‘A British scone is not an American biscuit and I know the difference’

Who does not love a scone? Almost all of us love them with lashings of fresh thick cream and thick tasty jam. Biscuits, on the other hand, are an American staple and eaten in quite different ways to our humble scone… The other day I found myself thinking about the two tasty treats. Each has its own peculiarity but how different are they really?

Scones quite often contain eggs in the mix. Biscuits never have egg.

Scones also have sugar added and are generally sweeter than biscuits, although, not always. Biscuits rarely have sugar added.

Scones can also be heavier in texture, almost cake like, whilst biscuits are light and fluffy.

There is more liquid in a scone mixture than in a biscuit mix. Both are usually round in shape but on occasion scones can be triangular.

Scones are Scottish in origin and often contain dried fruit or mashed veg, for example, pumpkin scones. Lady Flo Bjelke Petersen was the best pumpkin scone maker in Australia, so the story goes, but whoever said that obviously did not taste my pumpkin scones.

There are many recipes for scones. The Scottish recipes almost always includes egg in the mix. The scones are kneaded for quite a while then cut into rounds or triangles and cooked in a very hot oven. The quicker the better, so my grandma used to say.

Some people make scones that are more akin to golf balls or house bricks and quite possibly they need to use the fail safe lemonade and cream recipe to have better success.

Biscuits, on the other hand, are thought to have originated in the southern United States of America, they never contain fruit. Oh no, that would be disastrous seeing as they are usually served covered in gravy! Not the kind of lovely brown gravy us Aussies are used to, but a thick grey/white type of gravy that does not look the least bit appealing… Well not to me anyway.

Biscuits are made using shredded cold butter, salt and of course buttermilk. The mix is made up quickly, kneaded minimally then folded in three, kneaded a little more, folded in three again, a bit like making flaky pastry, and then cut into rounds. The butter is quite visible and gives the finished biscuit a lovely flaky texture. I really like biscuits, just not with gravy. I actually make them at home and put jam and cream on them. Yummo!

I really like scones as well, and do not have a favourite so I cook scones one week and biscuits the next. Both though are way better if eaten with a nice hot tea or coffee … And with lashings of cream and jam.

Do you know of foods that are said to be the same as something from another culture but are not? Do you have a favourite scone or biscuit recipe?

Do you have a story to share with Starts at 60? We want to publish it. Sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60. Stories written by over-60s go into the draw for some great weekly prizes. You can also join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club on Facebook to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.