- Season
- Available all year; a household staple with steady demand, used more for no-bake desserts around Christmas and celebrations
- Price
- Low
- Nutrition per 100 g
- 454 kcal
- 8.6 g protein
- 16 g fat
- 68.5 g carbs
Plain Biscuits
Sweets
Plain Biscuits
Sušenky bez náplně is the Czech retail category for packaged sweet biscuits that are not sandwiched or filled with cream, jam or nougat. It covers classics such as Opavia BeBe, Esíčka, Spekulky, Věnečky and Derby, as well as butter, cocoa, milk, cereal and oat biscuits.
In practice
How to store
- On the counter
Keep unopened packs in a cool, dry cupboard away from heat and strong smells, and use them by the minimum durability date ('minimální trvanlivost do'). Once opened, close the pack tightly or move the biscuits to an airtight tin or jar. They take up air humidity and go soft within days if left open.
- In the fridge
Not needed, and best avoided: fridges are humid and full of smells that biscuits absorb. The exception is desserts made with biscuits and cream, which must be kept chilled.
- In the freezer
Possible but rarely needed. Freeze them airtight and thaw them in the closed container so condensation does not soften them.
How to choose
Choose by what you will use the biscuits for. For no-bake cakes, biscuit roofs (BeBe střecha) and layered desserts, buy flat rectangular butter biscuits of the BeBe type: they keep their shape and soak up cream evenly. For rum balls (kuličky) and cheesecake or tart bases, any dry biscuit that crushes well will do, and cocoa or cinnamon types add flavour. To eat with coffee or tea, the choice is a matter of taste. Read the ingredients list. Butter is named as 'máslo'. Many cheaper biscuits use vegetable fats, such as palm or rapeseed, and may only have a 'máslová příchuť' (butter flavour). Check the allergen list and the 'may contain' traces line for milk, egg, soy, nuts and sesame. Avoid packs that are crushed or torn: broken biscuits are fine for crumbs, but a damaged pack lets in moisture.
What to swap in
Best swap
Another flat, dry butter or tea biscuit of similar size, such as petit-beurre-style biscuits from another brand. They behave almost the same in layered desserts and as crumbs.
In a pinch
For crumbs and bases, use Czech piškoty (sponge fingers or drops), crushed wafers (oplatky) or rusks (suchary), and adjust the butter in the recipe because these vary in fat and dryness. For layered desserts, piškoty soak up more liquid, so dip them for less time.
Preparation
The biscuits are ready to eat. For crumbs, put them in a sealed bag and crush them with a rolling pin, or pulse them in a food processor. For no-bake layered desserts, dip each biscuit briefly in milk, coffee or diluted rum. Dip for a second or two only: if they soak too long they fall apart. Then layer them with pudding cream, buttercream or whipped cream, and chill for several hours so they soften to a cake-like texture.
Don't toss it
Save broken biscuits and crumbs from the bottom of the pack in a jar. Use them as a base for rum balls or cheesecake, to thicken a fruit crumble topping, or to sprinkle over yoghurt or a dessert. Biscuits that have gone soft can be crisped again for a few minutes in an oven at 150 °C.
In the kitchen
Cooking
These biscuits are mostly used without baking. In Czech home cooking they are the base of nepečené dorty (no-bake cakes), in which dipped biscuits are layered with pudding or buttercream. Other uses include the BeBe roof dessert (BeBe střecha), biscuit rolls with cream, and rum balls made from crumbs, cocoa, butter or condensed milk, and rum. Crushed and mixed with melted butter, they make a pressed base for cheesecakes and tvaroh desserts. Bake that base briefly or just chill it. Crumbs can also replace part of the breadcrumbs in sweet crumbles and toppings.
Goes well with
- Milk
- Coffee
- Black Tea
- Rum
- Vanilla Pudding
- Butter
- Cocoa
- Whipped Cream
- Tvaroh
- Mascarpone
- Walnuts
- Cinnamon
What it is
Sušenky bez náplně is the Czech retail category for packaged sweet biscuits that are not sandwiched or filled with cream, jam or nougat. It covers classics such as Opavia BeBe, Esíčka, Spekulky, Věnečky and Derby, as well as butter, cocoa, milk, cereal and oat biscuits. Under Czech food law (vyhláška 18/2020 Sb.), sušenky are trvanlivé pečivo (shelf-stable baked goods): they are made by baking a dough that is either unleavened or raised with chemical raising agents, and they may contain no more than 10 % water. 'Bez náplně' only means the biscuit has no filling. It does not mean unflavoured: biscuits in this category can be flavoured with cocoa, cinnamon, honey, nuts or chocolate pieces, and Czech retailers such as Košík also put half-dipped (polomáčené) biscuits here. The opposite category is sušenky s náplní, which covers sandwich and filled biscuits.
How it tastes
The basic flavour is baked wheat flour, sugar and fat, with a light browned, toasty note from baking. Butter biscuits of the BeBe type are mild, milky and only moderately sweet, with a dry, snapping texture that softens fast when dipped in milk or tea. Cinnamon types such as Spekulky taste spiced and caramel-like. Cocoa biscuits such as Derby are gently bitter-sweet. Cereal and oat biscuits are coarser, nuttier and more crumbly.
Common questions
Does 'bez náplně' mean the biscuits are plain or unflavoured?
Which biscuits are best for a Czech no-bake cake?
Do these biscuits contain allergens?
How should I store an opened pack?
Are 'butter-flavoured' biscuits made with butter?
Deep dive
3 min read
Varieties
Butter biscuits (máslové sušenky).
The best-known Czech example is BeBe: a flat, rectangular, lightly sweet biscuit sold today under the Opavia brand, in versions including original, cocoa, cereal and milk. Biscuits sold with only 'butter flavour' usually use other fats.
Cinnamon and spiced biscuits.
Spekulky are crisp cinnamon biscuits. The Belgian Lotus Biscoff, sold widely in Czechia, is a related caramelised spiced biscuit.
Cocoa and marbled biscuits.
Examples are Derby (cocoa) and Esíčka (S-shaped, cinnamon and cocoa), both sold under the Opavia Zlaté name. Věnečky are ring-shaped biscuits in vanilla and cocoa versions.
Cereal, wholegrain and oat biscuits.
These are breakfast lines such as BeBe Dobré ráno, made with several wholegrain cereals, and oat biscuits such as those from Emco. They are coarser and often contain fruit, nuts or chocolate pieces.
Milk and tea biscuits.
Plain, dry biscuits for dunking, often sold in large packs.
Half-dipped biscuits (polomáčené).
Biscuits partly coated in milk or dark chocolate, such as Zlaté Polomáčené. Shops list them as unfilled because they have no filling inside, although they have a coating.
Different products, not this category
sandwich and cream-filled biscuits (sušenky s náplní), wafers (oplatky) such as Tatranky or Kolonáda, piškoty made from whipped sponge mixtures, and freshly baked home Christmas biscuits (vánoční cukroví).
History
Industrial biscuit and wafer making in Czech lands goes back to the 19th century. In Opava, a wafer business was founded in 1840, and the Opavia name dates from 1958. BeBe butter biscuits were first made in 1957 at the Deli factory in Lovosice, Czechoslovakia. The name is usually explained as short for 'butter biscuits'. BeBe and other unfilled biscuits became fixed parts of Czech home dessert-making, especially no-bake cakes. Today the Opavia brand belongs to Mondelēz International.
Science
Czech law sets a maximum of 10 % water for these biscuits, and their low water content is what keeps them shelf-stable for months. With so little free water, mould and bacteria cannot grow, so the main risks to quality are rancid fat and moisture coming in from the air. The dough is either unleavened or raised chemically, for example with ammonium or sodium bicarbonate, rather than with yeast. During baking, Maillard reactions and caramelisation of the sugar give the biscuits their golden colour and toasty flavour. Their structure is a dry, porous starch and sugar network. This is why they take in liquid quickly when dipped, and why chilled no-bake desserts turn cake-like as the biscuits slowly absorb moisture from the cream.
Sourcing and ethics
Most products in this category are made industrially by a few large manufacturers, both Czech-based and international. The ingredient list shows which fats were used. Some products use palm fat: look for certified sustainable palm oil statements if this matters to you, or choose biscuits made with butter or rapeseed oil. Cocoa in cocoa and dipped types may carry certification schemes, which are shown on the pack. Large family packs and plain cardboard packaging reduce waste per biscuit compared with individually wrapped portions.