Honey Jumbles are chewy, spiced honey cookies finished with a crisp icing. Once a popular packaged biscuit in Australia, they were discontinued in 2021, but you can easily make them at home with this authentic-adapted recipe.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Adapted from Arnott’s original recipe, the company that produced Honey Jumbles for decades in Australia.
- The warm, spiced honey flavor deepens as the cookies age, improving over time.
- This version includes practical ingredient substitutions for American kitchens while preserving the original taste and texture.
Honey Jumbles occupy a special place in Australian baking nostalgia. When Arnott’s discontinued the packaged biscuits, many fans were surprised and disappointed. These small, oval cookies taste like a cross between gingerbread and graham crackers. They are firm yet chewy inside, while the royal icing on top adds a crisp bite.
Whether you call them biscuits (as in Australia) or cookies (as in the United States), Honey Jumbles are unmistakably delicious and fun to make for holidays or everyday treats.
Ingredients
- If you can’t find treacle (used in the original Australian recipe), substitute golden syrup, light molasses, or extra honey. Golden syrup is a mild, amber inverted sugar syrup that closely resembles light treacle.
- The royal icing uses an uncooked egg white. For safety, use pasteurized eggs or pasteurized egg whites from a carton.
Instructions
This overview summarizes the method; full step-by-step directions follow in the recipe card below.
- Melt butter with honey and golden syrup in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Let cool slightly.
- Combine the dry ingredients, then add the melted butter mixture and milk to form a dough. Wrap and chill 1–2 hours until firm and workable.
- Divide dough into four equal wedges and roll each into a 12″ log. Cut each log into four 3″ segments.
- Place segments on a parchment-lined baking sheet, round the ends with your fingertips and flatten the tops slightly. Bake until just firm to the touch.
- Whisk the egg white until frothy, then sift in the confectioners’ sugar and add lemon juice. Stir until smooth to create royal icing.
- Dip half the cooled biscuits in white icing. Tint the remaining icing pink with food coloring and dip the other half. Allow the icing to dry completely before storing.
Storage
Let the icing harden fully (several hours to overnight) before packaging. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, Honey Jumbles stay fresh for at least two weeks.
Tips and variations
- The original recipe calls for ½ cup treacle. If unavailable, use golden syrup, mild molasses, or extra honey. Molasses yields a darker, more robust flavor.
- For food safety, use pasteurized egg whites in the royal icing or substitute a corn syrup-based glaze if you prefer an egg-free option. Corn syrup icing dries firm but lacks the distinct crunch of royal icing.
- Arnott’s traditionally iced these biscuits in white and pink. Feel free to change colors for holidays, parties, or themed events.
Frequently asked questions
Treacle is lighter in color and flavor compared with standard molasses. Molasses is thicker, darker, and can be slightly more bitter; light molasses is a closer substitute for treacle.
Golden syrup, also called light treacle, is an amber-colored inverted sugar syrup with a caramel-like flavor similar to brown sugar.
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UPDATED RECIPE — This version follows the recipe provided by Arnott’s after the commercial Honey Jumbles were discontinued. The earlier copycat version differs slightly.
Honey Jumbles
Ingredients
Cookies
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup golden syrup (or treacle, mild molasses, or extra honey)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk
Icing
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 egg white (pasteurized)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2–3 drops pink food coloring gel
Instructions
- Combine butter, honey, and golden syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and ginger.
- Add the melted butter mixture and milk to the dry ingredients. Stir to form dough.
- Scrape the dough onto plastic wrap and form into a disk. Chill 1–2 hours until workable and no longer sticky.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Divide dough into 4 equal wedges and roll each wedge into a 12″ log. Cut each log into four 3″ segments.
- Place segments on the prepared baking sheet about 1″ apart. Use fingertips to round the ends and slightly flatten the tops.
- Bake about 10 minutes until just firm to the touch. Cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- To make the icing, whisk the egg white until frothy. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and add the lemon juice. Stir gently until smooth.
- Place wax paper under the cooling rack to catch drips. Dip the top of eight biscuits in white icing and place them on the rack to dry.
- Tint the remaining icing with 2–3 drops of pink food coloring and dip the remaining eight biscuits. Allow icing to dry and harden completely (several hours or overnight).
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature; Honey Jumbles stay fresh for at least two weeks.
Notes
- Double-wrap pairs of cookies (bottoms together) in plastic wrap.
- Place wrapped pairs in an airtight container or a freezer-weight zip-top bag for longer storage.
Nutrition
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Carbohydrates: 29g
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Protein: 2g
First Published: September 7, 2013. Last Updated: October 24, 2023.