Type | Biscuit |
---|---|
Place of origin | England |
Region or state | West Country |
Main ingredients | Flour, butter, egg yolk, baking powder, sugar, currant |
Easter biscuits are a traditional[ citation needed ] British cuisine gift, given to guests on Easter Sunday. [1]
Originating from the West Country, [2] they are made from flour, butter, egg yolk, baking powder, and sugar. Lightly spiced, the currant-studded soft and round biscuits have a soft, biscuity, sugary crunch. Some traditional recipes originating from the Somerset-area include Cassia oil, in the belief that it was used in the embalming process used to clean Jesus's body after his crucifixion. [3]
Most often, they are slightly bigger than traditional British biscuits, at up to 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter.
The Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water, and (optionally) desiccated coconut. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I.
Pizzelle are traditional Italian waffle biscuits made from flour, eggs, sugar, butter or vegetable oil, and flavoring. They can be hard and crisp or soft and chewy depending on the ingredients and method of preparation. Pizzelle can be molded into various shapes, including in the tubular shape of cannoli.
A biscuit, in most English speaking countries, is a flour-based baked and shaped food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. Types of biscuit include sandwich biscuits, digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-coated marshmallow treats, Anzac biscuits, biscotti, and speculaas.
Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain any leavening, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world.
A macaroon is a small cake or cookie, originally made from ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar, and now often with coconut or other nuts. They may also include jam or chocolate or other flavorings.
Focaccia is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread. In some contemporary places, such as Rome, it is a style of pizza, also called pizza bianca. Focaccia may be served as a side dish or as sandwich bread and it may be round, rectangular, or square shape.
Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap.
Ladyfingers, or in British English sponge fingers, are low-density, dry, egg-based, sweet sponge cake biscuits roughly shaped like large fingers. They are a principal ingredient in many dessert recipes, such as trifles and charlottes, and are also used as fruit or chocolate gateau linings, and for the sponge element of tiramisu. They are typically soaked in a sugar syrup or liqueur, or in coffee or espresso for tiramisu. Plain ladyfingers are commonly given to infants, being soft enough for teething mouths, but easy to grasp and firm enough not to fall apart.
Biscotti or cantucci are Italian almond biscuits that originated in the Tuscan city of Prato. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo. Versions with smaller pieces are known as biscottini or cantuccini.
Christmas cookies or Christmas biscuits are traditionally sugar cookies or biscuits cut into various shapes related to Christmas.
A custard cream is a type of sandwich biscuit popular in the British Isles filled with a creamy, custard-flavoured centre. Traditionally, the filling was buttercream but nowadays cheaper fats have replaced butter in mass-produced biscuits. The filling tastes of vanilla and as such is more akin to the taste of custard made with custard powder than egg custard. It is believed that the custard cream biscuit originated in Britain in 1908. Usually, they have an elaborate baroque design stamped onto them, originating in the Victorian era and representing ferns.
The Bath bun is a sweet roll made from a milk-based yeast dough with crushed sugar sprinkled on top after baking. Variations in ingredients include enclosing a lump of sugar in the bun or adding candied fruit peel, currants, raisins or sultanas.
Scottish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but also shares much with other British and wider European cuisine as a result of local, regional, and continental influences—both ancient and modern.
Biscuit rose de Reims, is a pink biscuit found in French cuisine, made pink by the addition of carmine.
In the United States and Canada, a biscuit is a variety of baked bread with a firm, dry exterior and a soft, crumbly interior. It is made with baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast, and at times is called a baking powder biscuit to differentiate it from other types. Like other forms of bread, a biscuit is often served with butter or other condiments, flavored with other ingredients, or combined with other types of food to make sandwiches or other dishes.
The morning roll is an airy, chewy bread roll popular in Scotland.