Fork biscuits
With only 3 ingredients, the simple fork biscuit is the easiest biscuit recipe for kids, so are the perfect thing for getting children busy in the kitchen.
Fork biscuits are the perfect simple bake, if you are looking for an easy biscuit recipe for kids. With only 3 ingredients, these no egg biscuits don’t use biscuit cutters, are easy to make and shouldn’t make too much mess in your kitchen. Not only that, but they’re really quick, which is ideal if, like my kids, yours have a relativetly short attention span. To eat, they’re a wee bit like a shortbread – really soft and crumbly, so even though they’re simple, they’re still really tasty.
Once you’ve mastered the basic fork biscuit recipe you can try make them a bit more exciting by adding different flavours like lemon or dried fruit or even turn them into chocolate fork biscuits.
How can kids help to make these easy biscuits?
These easy biscuits are honestly one of the simplest things you can make with your kids – they were one of the first things we made together. It’s just three ingredients mixed together and then rolled out. There’s no more to it than that so even toddlers and young children can help to make them.
Your kids can help measure out all the ingredients and mix them together. And once you’ve got your biscuit dough made your kids can help roll the fork biscuits out then press them down with a fork.
If this is your first time in the kitchen with your children, read some of our top tips to make it a bit easier and less stressful! And if you enjoyed baking these biscuits we’ve got lots of easy biscuit recipes kids will enjoy or or easy bakes for children.
Should I use butter or margarine to make these fork biscuits?
We always use butter, rather than margarine or any baking margarines such as Stork when we make biscuits. The butter gives the fork biscuit it’s flavour, so the end result won’t be as delicious if you use margarine.
What can I use instead of self raising flour?
If you don’t have any self raising flour (it’s popular here in the UK, but less so in other countries), you can swap it for an equal amount of plain or all-purpose flour and add teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt.
How long do fork biscuits keep?
These will keep in an air tight container for 3-5 days. If you want to keep them for longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Wrap them individually in cling film them pop them in a freezer bag. Make sure you defrost them fully at room temperature before you serve them.
What other easy biscuits for kids are there?
If you enjoy making these fork biscuits, why not try one of our other simple kids’ biscuits?
Easy cookie recipe for kids
Gingerbread men
Chocolate thumbprint cookies
Custard biscuits
Empire biscuits
Melting moments
Jammie dodgers
Iced biscuits
Custard creams
Raisin biscuits
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these fork biscuits:
Digital scales
Baking tray
Measuring cups
Wooden spoons
Wire rack
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Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15 minutes + 15 minutes baking
Serves: approx 15 biscuits
Ingredients
100g (1/2 cup) butter (softened)
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
150g (1 1/4 cup) self raising flour
How to make fork biscuits
Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 160C fan and prepare your baking trays
Get your toddler to line a few baking trays with baking or parchment paper.
Mix the butter and sugar together
Get your child to measure the butter. If youre is too hard (we always forget to take it out of the fridge beforehand) pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so to soften it. Don’t heat it long enough for it to melt.
Put it in a large mixing bowl.
Weigh the sugar and add it to the bowl.
Beat the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon (or a hand held mixer) until it is all well combined and smooth.
Add the flour
Get your toddler to weigh the flour, then add to your mixing bowl.
Carry on mixing with your spoons then use your hands to knead it all and bring it together into a soft dough that doesn’t crumble apart.
Form the fork biscuits
Roll small pieces of dough (the size of a walnut or teaspoon) into round balls. Place on your baking tray, leaving space between them for spreading. I find it works best if I give the kids the right amount of dough, and they roll it, otherwise the biscuits all end up different sizes.
Dip a fork in cold water and press down on each ball of biscuit dough in turn to flatten each biscuit and make an imprint. If your toddler is too young to help rolling the balls, this is a good step for them to help with instead. Or if you have more than one child helping you, give one the job of rolling the balls while the other flattens them with the fork.
Bake your fork biscuits
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown.
Remove the fork biscuits from the oven and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
Serve and enjoy.
Fork biscuits
Ingredients
Method
- Measure the butter and put it in a large mixing bowl.
- Weigh the sugar and add it to the bowl.
- Beat together with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Weigh the flour, then add to your mixing bowl. Carry on mixing then use your hands to bring it all together into a soft dough.
- Roll small pieces of dough (the size of a walnut or teaspoon) into round balls. Place on your baking tray, leaving space between them for spreading.
- Dip a fork in cold water and press down on each ball in turn to flatten each biscuit and make an imprint.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Video
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I’ve linked this recipe up with #CookBlogShare and #Baking Crumbs with Jo’s Kitchen Larder and Apply to Faceblog.
This recipe was first published in November 2016, and updated with new pictures in December 2022.
Delicious and easy! Thank you for this recipe❤️. Just made these with my 4yo and 21mo and I can’t believe how quick and easy it was! And they’re delicious too 😍.
These are the perfect bake for really little ones. It’s where my kids started! I’m so glad you liked them.
Flavour is nice but I have tried these twice now and they don’t come together- I have to add a little water to be able to shape them, takes a lot of effort to get the dough to come together otherwise
Once you’ve added the flour and mixed it in you need to knead the mixture with you hands for a while to bring it together. If you do that before you form the biscuits they should come together nicely.
Great recipe. Quick and simple, with delicious! Thank you!
Hey there, Cooking with my Kids! Your recipe for fork biscuits looks absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to try it out myself! I love that this recipe is so simple and easy to follow. It’s always great to find a recipe that my kids can help me with, and these biscuits look like the perfect way to spend an afternoon in the kitchen with them.
Looks delicious! My friend is coming over tonight and I think I’m gonna make these for her! Thanks for sharing!
Lovely easy recipe, added fruit to the last 1/3 rd.The leftover condensed milk was too much temptation ……oldies reminisced about eating it straight from tin in secret , young ones loved sweet mellow flavour . Remains licked up by feral cats outdoors . Thank you
Just made them with my 2 year old. Used olive spread and plain flour instead of butter and self raising flour and they turned out pretty good 😊 it wouldn’t ball up so I added a little water (too much water so then added a bit more flour 😂) think we’ll make them again next week and add a bit of lemon zest for a little flavour kick 😊🍋
I’m glad you and your 2 year old like these. If they’re not coming together, try kneading the dough a bit more. I tend to find the warmth of our hands melts the butter a bit and helps it all bind. Failing that, an egg yolk might help.
You might like our lemon biscuits – its basically the same dough with a little lemon zest and (optional) lemon icing drizzled on top: https://www.cookingwithmykids.co.uk/lemon-biscuits/
Me and my twins loved making this recipe and they were so yummy! Do you know if using a cookie cutter will work? If they would hold the shape? Thank you for posting this recipe! Will be used a lot in our home!
Thanks, I’m so glad you liked them. I’ve never tried these with a cookie cutter – they might spread a bit in the oven but if you chill them for 20 minutes or so before you bake them that would limit any spreading. Normally if I want to make cookie cutter cookies i’ll use this recipe: https://www.cookingwithmykids.co.uk/heart-cookies
Perfect egg-free recipe, now my 7yo favourite. I just heard him on the phone to his dad saying we need more butter as we are about to run out of biscuits – we’ve only had 3 out of the 15 (still warm out of the oven) and he’s already planning ahead 😄.
I’m so glad you like them (and I like your son’s style – planning ahead to the next batch!)
I’ve tried just about all the biscuit recipes now latest was Mary berry’s sorry Mary this beats every one I’ve tried now well done I love it.
I’m so glad you liked them. For such a simple biscuit they’re really tasty!
Can you add raisins to this recipe for fork biscuits?
I’ve never tried but I don’t see why not. They might not end up with quite the same ‘fork shape’ but i’m sure they’d taste great. Let us know how you get on if you try it.
I just made these biscuits so quick and easy I mixed lemon zest then melted chocolate and just zig zag Ed it across the top
I’m glad you liked them. The chocolate sounds like a great addition!
Hi can you add chocolate chips to this recipe maybe?
I’ve never tried adding chocolate chip but I don’t see why not. If it makes them more crumbly/harder to bind together you might need to add an egg yolk as well. Let us know how you get on.
Love making these with my now 4 year old! Could you add ginger etc to them for festive flavours?
Yes, that should work. I’d try about 1/2 tsp first and see if that adds enough ginger flavour. You can always add a little more, if not. Let us know how you get on.
Never made fork biscuits before.
Easy recipe to follow loved the biscuits.
Thank you
Thanks, I’m so glad you liked them!
Not just for toddlers .. 10yr old made them, split doe, kept one half to original recipe and added a spoon of chocolate sprinkles and some cocoa powder to the other half. Both yummy. ?
No, these definitely aren’t just for toddlers! I love the sound of chocolate sprinkles (my kids would add sprinkles to everything if they could!)
This was one of the most stressful recipes I have tried with my children (4, 3 and 2). The dough doesn’t roll into little balls. Ended up adding an egg! and more flour till we gained the correct consistency for biscuits.
Hi Jennifer, i’m sorry they didn’t work for you. Once you’ve added all the ingredients, you need to work the dough so it comes together otherwise it will be a bit crumbly. I find the heat of our hands helps melt the butter a bit which helps the consistency.
A great, simple recipe that I made with my 21 month old son today in one of his first baking attempts. While he couldn’t do too much, he helped with the mixing and LOVED pressing the fork into them. Some have a few holes as he was poking with the end of the fork first before pushing down but I love them! Very delicious too! We’ll be trying these again with some of the suggested additions.
I’m so glad you liked them and that your son enjoyed his baking! At that age, my kids loved bashing biscuits to make cheesecake or rocky road, or getting their hands messy making a crumble or rock buns, or even kneading dough for bread. Anything a bit tactile is great when they want to get involved but a still quite wee.
These are great with choc chips and I add a tablespoon of custard powder to give a shortbread taste. Really scrummy.
Yum, i’ve never tried these ones with custard, but that sounds like the perfect addition!
My daughter loved this recipe! She is 9 so it gave her the confidence to be more adventurous! She also added cocoa powder. I need to stop her from trying to make them all the yime now and teach my 3 year old!
Brilliant, well done her! I’m so glad you liked the recipe, it’s a great one to start with.
Big thumbs up from here in China! Our three and five loved mixing and rolling and forking the mixture.
We had to make our own self raising flour because we cant buy it easily here. We added vanilla and cocoa too just because we had it in the cupboard.
They came out amazingly well and we struggled to not eat all of them as soon as they were ready ! 🙂
I’m so glad you liked them!
Had great fun making these with my two year old. They taste delicious too.
I so glad you enjoyed them! They’re a great bake for little ones.
Love fork biscuits. There is something cute and dumpy about them. So coupled with your photos I’m a gonna!!! Just right for a small mouthful too! Thank you for sharing with#BakingCrumbs
I love that they are so quick and easy, but still really tasty!
Simple but effective I love these biscuits and a great way to occupy the kids
Thanks, they’re a great bake for kids. So simple but still fun (and tasty!)
Lovely simple recipe. I really like your use of photographs too.
Thanks!
How fabulously quick and easy to make! I have a sneaky suspicion that both my boys would absolutely adore these as they are crazy about shortbread. These are quite a bit simpler though without rolling and cutting! Thank you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Yes, if you like shortbread you’ll like these as well!
What a great quick and easy recipe to make with kids. Love the photos of your little one making them – so cute! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Eb x
Thanks. It surprises me how simple it is, every time we make them!
These look delicious – I love that they’re only 3 ingredients! In fact, I might just have to try them at some point when I fancy a cookie but we’ve run out of eggs (which happens constantly!)
Thanks, I can’t get enough of them and I love how simple they are (and the fact you can eat them raw!)