Coffee Scroll Biscuits (2024)

Australian/ Baking/ Recipes/ Snack

27/07/2020 (Last Updated: 30/10/2020)

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Infused with spices, these Coffee Scroll Biscuits are a remake of the classic cinnamon biscuits from our childhood. The iconic swirls and pink icing circles are back, along with the spicy cinnamon taste right down to the very last currant. Be prepared to make a batch or two, these coffee scrolls aren’t going to last. Pair your freshly baked cinnamon scrolls with coffee or tea for a delicious afternoon snack!

Why We Love This

Coffee Scroll Biscuits are a treat to make, bake and eat – all on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They’re also a great snack or perfect edible gift to share with friends and family and bring back those nostalgic memories of childhood. They freeze well, so you can make them ahead and always keep a batch handy.

The warming, aromatic blend of spices in these biscuits almost remind us of American pumpkin pie spices or ginger kisses biscuits.

Related: Matcha Cookies / Almond Crescent Cookies

We know Coffee Scroll Biscuits as the ULTIMATE 90’s biscuit. The exact start date is currently unknown, so if you had these in the 70’s or 80’s too – let us know!

From our own experience and scouring the internet, variations of these biscuits have been made by Arnotts, Nabisco and possibly Lanes.

They also stopped production of these classic cinnamon biscuits with currants / raisins over 20 years ago… now that makes us feel old. That’s a long time to go without such an awesome treat!

Quick note: Don’t confuse these with the sweet coffee or cinnamon bread rolls that use yeast. Our coffee scroll biscuits are crunchy cookies and nothing like the bread version.

What You’ll Need

Get ready to get your bake on, and open that pantry! No surprises today, just good old fashioned biscuit ingredients!

To make the Biscuit Mixture:

First up, place your butter, brown sugar, vanilla and spices into a mixing bowl andbeat on medium-high until light and fluffy. An electric mixer such as a Kitchenaid with a dough hook works best for this, but you can use a wooden spoon if necessary!
Next add the ½ whisked egg and switch the mixer to low to mix it through nicely.
Now add flour and baking powder, and continue to mix on low as the dry ingredients fold into the mixture, scraping the edges as you go.
Add currants and fold them in, then remove from the bowl from your mixer. Wrap in cling film and place in fridge for 30 mins.

To make the Biscuits:

Preheat oven to 160°C. Roll out the dough onto baking paper until it’s ½ cm / ¼ inch thick and cut out circles around 5-6 cm / 2 ¼ inches wide.
To add the spirals, use smaller circles such as the tops of small jars to slightly indent the biscuits. Coat the tops of your jars with flour first so they won’t stick to the biscuits.
Now place your biscuits on a tray lined with baking paper, and bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the biscuits to cool completely before icing.

For the White Chocolate Icing:

Melt your chocolate buds in a bowl in the microwave in short 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until melted.
Add 3-6 drops of red food colouring, then mix together.
Pipe or spoon onto cooled biscuits in small circles, without going to the edge. Make the circles as small or big as you like!

Wandercook’s Tips

We used our Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook to whip up our batch, and that worked a treat. If you don’t have one, just use the ol’ wooden spoon and mixing bowl!
This recipe is quick and easy – the only part that takes time is allowing the dough to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, and letting the biscuits cook in the oven for 15 minutes. We’d allow just over an hour to have these done and dusted.
If you want to set the chocolate icing quickly, pop the biscuits in the fridge for a couple of minutes.

FAQs

Can you freeze coffee scroll biscuits?

Yes, you can freeze freshly baked coffee scroll biscuits. Just make sure they are completely cooled before wrapping them in heavy duty foil or freezer bags. They’ll last around 2-3 months in the freezer. Reheat individual biscuits in the microwave for around 10-30 seconds.

How do you achieve the swirls and the pink icing circles?

For the swirls, we used the tops of small glass jars. Get creative and see if you can find something in the kitchen with the perfect sizes – you only need to make one or two indentations per biscuit.
The way to get the best pink icing circles is to use a spoon or piping bag to put the mixture on the biscuit, then carefully and lightly use the top of your (clean, unlicked) finger to spread the mixture out in small circles until you achieve the size of icing circle you want.

Arnotts Coffee Scroll Biscuits vs Homemade Coffee Scroll Biscuits?

So how does the taste of homemade coffee scroll biscuits stack up against the originals you ask? Pretty close according to our taste testers!
We found the biggest differences from the original store-bought biscuits was the texture and the currants.
The texture isn’t as dry as store-bought – or maybe that’s just because we ate them straight out the oven!
Either way, not a big deal, just a noted difference. It also definitely pays to used the smallest, driest currants you can find – we only added in a few and they still swelled up and cracked the biscuits during baking with the amount of liquid left in them.
All in all, these homemade coffee scroll biscuits are a great replacement to fill your coffee scroll biscuit void.
Especially as it doesn’t look like they’ll be back on shelves any time soon, and we’re not waiting another 20 years to find out!

Variations & Substitutes

For the spices: If you don’t have all the spices, feel free to substitute with a pumpkin spice mix, or make up your own mix with your favourite flavour combinations.
For the currants: You can substitute these with sultanas, cranberries or raisins. Omit them if you’re not a fan of dried fruit.
For the Red Food Dye: Feel free to use any colour for your food colouring. Or omit for an au naturel white chocolate finish!
Flour: You can try using self-raising flour if you don’t have plain flour available. They may turn out a little softer, but will be a pretty close match!

Why We Learned This Recipe

These elusive coffee scroll biscuits started out as a heated discussion over a family dinner. What in the world were those biscuits we all remembered, that had swirls, pink icing and currants? I still remember sitting on Nan’s countertop when I was about four and nibbling around the edges so I could eat the pink icing last. Anyone else do this, or am I just weird?

The conversation progressed with enthusiasm and frantic Google searches that finally resulted in a name – Coffee Scroll Biscuits. Which is interesting considering it has no coffee in the recipe, but we do know they go very well when eaten alongside or dipped straight into a nice hot mug of cappuccino.

Keep the oven fired up with more cookies and biscuits for you to cook next:

★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating below!

Coffee Scroll Biscuits

4.81 from 21 votes

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Australian

Servings: 18 biscuits

Calories: 160kcal

Author: Wandercooks

Cost: $5

Equipment

Ingredients

▢ 1 ½ cups plain flour / all purpose flour 180g
▢ ½ tsp baking powder
▢ ½ cup butter 120g, softened
▢ ½ cup brown sugar 100g
▢ ½ egg lightly whisked
▢ ⅛ cup currants
▢ 1 tsp vanilla essence
▢ 2 tsp cinnamon
▢ ½ tsp allspice
▢ ½ tsp nutmeg
▢ ½ cup white melting chocolate buds 75g
▢ 3-6 drops red food dye

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

To make the Biscuit Mixture:

First up, place your butter, brown sugar, vanilla and spices (cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg) into a mixing bowl andbeat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
Note: An electric mixer such as a KitchenAid with a dough hook works best for this, but you can use a wooden spoon if necessary!
½ cup butter, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 2 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp allspice, ½ tsp nutmeg
Next add the whisked egg and switch the mixer to low to mix it through nicely.
½ egg
Now add flour and baking powder, and continue to mix on low as the dry ingredients fold into the mixture, scraping the edges as you go.
1 ½ cups plain flour / all purpose flour, ½ tsp baking powder
Add currants and fold them in, then remove from the bowl from your mixer. Wrap in cling film and place in fridge for 30 mins.
⅛ cup currants

To make the Biscuits:

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Roll out the dough onto baking paper until it's ½ cm / ¼ inch thick and cut out circles around 5-6 cm / 2 ¼ inches wide.
To add the spirals, use smaller circles such as the tops of small jars to slightly indent the biscuits. Coat the tops of your jars with flour first so they won't stick to the biscuits.
Transfer biscuits on a tray lined with baking paper, and bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the biscuits to cool completely before icing.

For the White Chocolate Icing:

Melt your chocolate buds in a bowl in the microwave in short 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until melted.
½ cup white melting chocolate buds
Add 3-6 drops of red food dye, then mix together.
3-6 drops red food dye
Pipe or spoon onto cooled biscuits in small circles, without going to the edge. Make the circles as small or big as you like!

Video

Recipe Notes

Tips

We used our Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook to whip up our batch, and that worked a treat. If you don’t have one, just use the ol’ wooden spoon and mixing bowl!
This recipe is quick and easy – the only part that takes time is allowing the dough to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, and letting the biscuits cook in the oven for 15 minutes. We’d allow just over an hour to have these done and dusted.
If you want to set the chocolate icing quickly, pop the biscuits in the fridge for a couple of minutes.

FAQs

Can you freeze coffee scroll biscuits? Yes, you can freeze freshly baked coffee scroll biscuits. Just make sure they are completely cooled before wrapping them in heavy duty foil or freezer bags. They’ll last around 2-3 months in the freezer. Reheat individual biscuits in the microwave for around 10-30 seconds.
How do you achieve the swirls and the pink icing circles? For the swirls, we used the tops of small glass jars. Get creative and see if you can find something in the kitchen with the perfect sizes – you only need to make one or two indentations per biscuit. The way to get the best pink icing circles is to use a spoon or piping bag to put the mixture on the biscuit, then carefully and lightly use the top of your (clean, unlicked) finger to spread the mixture out in small circles until you achieve the size of icing circle you want.

Variations & Substitutes

For the spices: If you don’t have all the spices, feel free to substitute with a pumpkin spice mix, or make up your own mix with your favourite flavour combinations.
For the currants: You can substitute these with sultanas, cranberries or raisins. Omit them if you’re not a fan of dried fruit.
For the Red Food Dye: Feel free to use any colour for your food colouring. Or omit for an au naturel white chocolate finish!
Flour: You can try using self-raising flour if you don’t have plain flour available. They may turn out a little softer, but will be a pretty close match!

Adapted from Sweet Perfection Cakes.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Coffee Scroll Biscuits

Amount per Serving

Calories

160

% Daily Value*

Fat

About Wandercooks

Wandercooks is an Australian recipe site reaching over 9 million views annually. Our recipes are here to inspire you with fresh and exciting food ideas from a range of Asian, European and Australian cuisines. As seen on Google.com, Today.com, Buzzfeed, Jetstar Asia and Lonely Planet.Read more...