Easy Yo-Yo Biscuits

Name: Easy Yo-Yo Biscuits
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Ingredients: 250 grams butter ((softened)); 1/2 cup icing sugar; 1/2 cup custard powder; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 cups plain flour; 3/4 cup icing sugar; 12 grams butter; 1 tsps milk; 1 tsps boiling water; 1 drop food colouring

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What screams childhood louder than yo-yo biscuits? This humble bake sale and afternoon tea treat is the perfect biscuit for making with kids! Easy to make and melt-in-your-mouth delicious, they only take 12 minutes to bake and are great for gifting, snacking on and as a party treat. Filled with yummy icing and made without a mixer, what's not to love?

Contents hide

1 Why you're going to love this recipe

2 What goes into the recipe

3 How to make this recipe

4 Expert Tips and FAQs

5 More yummy treats

6 Easy Yo-Yo Biscuits

Why you're going to love this recipe

These are the most delicious and easy treats ever! Perfect for sharing, the icing colour can be made to suit whatever theme you're going for, or even left white.

super quick to bake
simple ingredients, mostly from your pantry
mix by hand- no mixer needed
store well in the fridge for 3-days
perfect size for a quick treat
kid friendly flavours
easy to change the icing to suit your colour scheme
deliciously sweet and crumbly, like shortbread

What goes into the recipe

ingredients: custard powder, icing sugar, plain flour, butter, vanilla

custard powder- this is the key ingredient that makes these: yellow, pillowy and delicious. Melting moments are very similar to these but aren't made with custard powder.
icing sugar- using icing sugar to make these biscuits has some awesome benefits. you don't need to drag out the stand mixer, because they can be kneaded by hand, getting the butter easily into the sugar and custard powder to make a dough. Literally by hand- you need to get your hands into this mixture, as the butter will emulsify with the warmth of your hands, but won't do that with a wooden spoon!
butter- you can't swap this for margarine or anything similar and have the same results, this needs to be butter!
vanilla- extract works best in this recipe. Although there is already vanilla in the custard powder, it's essential to add this to help with the vanilla flavour. If you don't have vanilla extract it swaps for a teaspoon vanilla essence.
flour- this is plain flour, and we are holding off on adding it at the start as we need to get a dough almost done first, then the flour helps to complete the dough

icing sugar, butter, milk, boiling water, vanilla and food colouring

icing sugar- not icing mixture! Icing sugar. You don't need to sift it, but you can if you want to!
milk- not much, just enough to give it a creamier texture.
butter- not margarine. Unsalted butter is the best for this.
boiling water- just to emulsify the sugar and get everything smooth. Using boiling water means that the icing sets when it is at room temperature, meaning the biscuits will stay stuck together!
vanilla extract- because nobody wants icing without flavour. Vanilla is the best to use for this icing, but you could also try lemon or almond, both work really well (lemon juice also works!).
food colouring (optional)- I used red for this to give a bright pink, but they also look cute with blue, green or orange icing!

How to make this recipe

Combine the icing sugar, butter, custard powder and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. (Image 1)
Get your hands into the mixture, they help to emulsify the butter and make the ingredients into a dough. You cannot do this with a wooden spoon as it won't warm up the butter! (Image 2)
When the butter mixture is completely combined, add in the flour and knead until you have a cohesive dough. (Image 3)
Grab teaspoonfuls of the cookie dough mixture. (Image 4)

mixing the ingredients by hand, adding in flour, making a dough

Roll mixture into balls and place on a lined tray (Image 5)
Flatten with a fork (Image 6)
Bake for 12 minutes at 160 degrees celsius (320F) (Image 7) fan-forced
Cool completely on a wire rack. (Image 8)

rolling into balls, pressing with a fork, baking, cooling

Place the butter, milk, icing sugar, vanilla extract in a small bowl. (Image 9)
Add the food colouring if you are using it. (Image 10)
Mix it well, then leave the icing to sit for 5 minutes before using. (Image 11)
Cover the flat side of one biscuit with icing. (Image 12)

icing ingredients, adding food colouring, leaving to sit, putting icing on the biscuit

Sandwich a biscuit on top -try to match sizes and shapes if you can! (Image 13)

Expert Tips and FAQs

Are yo-yo biscuits the same as melting moments?

No! Although visually similar, yo-yo biscuits use custard powder in the dough to create the biscuit dough and have a softer, crumblier mouth texture.

What is the best way to store yo-yo biscuits?

Once cooked, yo yos will last 3-5 days. The best option for storing is the fridge as the icing contains butter and milk and therefore is prone to running if kept out of the fridge. An airtight container is your friend!

Can I use my mixer?

You don't need to for this recipe. There is no need to cream butter and get your beaters dirty for something this simple.

More yummy treats

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