Biscuit Baking Recipes

Biscuit is a term used for a diverse variety of baked commonly flourbased food products The term is applied to two distinct products in North America and the Commonwealth of Nations and Europe The North American biscuit is typically a soft leavened quickbread and is covered in the article Biscuit bread This article covers the other type of biscuit which is typically hard flat and unleavened

A biscuit in the United States and parts of Canada and widely used in popular American English is a small bread with a firm browned crust and a soft interior They are made with baking powder or baking soda as a chemical leavening agent rather than yeast although they can also be made using yeast and are then called angel biscuits or a sourdough starter

They are traditionally served as a side dish with a meal As a breakfast item they are often eaten with butter and a sweet condiment such as molasses light sugarcane syrup maple syrup sorghum syrup honey or fruit jam or jelly With other meals they are usually eaten with butter or gravy instead of sweet condiments However biscuits and gravy biscuits covered in country gravy or biscuits with sausage are usually served for breakfast sometimes as the main course A biscuit may also be used to make a breakfast sandwich by slicing it in half and placing eggs andor breakfast meat in the middle

Biscuits today can be savoury or sweet but most are small at around 5 cm 20 in in diameter and flat The term biscuit also applies to sandwichtype biscuits wherein a layer of creme or icing is sandwiched between two biscuits such as the custard cream or a layer of jam as in biscuits which in the United Kingdom are known as Jammie Dodgers

Dunking a biscuit

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

In Britain the digestive biscuit and rich tea have a strong cultural identity as the traditional accompaniment to a cup of tea and are regularly eaten as such Many tea drinkers dunk their biscuits in tea allowing them to absorb liquid and soften slightly before consumption The best selling biscuit brand in the UK McVitie's biscuits are the most popular biscuits to dunk in tea with McVitie's chocolate digestives Rich tea and Hobnobs ranked the nation's top three favourite biscuits in 2018

A dark chocolate Tim Tam

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 biscuit20 Savoury biscuits sold in supermarkets are sometimes associated with a certain geographical area such as Scottish oatcakes or Cornish wafer biscuits

In general the British Australians South Africans New Zealanders Nigerians Kenyans Indians Pakistanis Sri Lankans Singaporeans and the Irish use the British meaning of biscuit for the sweet biscuit the terms biscuit and cookie are used interchangeably depending on the region and the speaker with biscuits usually referring to hard sweet biscuits such as digestives