This chocolate flakemeal biscuits recipe is an old favourite, made just the way it always has been. No changes, additions or fancy ingredients, sometimes the old ways are the best. When I was a child these were known as ‘three bears biscuits’ in our house, simply because the bag of porridge oats had a picture of the three bears on it.
My mother used to make these but she could never be bothered to dip the biscuits in chocolate so she cut a glace cherry into about a million bits and placed the smallest piece in the centre of each biscuit before baking. She used to get me to chop the cherries but I could never cut them small enough for her liking! I mean like, literally one or two cherries did an entire batch of biscuits!
I think I prefer mine dipped in chocolate. As always, choose a nice chocolate that you’d want to eat. I tend to use milk chocolate as that’s what my family like but they would be delicious with a good quality plain chocolate too.
These chocolate flakemeal biscuits are easy to make but can be a bit fiddly and time-consuming as the dough needs to be rolled out and cut with a pastry cutter and then dipped in chocolate once baked. Totally worth it though!
The actual making of the dough is quick and straightforward. Simply soften the butter and cream together with the sugar until light, soft and fluffy. Then add the flour and the oats, mix until the mixture binds together in a ball and it’s ready to go.
Roll the dough out on a lightly-floured surface until about 5 – 6 mm thick. Use a round pastry cutter to cut into circles, lift each circle with a palette knife and place on a baking tray. I used a 5 cm cutter and got about 40 biscuits from the mix but you can use any size you like.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until the biscuits are very light golden around the edges and allow to cool on the tray. If you have lined the tray you can leave them to on the tray until they are completely cool. If you have placed the biscuits directly onto the tray without greasing or lining you will need to move the biscuits slightly about 5 minutes after they come out of the oven to make sure they don’t stick to the tray. Just give them a gentle quarter turn then allow to cool completely.
While the biscuits are cooling, prepare the chocolate to cover them. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a small bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir well then return to the microwave for another 30 seconds. This should be enough to melt completely so keep stirring until no lumps remain. If you still have some lumps of chocolate left and the bowl feels cool to the touch then you can return to the microwave for a few seconds, check every 5 seconds or so as it is important not to overheat the chocolate – otherwise you will get a white ‘bloom’ on the chocolate once it is set.
Place a sheet of baking paper on your work surface ready to place the dipped biscuits on. Dip each biscuit half way into the chocolate and place them on the baking paper. Allow to set before removing from the paper.
These chocolate flakemeal biscuits will keep for a week or more in an airtight container. If you like a crisp biscuit you could also try my Malteser Biscuits or Shaw Biscuits.
Chocolate Flakemeal Biscuits
Equipment
- 3 or 4 baking trays
- 5 cm round pastry cutter you can use any size you like, depending on the size you'd like your biscuits to be
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 225 g butter
- 115 g caster sugar
- 225 g self raising flour plus a little extra for rolling out
- 225 g porridge oats
For dipping:
- 250 g chocolate milk or plain
- 50 g butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C.
- Make sure your butter is soft and a spreadable consistency. If it feels hard, place it in a microwaveable bowl and heat on full power for a few seconds. Stir well and make sure there are no lumps.
- Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat well for a few minutes until light and creamy. Add the flour and oats and stir until well combined – the mixture will bind together to form a ball of soft dough.
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll out evenly to about 5 – 6 mm thick. Cut circles and transfer to a baking tray, I use a palette knife to lift the pastry circles as they can be quite fragile and hard to lift.
- Squeeze the leftover dough trimmings together into a ball and re-roll, cut out more circles and repeat until all the dough is used. Try not to add too much flour when re-rolling as it will affect the texture of the finished biscuits, a little sprinkling is all you need.
- Bake the biscuits for about 15 minutes, until light golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you have lined the tray you don't need to do anything at this stage, if you placed the biscuits directly on the tray without lining then you need to release them from the tray while they are warm to ensure they don't stick. Leave them for 5 minutes then give them a little twist – about a quarter turn and allow to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, place the chocolate and butter for dipping in a small microwaveable bowl and heat on full power for 30 seconds. Stir well and repeat. Keep stirring until all the lumps of chocolate dissolves and the bowl feels cool to the touch. If you have any lumps of chocolate that won't dissolve and the bowl feels cool you can heat the mixture again for 5 seconds, stir well again and repeat if necessary. You want the chocolate to be cool, not warm before using otherwise it will have a white bloom when set. It is still perfectly fine to eat, it just doesn't look great.
- Lay a piece of baking paper out for placing the dipped biscuits on. Dip each biscuit in the chocolate half way and set on the baking paper. Allow to set then remove from the paper and store in an airtight container.