It can be argued that the development of biscuits, as a dry form of flour dough began with the need for travelling bread, particularly for travelling. The introduction of the baking of processed cereals, including the creation of flour, provided a more reliable source of food. Egyptian sailors carried a flat, brittle loaf of millet bread called dhourra cake while the Romans had a biscuit called buccellatum. Roman cookbook Apicius describes: 'a thick paste of fine wheat flour was boiled and spread out on a plate. When it had dried and hardened, it was cut up and then fried until crisp, then served with honey and pepper'.

Hard biscuits soften as they age. To solve this problem, early bakers attempted to create the hardest biscuit possible. Because it is so hard and dry, if properly stored and transported, navies' hardtack will survive rough handling and high temperature. Baked hard, it can be kept without spoiling for years as long as it is kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two. To soften hardtack for eating, it was often dunked in brine, coffee, or some other liquid or broken into pieces and cooked into a skillet meal.

Early biscuits were hard, dry, and unsweetened. They were most often cooked after bread, in a cooling bakers' oven; they were a cheap form of sustenance for the poor.

By the 7th century AD, cooks of the Persian empire had learnt from their forebears the techniques of lightening and enriching bread-based mixtures with eggs, butter, and cream, and sweetening them with fruit and honey. One of the earliest spiced biscuits was gingerbread, in French, pain d'épices, meaning "spice bread", brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Grégoire de Nicopolis. He left Nicopolis Pompeii, of Lesser Armenia to live in Bondaroy, France, near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there for seven years and taught French priests and Christians how to cook gingerbread. This was originally a dense, treacly (molasses-based) spice cake or bread. As it was so expensive to make, early ginger biscuits were a cheap form of using up the leftover bread mix.

With the combination of knowledge spreading from Al-Andalus, and then the Crusades and subsequent spread of the spice trade to Europe, the cooking techniques and ingredients of Arabia spread into Northern Europe.[4] By mediaeval times, biscuits were made from a sweetened, spiced paste of breadcrumbs and then baked (e.g., gingerbread), or from cooked bread enriched with sugar and spices and then baked again.[19] King Richard I of England (aka Richard the Lionheart) left for the Third Crusade (1189–92) with "biskit of muslin", which was a mixed corn compound of barley, rye, and bean flour.

The milk chocolate coated side of a McVitie's chocolate digestive. It is routinely ranked the UK's favourite snack. As the making and quality of bread had been controlled to this point, so were the skills of biscuit-making through the craft guilds. As the supply of sugar began, and the refinement and supply of flour increased, so did the ability to sample more leisurely foodstuffs, including sweet biscuits. Early references from the Vadstena monastery show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease digestion in 1444. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 16th century, where they were sold in monastery pharmacies and town square farmers markets. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution in Britain sparked the formation of businesses in various industries, and the British biscuit firms of McVitie's, Carr's, Huntley & Palmers, and Crawfords were all established by 1850.

Most modern biscuits can trace their origins back to either the hardtack ship's biscuit or the creative art of the baker:
Ship's biscuit derived: digestive, rich tea, hobnobs, Garibaldi.
Baker's art: biscuit rose de Reims.

Biscuits today can be savoury (crackers) or sweet. Most are small, at around 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter, and flat. Sandwich-style biscuits consist of two biscuits sandwiching a layer of "creme" or icing, such as the custard cream, or a layer of jam (as in the biscuits that are known as "Jammie Dodgers" in the United Kingdom).

Sweet biscuits are commonly eaten as a snack food, and are, in general, made with wheat flour or oats, and sweetened with sugar or honey. Varieties may contain chocolate, fruit, jam, nuts, ginger, or even be used to sandwich other fillings.

Savoury biscuits or crackers (such as cream crackers, water biscuits, oatcakes, or crisp breads) are usually plainer and commonly eaten with cheese following a meal. Many savoury biscuits also contain additional ingredients for flavour or texture, such as poppy seeds, onion or onion seeds, cheese (such as cheese melts), and olives. Savoury biscuits also usually have a dedicated section in most European supermarkets, often in the same aisle as sweet biscuits. The exception to savoury biscuits is the sweetmeal digestive known as the 'Hovis biscuit', which, although slightly sweet, is still classified as a cheese biscuit.[32] Savoury biscuits sold in supermarkets are sometimes associated with a certain geographical area, such as Scottish oatcakes or Cornish wafer biscuits.

The alphabetical list of all the biscuit, cookie and cracker recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 310 recipes in total:

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Melomakrona (Honey Semolina Biscuits)      Origin: Greece	Peanut Cookies      Origin: Britain	Shamrock Sugar Biscuits      Origin: Ireland
Microwave Mint Julep Cheesecake      Origin: American	Peanut Macaroons      Origin: Sudan-a	Sheqerpare (Biscuits in Syrup)      Origin: Albania
Mincemat, Macadamia and Cranberry Biscotti      Origin: Fusion	Pineapple Pudding      Origin: India	Shetland Shortbread      Origin: Scotland
Mincemeat Blondies      Origin: Fusion	Pineappleweed Biscuits      Origin: Britain	Ship's Biscuit      Origin: Britain
Mini Milk Cookies      Origin: America	Pineappleweed Posset Pots      Origin: Britain	Short Cakes      Origin: Britain
Mini Pots of Gold      Origin: Ireland	Pineappleweed Skolebrød      Origin: Britain	Shortbread Oatmeal Biscuits      Origin: Scotland
Mint Shortbread Biscuits      Origin: Ireland	Piparkökur (Icelandic Pepper Biscuits)      Origin: Iceland	Shropshire Cakes      Origin: England
Mtedza (Peanut Puffs)      Origin: Malawi	Pitcaithly Bannocks      Origin: Scotland	Snowball Cakes      Origin: Britain
Mtedza Puffs      Origin: Malawi	Polvorones de Canela (Cinnamon Shortbread)      Origin: Spain	Soda Bread Biscuits      Origin: Ireland
Mulled Wine Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	Polvorones puertorriqueños (Guava Thumbprint Biscuits)      Origin: Puerto Rico	Soul Cakes      Origin: Britain
Mulled Wine Cheesecake II      Origin: Britain	Prince Bisket      Origin: Britain	South African Ginger Biscuits      Origin: South Africa
Naples Biscuits      Origin: American	Puerto Rican Dulce de Leche      Origin: Puerto Rico	Speculaas      Origin: Netherlands
Naples Bisket      Origin: Britain	Pumpkin Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	Spiced Brown Sugar Shortbread      Origin: Scotland
Navettes Bretonnes aux fruits rouges (Breton Navettes with Red Fruit)      Origin: France	Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust      Origin: American	Springerle (German Christmas Cookies)      Origin: Germany
New York Cheesecake II      Origin: America	Pumpkin Spice Cookies      Origin: American	Spruce Tip Shortbread      Origin: Britain
No Bake Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	Raivas (Portuguese Cinnamon Butter Biscuits)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Sugared Flower Shortbreads      Origin: Britain
No-bake Cheesecake 3      Origin: Scotland	Raspberry Jam Shortbreads      Origin: Britain	Sweety Trees      Origin: British
No-bake Cheesecake II      Origin: American	Ratafia Biscuits      Origin: Scotland	Tantallon Cakes      Origin: Scotland
No-bake Lemon Cheesecake      Origin: American	Red Chilli Biscuits      Origin: America	Teisen Frau Gellyg Ffres a Mascarpone (Fresh Pear and Mascarpone Shortcake)      Origin: Welsh
Oat and Barley Milk Cakes      Origin: Ancient	Red Clover and Almond Biscuits      Origin: Britain	Teisen Frau Noswaith Lawen (Merry Evening Shortbread)      Origin: Welsh
Oat and Currant Biscuits      Origin: Britain	Red Lobster's Cheesecake      Origin: American	Teisennau 'Berffro ('Berffro Cakes)      Origin: Welsh
Oat Biscuits      Origin: Britain	Rhubarb and Ginger Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	Teisennau Aberffraw (Aberffraw Biscuits)      Origin: Welsh
Oatcakes      Origin: Ancient	Ricciarelli (Sienese Christmas Biscuits)      Origin: Italy	Teisennau Ffair Llangadog (Llangadog Fair Cakes)      Origin: Welsh
Oatmeal Cakes      Origin: Scotland	Sablés Bretons (Breton Biscuits)      Origin: France	Teisennu Briwsionu Cyffug Mêl Penfro (Pembrokeshire honey fudge crumblies)      Origin: Welsh
Obuoliniai Sausainiai (Lithuanian Apple Biscuits)      Origin: Lithuania	Saboera Biscuits      Origin: South Africa	Thorcake      Origin: Britain
Omled Sloj (Onion Greens Omelette)      Origin: Welsh	Sagu Keju (Indonesian Cheese Biscuits)      Origin: Indonesia	Tipperary Biscuits      Origin: Scotland
Orange Cheesecake 2      Origin: Britain	Salted Caramel Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	To make jumballs      Origin: British
Orange Chesecake      Origin: Britain	Scotch Cake Biscuits      Origin: Scotland	To make mackeroons      Origin: Britain
Ostkaka (Swedish Cheesecake)      Origin: Sweden	Scottish Lace Biscuits      Origin: Scotland	Tonka Bean Shortbread      Origin: British
Palets Breton (Breton Pucks)      Origin: France	Scottish Oatcakes      Origin: Scotland	Tortas de Aceite (Sesame Seed and Aniseed Biscuits)      Origin: Spain
Palets bretons au caramel salé (Breton Pucks with Salted Caramel)      Origin: France	Scottish Parliament Cakes      Origin: Scotland	Traou Mad (Breton Macaroons)      Origin: France
Panlevi (Sponge Biscuits)      Origin: Aruba	Scottish Shortbread      Origin: Scotland	Ube Cheesecake      Origin: Austria
Peanut Butter Cheesecake      Origin: Britain	Sea-buckthorn Cheesecake      Origin: Britain
Peanut Clusters      Origin: Britain	Seaweed Flour Biscuits      Origin: Britain

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