Yo Yo biscuits are the classic Aussie custard biscuit that basically raised all of us, and they deserve a permanent spot in your biscuit tin, no arguments.
I first popped this recipe up back in 2020, but I've given it a proper refresh with extra tips and answers to your most common questions from the comments. If old school Aussie bakes are your thing, my Melting Moments and Hokey Pokey Biscuits are just as easy to whip up.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
✅ Recipe Name: Yo Yo Biscuits
🕒 Ready In: 25 minutes
👪 Serves: 20
🔥 Calories: 172kcal per serve
🥣 Main Ingredients: butter, self-raising flour, plain flour, custard powder, icing sugar
🌿 Dietary: vegetarian
⭐ Why You'll Love It: an old fashioned CWA classic that comes together in 25 minutes, no fancy equipment, and a Thermomix method included.
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Absolute perfection! These yoyos are beautiful, followed the recipe exactly and they turned out so lovely! Thank you so much for sharing, made my day!
- Alisha
Alisha's far from the only fan; this has been one of the most-loved biscuits on the blog with over 100 five-star ratings and new comments popping up every week.
If you love a classic Aussie bake, you'll want to try my Honey Jumbles, Anzac Biscuits and Jam Drops next.
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Why You're Going To Love This Recipe
- Old Fashioned Recipe - based on the original CWA recipe, these biscuits have stood the test of time for a very good reason.
- Budget-Friendly - made using basic pantry and fridge staples, no special shopping trip required.
- 5 Star Reader Favourite - over 100 five-star ratings and counting, this one's foolproof.
- Conventional and Thermomix - both methods are included in the recipe card.
- Freezer-Friendly - make a double batch and freeze the extras; see my Recipe Tips below.
Yo Yo Ingredients
Note: Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom for the ingredient quantities and full detailed method.
Most of this is basic pantry stuff, but here are the ones worth a mention:
- Custard powder - this is the ingredient that makes a yo yo a yo yo (as opposed to a melting moment, which uses cornflour instead). It gives that distinctive golden colour and custardy flavour. Don't have custard powder? I've got a full guide on how to make your own custard powder.
- Self-raising flour and plain flour - using a mix of the two (rather than all self-raising) stops the biscuits puffing up too much, so you get that classic, flatter yo yo shape.
- Icing sugar - use pure icing sugar rather than icing sugar mixture in the filling if you want it to set nice and firm. Either works fine in the biscuit dough itself.
Variations
- Bigger yo yo's - roll tablespoon-sized balls instead of teaspoon-sized, and add a couple of extra minutes to the bake time. You'll get fewer, but bigger, biscuits.
- Chocolate yo yo's - swap the icing sugar filling for my Chocolate Buttercream for a richer, chocolatey twist.
- Passionfruit filling - skip the food colouring and lemon juice and stir a spoonful of fresh passionfruit pulp through the filling instead.
- No filling at all - plenty of readers just eat the biscuits plain; they're still ridiculously good on their own.
- Colours for any occasion - change up the food colouring to suit; think pastels for a baby shower, red and green for Christmas, or pink and blue for a gender reveal.
How To Make Yo Yo Biscuits
Simple, old-fashioned baking, no fancy equipment needed.
- Step 1: Cream the butter, icing sugar and vanilla. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, add the butter and vanilla extract, and beat with a stand mixer or hand-held beaters until smooth and creamy.
- Step 2: Mix in the dry ingredients. Sift in the self-raising flour, plain flour and custard powder, and stir well until just combined into a soft dough.
- Step 3: Roll into small balls. Roll the dough into small, teaspoon-sized balls (weigh them if you want them perfectly even) and place 5cm apart on the lined trays.
- Step 4: Press with a fork. Dip a fork in a little flour and gently press down on top of each ball to flatten slightly, this creates that classic yo yo pattern.
- Step 5: Bake until just golden. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until only just lightly golden, they should still be quite pale. Cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 6: Make the filling and sandwich together. Beat the butter, vanilla and lemon juice until smooth, then slowly add the sifted icing sugar and a drop of food colouring if using. Sandwich two cooled biscuits together with about a teaspoon of filling.
Recipe Tips
- Weigh your dough balls if you want them perfectly even; about 10-12g each is a good petite yo yo size once sandwiched.
- Don't overheat your oven - these biscuits should stay pale, not golden brown. If your oven runs hot, turn the trays halfway through baking.
- Don't overbake - pull them out after 10-12 minutes; even if they look slightly underdone, they'll firm up as they cool.
- Let the biscuits cool completely before filling; otherwise, the buttercream will melt and slide right off.
- Storage - keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Freezing - you can freeze the plain biscuits (unfilled) in an airtight container for up to 1 month, or freeze them already sandwiched with filling.
Yo Yo Biscuits FAQs
Yes, you can definitely ice and sandwich them and then freeze; they hold up really well. Just store them in an airtight container, and let them come back to room temperature before serving so the filling softens nicely again.
Yes, that's completely fine. Just keep them in an airtight container at room temperature, and they'll be perfect the next day.
Yes, they can be made gluten-free by using a good quality gluten-free self-raising flour and gluten-free plain flour, and by checking that your custard powder is gluten-free. You may need to add a touch more flour or chill the dough briefly if it feels too sticky.
This usually means your oven is running a little hot, or the dough needs a touch more flour. If your biscuits spread flat and lose the fork pattern, turn the oven down slightly and check your dough isn't too soft before rolling.
I wouldn't recommend it. Margarine has a much higher water content than butter, which can make the biscuits spread and crumble more than they should. These biscuits already have a soft, crumbly texture, so butter really is best here.
More Biscuit Recipes
If you're building up the biscuit tin, here are a few more classic Aussie favourites worth adding to the list.
Yo Yo Biscuits
Ingredients
- 180 g butter at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (50g) icing sugar
- 1 cup (150g) self raising flour
- ½ cup (75g) plain flour
- ½ cup (60g) custard powder
For the filling
- 250 g icing sugar
- 40 g butter at room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla esence
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 drop pink food colouring optional
Instructions
Conventional Method
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius (fan-forced).
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl.
- Add the butter and vanilla essence.
- Beat with a stand mixer or hand-held beaters until smooth and creamy.
- Sift into the bowl the self raising flour, plain flour and custard powder. Stir well to combine.
- Roll mixture into teaspoonful sized balls and place 5cm apart on the prepared baking trays.
- Press the tops of the balls lightly with a fork.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just ever so lightly golden.
- Leave to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the filling, beat the butter, vanilla essence and lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
- Slowly add the sifted icing sugar, beating well in between additions.
- When the mixture is completely combined and smooth, add one drop of pink food colouring and beat until the colour is evenly dispersed.
- Join two biscuits together with 1tsp of filling.
Thermomix Method
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Measure the self raising flour, plain flour and custard powder into the TM bowl and sift on Speed 3 for 30 seconds to combine. Place the flour mixture into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Place the butter, vanilla essence and icing sugar in the TM bowl. Beat on Speed 4 for approximately 1 minute or until the mixture is pale, fluffy and smooth.
- Add the flour mixture and combine on Speed 1, slowly increasing to Speed 4 until smooth and completely combined (if your mixture is too sticky, add a little more flour).
- Roll mixture into teaspoonful sized balls and place 5cm apart on the prepared baking trays. Press the tops of the balls lightly with a fork.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just lightly golden. Leave to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the filling, combine the butter and icing sugar on Speed 4 until pale and smooth. Add the vanilla essence, lemon juice and one drop of pink food colouring. Beat for 1 minute, Speed 6, or until smooth and fluffy.
- Join two biscuits together with 1 teaspoon of filling.
Notes
- Roll the dough into very small balls - because you will be sandwiching two of the biscuits together with the filling, you want to ensure that they are small in size. Think petite little afternoon tea bites!
- Press down lightly with a fork - get that classic lined appearance by very gently pressing down on the top of the dough balls with a fork.
- Make sure your oven isn't too hot - avoid the biscuits cracking by not over-heating your oven. Turn the trays partway through cooking.
- Don't overcook - these cookies do not take long at all to bake! Remove from the oven after 10 minutes (12 if your biscuits are slightly bigger) and allow to cool. The biscuits will firm on cooling.
- Icing sugar options - you can use either soft icing sugar mixture or pure icing sugar for the filling. I like to use pure icing sugar as it helps to set the filling firm. Either soft icing sugar mixture or pure icing sugar can be used in the biscuit mixture.
- Store the yo yo biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Alternatively, freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
Nat says
Hi Lucy
Can these be iced/sandwiched and then frozen?
If I am wanting to make a larger yo-yo, would Tablespoon sized balls be ok?
Lucy Mathieson says
Hi there 😊
Yes, you can definitely ice/sandwich them and freeze — they hold up really well! Just make sure they’re stored in an airtight container, and allow them to come back to room temp before serving so the filling softens nicely again.
And for larger yo-yos — absolutely, tablespoon-sized balls will work perfectly. Just keep in mind they’ll need a couple of extra minutes in the oven (closer to the 12 minute mark), and you’ll get fewer biscuits overall.
They’ll still have that same beautiful melt-in-your-mouth texture, just a slightly more generous afternoon tea treat! 💛
Tania says
Great recipe, works every time
Mel says
Hi, I’m excited to try this recipe soon 😊
Can the biscuits be sandwiched the night before without turning soggy?
Lucy Mathieson says
Absolutely!
Michelle Aulich says
Hi There
These look great! One of our friends 9 year old daughter is caeliac. Would these work by substituting the flours for gluten free options?
Lucy says
Yes, they can be made gluten-free by using a good quality gluten-free self-raising flour and gluten-free plain flour, and by checking that the custard powder is gluten-free. You may just need to add a little extra flour or chill the dough briefly if it feels sticky.