Biscuits originated from either hardtack ship's biscuits or the art of baking. Modern biscuits can be savory or sweet and are typically small, around 2 inches in diameter and flat. Biscuits are commonly eaten as a snack food worldwide and often contain ingredients like chocolate, fruit, or nuts. In Britain, biscuits like digestives are regularly dunked in tea. Savory biscuits are usually plainer and eaten with cheese. The process of making biscuits involves mixing dry and wet ingredients to form dough, cutting the dough into rounds or shapes, and baking.

1. Most modern biscuits can trace their origins back to either the hardtack ship's biscuit, or the creative art of
the baker:
[citation needed]
 Ship's biscuit derived: Digestive, rich tea, Abernethy, cracker
 Baker's art: Biscuit rose de Reims
Biscuits today can be savoury or sweet, but most are small at around 2 inches (5.1 cm) in diameter, and
flat. The term biscuit also applies tosandwich-type biscuits, wherein a layer of cream or icing is
sandwiched between two biscuits, such as the custard cream. European biscuits tend to be more sugary
in consistency, and often creative in design though higher in calories, whereas the standard British biscuit
is strong and stable (as opposed to crumbly) yet slightly blander (and typically cheaper compared to the
European standard), designed perhaps for the tradition of "dunking" in cups of tea; hence preventing the
[citation needed]
collapse of the biscuit and ruining of the beverage.
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, or even be used to
sandwich other fillings. There is usually a dedicated section for sweet biscuits in most
European supermarkets.
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.

2. 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. A large variety of 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 biscuit.
In general, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Singaporeans,
and the Irish use the British meaning of "biscuit" for the sweet biscuit. In Canada, the terms biscuit and
cookie are used interchangeably, depending on the region, with biscuits usually referring to hard, sweet
biscuits (i.e. digestives, Nice, Bourbon creams) and cookies for soft baked goods (i.e. chocolate chip
cookies). Two famous Australasian biscuit varieties are the ANZAC biscuit and the Tim Tam. This sense
is at the root of the name of the United States' most prominent maker of cookies and crackers, the
National Biscuit Company, now called Nabisco.
[edit]See also
History
Main article: Biscuit
Although the American English and British English use the same word to refer to two distinctly different
modern edible foods, early hard biscuits (North American: cookies), were derived from or as a storable
[3]
version of bread.
Early European settlers in the United States brought with them a simple, easy style of cooking, most often
[3]
based on ground wheat and warmed with gravy.
The biscuit emerged as a distinct food type in the early 19th century, before the American Civil War.
Cooks created a cheap to produce addition for their meals that required no yeast, which was expensive

3. and difficult to store. With no leavening agents except the bitter-tasting pearlash available, beaten
biscuits were laboriously beaten and folded to incorporate air into the dough which expanded when
heated in the oven causing the biscuit to rise. In eating, the advantage of the biscuit over a slice of bread
was that as it was harder, and hence when wiping up gravy it kept its shape and form, creating the
popular meal biscuits and gravy.
Perhaps these southern chefs had an advantage in creating biscuits. Northern American all-purpose
flours, mainly grown in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, are made from the hard spring wheats, that grow in a
cold winter climate. Southern American bleached all-purpose flours, originally grown in
the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee before national food distribution networks, are made from the soft
winter wheat that grows in the warm southern summer. This summer growth results in wheat that has
less protein, which is more suited to the creation of quick breads, as well as
[4][5]
cookies, cakes and muffins.
In 1875, Alexander P. Ashbourne patented the first biscuit cutter. It consisted of a board to roll the biscuits
out on, which was hinged to a metal plate with various biscuit cutter shapes mounted to it.
Pre-shaped ready-to-bake biscuits can be purchased in supermarkets, in the form of small refrigerated
cylindrical segments of dough encased in a cardboard can. These refrigerator biscuits were patented by
[3]
Ballard and Ballard in 1931.
[edit]Cooking
Biscuits can be prepared for baking in several ways. The dough can be rolled out flat and cut into rounds,
which expand when baked into flaky-layered cylinders. If extra liquid is added, the dough's texture
changes to resemble stiff pancake batter so that small spoonfuls can be dropped into the baking sheet to
produce "drop biscuits", which are more amorphous in texture and shape.
Large drop biscuits, because of their size and rough exterior texture, are sometimes referred to as "cat
head biscuits". A common variation on basic biscuits is "cheese biscuits", made by adding
[6]
grated Cheddar or American cheese to the basic recipe.
Home cooks may use refigerator biscuits for a quicker alternative to rolled or drop biscuits. Refigerator
[7]
biscuits can even be cooked over a campfire on a stick.
A sweet biscuit layered or topped with fruit (typically strawberries), juice-based syrup, and cream is
called shortcake. A type of biscuit called an "angel biscuit" contains yeast as well, as do those made with
a sourdough starter. In Canada, both sweet and savory are referred to as "biscuits," "baking powder
[citation needed]
biscuits," or "tea biscuits," although "scone" is also starting to be used.
[edit]Usage

4. Biscuits and gravy
Biscuits are a long-time staple of Southern U.S. cuisine and are often made with buttermilk. 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, 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.
Biscuits today are ubiquitous throughout the U.S. and feature prominently in many fast
food breakfast sandwiches. The biscuit sandwich burst onto the scene primarily through
[citation needed]
the Hardee's chain of restaurants as an answer to the McDonald's Egg McMuffin. Along with
the traditional country ham, Hardee's added sausage, cheese, eggs, steak, and even chicken to the
breakfast bread. In addition, biscuits are commonly found as a side dish at American branches of fried
chicken restaurants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Church's Chicken,Chicken Express, Popeyes
Chicken & Biscuits, and Bojangles' Famous Chicken n' Biscuits.

5. Biscuit recipe contains the process to make perfect biscuits which are edible and come in circular shapes
with rich butter taste.
Preparation of biscuits from scratch can be fun and has easy procedure which can be enjoyed even well in
the company of friends which may also lead to some creative dishes. Biscuits can be replaced with rolls or
sliced bread at breakfast, when they are topped with an assortment of appetizing ingredients. If biscuit
recipe is mixed proportionately, biscuits can come out in proper circular shape which can be of one or two
inch thickness and two or four inches in diameter. Biscuit recipe can either use readymade biscuit mix or
even go with wheat flour or all purpose flour. Biscuits can be a perfect side dish at lunch time or tea time
or even for brunch. Biscuit recipes these days also include jams, butter or jellies.
To make biscuits, all the dry ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder and if the biscuit recipe involves
butter, it should be used when it is cold. The dough should be handled soothingly and modestly in order to
keep it from hardening. All the items till now must be constantly stirred with the help of a spoon at the
same time should also keep on adding liquid ingredients.
After adding all the necessary ingredients, baker can
know biscuit dough to be prepared, when the mixture no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Then
sprinkle some dry flour on a flat surface and then turn over the dough to coat. The dough should be
kneaded lightly and rapidly to make the dough smooth. Markets have biscuit cutter in varied shapes
according to the user choice. If the baker decides to use these biscuits cutter, they have to firstly dip it in
the flour; the same should be done even in case of a knife before cutting the dough into any shape.
Biscuits should be cut close together in order to prevent any wastage of dough.

6. Biscuits
Biscuits are solid browned scab often sweetened made out of flour which are cooked in two fold process.
Requirement for easy to carry, nourishing and long
lasting food stuff for longer expeditions has let to prologue of baking products from flour, which was
considered a unswerving food source. Earlier, it was considered that most of the medical issues were
related to digestion of food among individuals, daily consumption of biscuits was said to solve these
problems along with providing the capability to sustain for longer time. With time, biscuits seemed to get
softer; attempts were made to harden them. These days in order to soften these dry and hard biscuits;
they are often dunked in some sort of liquid like milk, tea or coffee.
The name biscuits has evolved from the Latin word “bescuit” which means bis – twice and coquere – to
cook, hence understood as twice cooked, first baked, later on dehydrated out in a slow oven. Biscuits can
also be referred to as cookies which are to some extent elevated flat cakes. Biscuits can be defined as bread
made from dough swayed out and slash into a specific shape with the help of spoon. Throughout the
world, the term biscuits refer to brittle and crisp bread except in United States, where it means soft bread,
and for baked goods which are hard, they use the term cookie.
At first, biscuits were only cooked after making breads, in the baker’s oven, since they were considered a
cheap product to maintain sustenance among the poor, they by making them hard, unsweetened and
often dry making it necessary to use some sort of brine. With the increase in supply of produces like sugar,
meat and cheese, many areas in the world tend to come up with their own recipes for biscuits using
cheese, buttermilk, sugar etc. along with varied flavor of chocolate, strawberry

7. Homemade biscuits are much opted for than the canned biscuits, since they are much tastier and freshly
baked rather than stored goods.
To prepare better homemade biscuits, ingredients have to be taken in measure proportions and it also
requires correct mixing. There are electric mixers available in the bazaar; however it is preferable to mix
the dough with fingertips or any blender. Mixing with hands prevents over mixture of dough. The time
spent to prepare these homemade biscuits results in getting much tastier biscuits and also spending some
quality time with cooking partners.
Ingredients for homemade biscuits include flour (any
of these all-purpose flour, self rising flour or biscuit mix), baking powder, salt, shortening or cooking oil,
buttermilk or milk according to baker’s choice. Before even mixing all the ingredients of homemade
biscuits, the oven has to be preheated to a fixed temperature of 450F degrees, and then move to the
ingredients.
To start off with the process of making homemade biscuits, all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking
powder and salt) have to be combined and sieved into a bowl. The next step would be to cut the butter
into small crumbs so that they become flour coated crumbs instead of smooth dough because the butter
has to be really cold when put into this mixture. Then add the liquid ingredients buttermilk or milk and oil
at the same time when the flour is stirred to form dough. The texture of this dough has to be damp,
clammy and lumpy, stir dough until it leaves sides of the bowl. Now, spread some dry flour onto any flat
surface and put the dough onto the surface and start kneading it gently until it becomes smooth and
comes collectively. After this, the dough has to be rolled out into an half inch thickness, and the biscuits
can be cut out either using a cookie cutter or knife both of them dipped in flour before slashing the dough.
Place the cut biscuits dough onto the baking sheet and place them in oven for about 10-15 minutes, after
wards they can be served hot with butter.

8. Biscuit cake recipe can be made from leftovers of biscuits from the can which do not seem to be getting
eaten.
Biscuit cakes are easy to prepare and also contains
delectable tastes. It is very addictive since it does not involve much of baking and it can be made with an
ease by even kids. The main ingredients for biscuit cake recipe will be chocolate bar, milk, unsalted butter,
either homemade leftover biscuits or pack of biscuits and chocolate nutties.
The procedure for biscuit cake recipe will kick off with greasing any sort of cake tin which has to be kept
aside in the time, ingredients are put together. The chocolate bar has to be melted with milk, stir the
butter in this mixture. This mixture has to be kept aside until it cools off, but care has to be taken that the
mixture should not solidify. Now, the biscuits have to broken into small parts and mix them along with
chocolate nutties and any other optional items like dry nuts or any chocolate syrup. Take the biscuits
mixture and mix it with the chocolate and milk mix and stir it gently for some time. Now, put the entire
mixture into the greased cake tin. Put this tin aside with the mixture until it chills approximately for 3 hrs
and it has to become firm. Once the cakes become rigid, do away with it from the tin and slice it into thin
wedges and serve it cold.
There are various other procedure for biscuit cake recipe replacing some of the above said items, like the
chocolate nutties can be replaced with golden syrup and also after the mixture has been placed in the tin,
it can be refrigerated, for a couple of hours to set it properly.
Tags: Biscuit Cake Recipe

9. By : RehanaKhambaty
Category : Snacks and refreshments,Cheese, Baked dishes
Servings : 4
Time Taken : 30-45 mins
Rating :
Add to Favs
Method
1. Oven Temp: 425 deg F
2. Preheat the oven to 425 D. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder.
4. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Stir in the cheese and milk.
6. Mix with a fork until the dough comes together and forms a ball.
7. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead 5 - 6 times.
8. Roll the dough out to a 1 inch thickness.
9. Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter.
10. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until they are a light brown.
Optional: Brush the tops of the biscuits with 2 tbsp melted butter after removing form the oven.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
Bakewell Biscuits Pvt. Ltd.'s products are manufactured under the most hygienic conditions.
Immense caution is exercised in the procurement of raw materials such as wheat, flour, sugar,
vegetables, glucose, syrup and malt. Rigid quality standards are ensured at every stage of the
production process. Every batch of, Glucose Biscuits, Malt ‘n’ Milk Biscuits, Nice Biscuits, Milk
& Honey Biscuits etc. are thoroughly checked by quality experts using the most modern
equipment.
Depending on the flavor, the biscuit is reinforced with additional minerals and vitamins. There is
also a dash of added sugar for better taste. The food grade colours and chemicals used in the
manufacture of the biscuits are approved by requisite authorities and are of premium grade.
Quality Assurance
Quality is due importance in our organization. We exercise strict quality standards and carry out

10. production in most hygienic conditions. Stringent quality tests are conducted from procurement
of raw materials like wheat, flour, vegetables, malt, syrup to production of biscuits. Besides,
depending upon the flavor, biscuits are provided with additional vitamins and minerals to ass
rich taste to them.