Here is a quick lesson in British to American vocabulary for you:
Pants = underwear
Torch = flashlight
Aubergine = eggplant
Courgette = zucchini
Biscuits = cookies
Since biscuits are cookies in these parts, I decided to make good old Southern style American biscuits to compare US biscuits to UK biscuits. While we obviously have cookies in the US, I have yet to find something similar to US biscuits in London.
Both of the recipes I made for this experiment are super simple. I wanted just the basics in my biscuits for the comparison. I sampled both, along with my Australian flatmates, Joel and Jacinta. Both biscuit recipes went over quite well with all of us!
After several samplings (to ensure we had come to a fair conclusion of course), we decided it’s not fair to have to pick one biscuit over the other. Both are delicious in their own way. If you are hungry for something savory, US biscuits are the way to go, but if your sweet tooth needs to be satisfied, UK biscuits will do the trick.
While the search to find savory biscuits here in London continues, below is a great recipe to satisfy the savory cravings!
US Biscuits
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yields: 12 biscuits
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup butter, softened
1¼ cups buttermilk
¼ cup chopped chives (optional)
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the softened butter in pieces and mix until combined, either in a food processor, with a pastry cutter, or by hand with a wooden spoon. Add in the buttermilk ½ a cup or so at a time until the mixture is doughy, but still crumbly. I made six biscuits out of this plain mix, then added the chives and cheddar for the remaining six biscuits. Place onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top and smelling delicious.
UK Biscuits
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yields: 12 biscuits
Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
70g granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g flour
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the softened butter and the sugar until combined. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Finally, mix in the flour until doughy and smooth. If you prefer crispier biscuits, roll out the dough as you would sugar cookies until about ¼ inch thick and cut into circles, or whatever shape you like. Bake for about 10 minutes. If you prefer soft, doughy biscuits, use a spoon to drop the dough onto a cookie sheet in clumps and bake for 15 minutes until brown on top, my preferred method!
Which type of biscuit do you prefer, savory or sweet?
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