, you could find store bought custard creams on line or at a British food shop. But the homemade version are so good. These wonderful biscuits are so tender and flaky and crumbly mouth texture and with the sweet, soft middle. They're sweet but not too sweet. They really are the perfect thing to go with a cup of tea. The Brits know their tea and they know their perfect biscuits to go with a cup of tea.
Heart Shaped
We've made our custard creams heart shaped for Valentine's day. We used a simple heart for ours, and then made a dot pattern around the outside using a cocktail stick.
You can also buy the classic custard cream biscuit cutters with the classic custard cream pattern on them to make your homemade version look even more official.
Store your custard creams in an airtight container or biscuit tin.
Recipe
Homemade Custard Creams
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons Bird's custard powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cold butter
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
For the Custard Cream Filling
- 1 tablespoon Bird's custard powder
- ½ cup icing sugar
- ¼ cup soft butter
- 1 teaspoon boiling water
Instructions
- To make the biscuit dough, put the flour, custard powder, and baking powder into the bowl of a stand mixer and combine with a paddle attachment. Next, add 3 tablespoons butter, and vegetable shortening and combine until the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the sugar and mix again. Next, beat the egg and milk together, and add to the stand mixture and combine until it forms a dough ball. Be careful not to over mix. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and let rest in the fridge for 20 min.
- Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 4 mm. Cut out with a small heart cookie cutter. Use a toothpick to prick the outside edge of the heart to create the small hole pattern for half of the biscuits, to use as the tops of the sandwich cookies.
Bake on baking sheets at 350, for 10-14 min. until lightly browned at the edge. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling. - To make the custard cream filling, put icing sugar, and custard powder, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine slowly at first and then faster until the mixture is fully combined. Add the hot water and fully combine until smooth, using a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- To assemble the cookies, spread one half of a cookie with the custard cream filling using a palette knife, and sandwich with the top of cookie. Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
With homemade custard creams recipe, life really is a party!
More Cookie Inspiration
You might also like our Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies recipe here.
Also check out our Jam Jam Cookies recipe here.
You might also enjoy our Toblerone Shortbread with Browned Flour recipe here.
Maria says
These look delicious, I loooove custard creams! Love the little heart shapes!!!