Gluten Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free
If you love cookies that offer both chewiness and crunchiness in texture, you are going to love this recipe! These Australian favourites are irresistible chocolate cream filled sandwich cookies. They have not lost their popularity since their 1926 creation by the Arnott Biscuit Company. The cookies are similar to another popular Australian cookie called Anzac Cookies, which have similar ingredients and preparation methods to the Kingston biscuits. These Home Baked Kingston Biscuits adapt very well to gluten-free and dairy-free substitutions. Kingston Biscuits have always been egg-free and nut-free. For the purpose of this post, I am providing the gluten-free and dairy-free version of this recipe.

Petite Home Baked Kingston Biscuits
Chef Talk: Small is better when making these sandwich cookies (1 ½ inch in diameter once baked). They make perfect petit fours. Use a 1 teaspoon (10 g) size cookie scoop. Dark chocolate can be used to achieve dairy free biscuits, or, milk chocolate when dairy-free is not an issue. Milk chocolate is used in traditional Kingston Biscuits.

Note: when I was researching this recipe, I found many versions showing the butter being melted together with the golden syrup. In my experimentation with this recipe, I found that the cookie dough blends into a paste and forms a ball much more effectively when I add the room temperature coconut butter to the dry mixture and mix it well, then add the warm syrup to this mixture. Give it a try.
Yield: 80 cookies (40 filled cookies 1 ½” in diameter)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup (130 g) gluten free all-purpose flour or regular all-purpose flour (120 g)
- ½ cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ¼ cups (130 g) quick oats
- 2/3 cup (65 g) fine desiccated coconut, unsweetened
- ¼ cup (80 g) golden syrup (I use Lyle’s golden syrup)
- ½ cup (95 g) coconut butter or unsalted butter (115 g)
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- 1 ½ tablespoons (22 ml) boiling water
Filling:
1 cup (200 g) dark or milk chocolate
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 350oF/180oC. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a mixer with a paddle or a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, oats, coconut and salt. Combine well.
- Add the coconut butter into the dry ingredient mixture and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Add the golden syrup to a small saucepan and warm it over low heat.
- Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the warm syrup. The mixture will froth up immediately.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients on medium speed. It will be paste-like.
- Use a mini cookie scoop (mine is 1 teaspoon – 10 g of dough) to scoop balls of dough and place them on the baking sheet 1 ½ inches apart. Flatten the cookies just slightly.
- Bake for 6 – 8 minutes until lightly golden brown. Cool completely before filling.
- For the filling: Melt the milk chocolate in a double boiler (bain-marie) over barely simmering water or gently in the microwave until just melted.
- Place about ½ teaspoon of the melted chocolate filling on a cookie and sandwich together with another cookie. Let the cookies set at room temperature before storing.
Storage: Store the cookies in an airtight tin for up to a week, however, it is doubtful that they will last that long. For longer storage, the cookies freeze very well.
Chef Tip: Always check cookies for doneness a few minutes before the recipe suggests. Oven temperatures vary greatly.
Please CLICK the link above to access my Urb’n’Spice LEARNING TIPS, which are listed alphabetically on the Learning Tips blog post under the following subheadings:
- Bain-Marie
- Favourite Kitchen Tools: Spatula
- Gluten-Free Flour
- Oven Temperature Accuracy
__________
You Might Also Enjoy these Urb’n’Spice recipes:
Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies
Nut Butter Cookies and No-Nut Butter Cookies
Old Fashioned Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
Picca Bots – A Chocolate Chip Cookie Story
Ricciarelli – An Italian Almond Cookie
Twice Baked Nutty Meringue Cookie Crisps
If you try my recipe for Petite Home Baked Kingston Biscuits, please leave me a comment below with your feedback. Don’t forget to pin this recipe for later!
Denise Paré-Watson
The Urb’n’Spice Chef
Follow me on Social Media
Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
Did you Make my Recipe?
Tag me @urbnspice on Instagram and hashtag #urbnspice
Sources:
Wikipedia – Kingston Biscuits

I’ve never heard of these cookies but I love the look and sound of them. Crunch plus chewy is cookie heaven to me, and the chocolate filling is a delicious touch. I know these will disappear fast. Thanks for another great recipe, Denise!
Thanks so much, Colleen! These little cookies are quite addictive, even un-filled. 🙂
I’ve never heard of kingston biscuits before, but from the looks of things, I know I’d love ’em! Wish I had a huge stack with a cold glass of milk right about now!!
I think that you would love these Kingston Biscuits, Dawn – and they are particularly good with a big glass of cold milk. 🙂
Here’s a recipe I can’t wait to try! Love the crunchy cookie and soft chocolate filling together. It’s so great that you’ve researched and resurrected this classic recipe!
Thank you, Elaine! Kingston Biscuits are a lovely cookie and worthy of resurrecting, for sure. I hope you get a chance to try them one day.
I have never heard of these, Denise but they sound scrumptious (all you really had to say was chocolate in the middle 🙂 )! I generally don’t think to make sandwich cookies but they are such a good idea!
They are indeed scrumptious little cookies and that milk chocolate filling is the bomb, Terri! I would have to agree with you that I also do not think about making sandwich cookies (other than the French macarons), but this Kingston Biscuit cookie is worth a baking session. 🙂