Came in from gardening today , decided put the kettle on for a brew and reached for my favourite biscuits ." Arnotts The Original Scotch Fingers " . 250 Gr pack . I have been buying them for ever and a day and was wondering what other consumers buy or prefer .
If you make your own feel free to contribute .
Rarely buy sweet biscuits, prefer to make our own when the oven is on. Anzac biscuits, peanut biscuits, short bread biscuits etc. Making ones own allows sugar to be used in moderation, as well as avoid all the unneeded additives. The taste of a good home made biscuit can’t be beaten.
We do buy the odd savory biscuit to have with cheeses, pates etc, but don’t have any favourite brands or types. We usually fty to buy Australian where possible, but is becoming more and more difficult even with the major brands…
This is possibly my favourite home made sweet biscuit,
Peanut Biscuit Biscuit:
125gm butter (needs to be weighed)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg (beaten)
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup raw peanuts (with red skin on preferred)
Melt butter in a large saucepan, add salt and sugar. Stir well, take off the heat and allow to cool slightly before adding the beaten egg, flour, cocoa and peanuts.
Place about a tablespoon of mixture on a greased tray/grease proof paper and bake about 20 minutes at 160°C. They should be slightly browned and crunchy when cooked.
You can add less sugar (we do and only use about 1/3 cup) and also there is not need to add the salt if you prefer.
Home made ANZAC biscuits when I am allowed off my VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) 
or the lovely Arrowroot or Gingernut (GN) biscuits that are commercially made but not the cheapie GN ones as they are less than gingery. I don’t worry about brand just quality in those cases though the Griffins GN ones from NZ I personally have to say are perhaps the leaders in the regard to crispness and taste.
Do you use unsalted or salted butter as this may also influence whether additional salt might be useful?? Salt in some baked goods can improve crumb texture eg bread it helps, biscuits can be similar I think.
Unsalted butter…and still don’t add the salt. We think that it doesn’t need it. It is also important to weigh the butter rather than use the weigh guide on the butter packaging.
Love all Arnotts biscuits, especially Scotch Fingers. Unfortunately 1 Arnotts Scotch Finger biscuit has 4g of fat, and half of that is saturated fat. So it’s a once in a while treat.
I also like the Malt ones and the Teddy Bears covered in chocolate.
To bake our own shortbread biscuits is easy:
300 g. Plain flour
200 g. Butter
100 g. Sugar
Mix well, roll into a ball and place in fridge for at least 30m.
Roll out to 1/4” thickness and cut in rounds or strips. Place in a baking tray.
Or: roll into a log, wrap in plastic film and place in fridge for at least 30m.
Cut slices and place in a baking tray.
Bake until golden brown ( about 15/20 m.)
The only manufactured biscuits that I buy for myself are Waterthins Wafers for eating with dips and pates, but I buy various biscuits for my wife including Arnotts Gingernuts, Nice, Scotch Fingers & Saos and McVities Fruit Slices.
But what I really prefer to eat, after preparing and cooking them myself, are the good old-fashioned cheese straws and cheese sables.
The last batch of cheese sables that we took on a trip to visit our grandkids were devoured overnight after they got the the taste of them.
Arnotts Gingernuts for dipping in coffee. YUM. Arnotts cheese biscuits, cant even remember the name. And Walkers Shortbread. Alas, I can have none these days. (diabetes)
I sympathise with your diet restrictions, @SueW. My problem is high cholesterol, I’m taking cholesterol lowering tablets, which I hated from the start, but can’t do without, apparently my liver is an out of control cholesterol maker!
If you don’t mind baking you could make your own biscuits with whole wheat flour mixed with fruit and nuts to lower the glycemic index.
Substitute the sugar with honey or something like Stevia.
Use veg oil instead of butter.
Add flavours you prefer: lemon essence, ginger, vanilla…
If you wish for softer biscuits: add baking powder to the the flour.
All the best, Sue.
I’m sorry, Gaby, but those suggestions simply wont work. Wheat flour, and fruit, as well as honey all raise blood sugars. I have some recipes for crackers made from almond flour and sesame seeds and a few other odds and sods. Coconut flour is good too. But, I just love gingernuts and walkers shortbread. and I simply drool as I pass by the shelf in the supermarket. I’ve discovered I can get away with corn thins, they are still carb laden but not as much as other stuff.
Sympathy on the high cholesterol. I wont take statins, and I seem to have got mine under control with daily eggs.
Unfortunately, without Statins my cholesterol level is over 8mmol/L
Taking 1 x 20mg a day gives a reading of 5.2 mmol/L
Would you , please, share details about the eggs? Thank you.
Nothing special. I like scrambled and omelettes so I have one or other of those (usually 2-3 eggs depending on mood) most days. I do get sick of them from time to time and then stop for a while. I go through a dozen eggs a week if that helps. Last Total Cholesterol was 4.7. I used to run around 7.5
That’s an amazing result!
Thank you for sharing, Sue.
We rarely eat biscuits, since adopting the Healthy Eating Guidelines (avoid processed, more fruit & veg, less fat etc). Occasional treat is homemade shortbread - usually when I have been asked to make a batch for some event or fundraiser. Salted butter, white flour, sugar. Making it with margarine gives a less than satisfactory taste.
We do have occasional dry biscuits with cheese and chutney - with visitors. Takes us about 2 months to get through a packet - Sakata seaweed was our last one. We have Ryvita Original which scores well on the Guidelines as our usual “biscuit with cheese” but they are too big for visitor finger food. Occasionally we get Black & Gold cream wafer ($0.59 packet) and Oreo Thins ($0.95) for visitors or visiting.
SueW, I symapthise - I inherited my father’s excessive cholesterol making liver. My levels really went up after menopause, but my plumbing is described as Excellent for Age, regardless, I am now on statins. Before going on them, I consulted a Dietician, my diet was good and there was little I could do to reduce it by diet alone. Various doctors have tinkered with the dose or taken me off them. My father died of a heart attack, and I have outlived him by 2 decades, so something worked. He loved his biscuits, particularly my shortbread.
For flour used in baking look at Hemp flour. It is a dark flour but very low in sugar but for a 30 g serving it is about 20 g carbohydrate (of which 0.6 g is sugars) with around 500 kj of energy. In a biscuit it would make a darker finished product.
Almond flour is much higher energy rated at about 1050 kj per 50 g and 20 g of fat and higher sugar.
Using a mix of different flours can also balance the carbs and sugars better than a single source flour. An example would be Lupin flour which is low in carbs and oils and high in protein per 50 g serve mixed with hemp flour or almond flour to reduce the sugars, fats, and carbs.
Lupin flour
I had completely forgotten about peanut biscuits.
My late mother used to bake them and other varieties when my sister and I were children.
Likewise, when I see sweet biscuits on the shelf I put hands in pockets and keep walking but fresh anzac biscuits will make a good dog go off the leash.
I must confess failure, I cannot make savoury biscuits that are any good, the texture is never right, instead of fragile and crunchy they are hard and/or chewy. So I buy sesame wheat or whole wheat crackers to be cheese substrate.
Might be worth a look if ever I get round to baking anything 
Only Arnotts biscuits. They are generally more expensive but worth it. Must have buttered arrowroots doubled for supper with a cup of billy tea. Would love to see the old Honey Snaps come back on. Several people have made the same comment up here.
Great topic @vax2000. I’d encourage everyone to vote their favourites, if we get enough perhaps we can run a poll.
I’m a sucker for these:
And in case there are any Tim Tams fans reading this:
