![]() ![]() The Bourbon, in biscuit form, was created in England by Peek Freans in 1910, and, since falling out of whatever copyright system biscuits may use, is now pretty much made by everyone. If it makes you feel better, Bourbon County in Kentucky (as well as the actual spirit, of course), are also named after the royal Bourbons, so, you know, Americans got the boozier end of that deal. The name refers to the royal house of Bourbon, a line of noble ancestry that produced monarchs in both France and Spain from the 16th century onwards. ![]() Now, that may be a deal breaker for you I know it was a big disappointment for Emily. Let’s get this out of the way at the outset: there’s no actual bourbon whisky in bourbon biscuits. And we’re going to start with the classic sandwich chocolate biscuit, the Bourbon. Here in the US, though, we’re just going to have to roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves. Of course, living in Britain, few people would go to the trouble of making a variety of a store-bought biscuit, since it’s a matter of minutes to pop into the nearest shop and pick some up. If it helps you to think of them as “tea biscuits” or even “sweet crackers”, feel free. Some are a single layer (digestive or Rich Tea), and some comprise two layers sandwiched with a thin cream filling (custard creams, Bourbons). So here’s the best definition of “biscuit” that I can come up with:Ī small, lightly sweetened, unrisen baked item, that will break with a snap (it should definitely not bend), and is typically eaten as a light snack with a drink (tea, coffee, milk). As for the “all biscuits are cookies” camp, while that may be technically true, if you asked me for a cookie and I gave you a Rich Tea biscuit you’d be pretty miffed. Depending on who you ask, “biscuits” might totally be a subset of “cookies” (i.e., all biscuits are cookies), or it may have a significant overlap (many biscuits are cookies, but not all), but it’s hard to make the argument that the two are completely separate. If I was the dedicated type, this is where I might insert a Venn diagram of dessert snacks with a big circle in the middle representing the set of “cookies”, and another circle representing the set of “biscuits”. Brits (and Commonwealth-based readers) will know exactly what I’m talking about, but just to make the point clear: I don’t mean American-style “biscuits”, the savory (sometimes cheesy) risen doughy product with a soft interior that you might slather with butter and eat for brunch. Neither are they exactly “cookies”, in the strictest sense. Call it winter blues, call it having a massive sweet tooth, or call it being homesick for my mother country’s dessert items, but over the last few weeks I’ve had a big old hankering for biscuits. ![]()
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