[Mod.edit: This post moved from another thread to form a new topic (MG)]
I was curious to know the difference between a scone and an (American) biscuit, so I did a bit of research. I reviewed 10 different recipes for sweet scones, by well-known British chefs, and then did the same for biscuits with US chefs, meticulously avoiding the BBC recipes
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Basically, the two recipes are similar: a combination of flour, butter, milk or buttermilk, baking powder, sugar and salt. Scones always include sugar ( around 7%), basically because they´re normally served with jam and cream - although savoury scones would not. Typically, cheese scones, or my brother´s killer recipe for Cheddar and Bacon! SOME biscuits have a touch of sugar in them - 50/50 in the recipes I looked at.
Now here´s the difference: scones always use milk; biscuits use buttermilk 70% of the time. Scones only use about 20% milk, whereas biscuits average about 37% buttermilk. However, more than half the scone recipes used eggs - 1,2 or 3, whereas I didn´t see a single biscuit recipe with eggs in it.
Baking soda, perhaps baking powder as well, and salt are almost always present.
I also discovered that HM the Queen puts the jam on first, then the cream. So that solves that one! Additionally, you´d never serve a scone with gravy, whereas biscuits - yes.
I was curious to know the difference between a scone and an (American) biscuit, so I did a bit of research. I reviewed 10 different recipes for sweet scones, by well-known British chefs, and then did the same for biscuits with US chefs, meticulously avoiding the BBC recipes
.Basically, the two recipes are similar: a combination of flour, butter, milk or buttermilk, baking powder, sugar and salt. Scones always include sugar ( around 7%), basically because they´re normally served with jam and cream - although savoury scones would not. Typically, cheese scones, or my brother´s killer recipe for Cheddar and Bacon! SOME biscuits have a touch of sugar in them - 50/50 in the recipes I looked at.
Now here´s the difference: scones always use milk; biscuits use buttermilk 70% of the time. Scones only use about 20% milk, whereas biscuits average about 37% buttermilk. However, more than half the scone recipes used eggs - 1,2 or 3, whereas I didn´t see a single biscuit recipe with eggs in it.
Baking soda, perhaps baking powder as well, and salt are almost always present.
I also discovered that HM the Queen puts the jam on first, then the cream. So that solves that one! Additionally, you´d never serve a scone with gravy, whereas biscuits - yes.
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