My Favourite Cookies
Every time I make cookies or biscuits, I always ask, what is the difference? I found this interesting post in the Oxford Dictionaries site, which summed it up in one very interesting paragraph.
” A British biscuit is an American cookie and an American cookie is a British cookie and an American biscuit is a British scone and an American scone is something else entirely. Simple! Now, what would you like with your tea?” you want to read more? click here
- Ingredients
- 175g (6oz, 1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 75g (2.6oz) cornstarch (cornflour)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 175g (1½ sticks, 6oz) butter, softened
- 120g (4.2oz, ½ cup + 1 tablespoon) sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar to top
Please, always assemble all ingredients before you start.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) 10 minutes before baking. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Sift or whisk the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Set aside.
Beat butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy then fold in the flour and lemon juice, to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly
then roll out thinly and cut into desired shapes. (I don’t have cookie cutters so I used a glass and just tried to be creative using a fork LOL)
Place them onto prepared sheet and prick, lightly with a fork.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until light golden. Leave on baking sheets for 5 minutes
then transfer onto cooling rack. Dredge with sugar, once cool.
In Britain and the rest of the world, these would be called biscuits. Nice and crunchy and refreshing
In North America, these would be cookies, but does it matter what you call it as long as it tastes good?
Lemon Butter Cookies
Preparation time: 30 minutes; Baking time: 15 minutes Makes: 25 cookies
Ingredients
- 175g (6oz, 1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 75g (2.6oz) cornstarch (cornflour)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 175g (1½ sticks, 6oz) butter, softened
- 120g (4.2oz, ½ cup + 1 tablespoon) sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar to top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) 10 minutes before baking. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Sift or whisk the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Set aside.
- Beat butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Fold in the flour and lemon juice, to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly then roll out thinly and cut into desired shapes. Place them onto prepared sheet and prick, lightly with a fork.
- Bake 12-15 minutes. Leave on baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer onto cooling rack. Dredge with sugar, once cool.
- For cup measures: spoon the flour into the cup, heaping it up over the top, then slide a knife across the top to level off the extra. Be careful not to shake or tap the cup to settle down the flour or you will have more than you need. I use a 240ml American cup.
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
Hi Liz – I am laughing at your characterization of American scones. I need some proper scones in my life, I shall have to scour your blog to get a recipe.These cookies look sooo good. Kat
I actually wondered what an American scone is by this definition. What is it really?
Liz
I agree – they’re not true scones… they’re too doughy, too soft and too sweet. We’ll have to think of a name for them!
Do you have a recipe? I need to taste them, please, thanks!
Liz
Already sent you a recipe my friend!! Let me know what you think – they’re fun to make – and I’ve seen that people are making Tacos with the ‘baking powder’ versions!! (Of course, we made small ones with I taught the ‘wee ones’ so they could each have their very own.)
Thanks Cecile for the recipe. I used to make the Indian Poori-no raising agent but very tasty. Have a blessed Easter!
Liz
You are just something Liz – you’re the only one I know who makes Naan and also Indian Poori!
I’ll be with one of my sons and his family… we’re going to a cute place for a buffet.
Wishing you a wonderful Easter!
I was away in Toronto over the weekend. We went to this lovely Thai restaurant that serves really great food. I thoroughly enjoyed eating and sampling from other peoples plates! We all ordered a different dish. Great way to taste 6 things at the same time!
Liz
I LOVE doing things like that – trying all kinds of different dishes. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend!!
It was awesome!
Liz
funniest description of a cookie ever! Yet my family makes what is commonly known here as Fry Bread and for some reason calls it a scone? so yes my families Scones are entirely different from any other I have seen… The cookies look wonderful and hope your mixer does come back to life!
Fry bread? what in the world is that? Let me google and see…maybe I know it but call it something else. I’m still mourning my mixer…I’ll have somebody look at it. Maybe it can be repaired. Have a fantastic week!
Liz
I used to make Fry Bread with the children when I taught preschool. I don’t remember if there’s a bit of leavening in it or not…. but you roll out blobs of dough, flatten it with your hands and then fry it oil. I found it. I think people such as Mountain Men or trappers – men didn’t have time to wait for bread to rise – use to make it while out on the trail. My students always loved it. I think we used to dip it in maple syrup. It’s pretty good!!
I think I know what you mean. Do you add baking powder to the dough? or is it just a dry crispy thing?
Liz
The dough does puff up… it’s kind of cool. I can’t remember if there’s a rising agent… I’m thinking no. That would’ve been more than a trapper cared to carry ‘me thinks’!!
So that would be more like an Indian Poori then? see this link … http://www.chitrasfoodbook.com/2013/11/poori-recipe-how-to-make-puffy-poori.html
Except the Indian Fry Bread doesn’t puff up and get all crispy – but it’s the same idea. (Indian Fry Bread is more doughy.)
Okay, Cecile. Thanks so much. I shall try the recipe and get to taste it, soon, I hope! Have a great week!
liz
I’m gonna write myself a note to look for the recipe for the one I used to make with my students!
I’ll be happy to see it, thanks
liz
I just wrote my note to look for the Fry Bread I used to make with my students. Happy Monday My Friend!!
Thank you. It’s nice and quiet at home today. Just preparing dinner!
liz
Here’s a recipe from The Pioneer Woman – she said she’s modified the original recipe (I think by adding baking powder). This looks like a good recipe, although it’s not the more basic one I used with the children during our unit on Native Americans. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/indian-fry-bread-recipe.html
Thanks Cecile. Fry Bread is a kind of fried dough made the world over, but has different names depending on where it’s made. I just googled wiki and there is a long list of different fried doughs. I think I want to try making some of these doughs. Quite interesting how people have the same idea everywhere!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fried_dough_foods
I don’t know why they call this ‘Indian’ Fry Bread because Native Americans didn’t cultivate wheat… and therefore didn’t have flour until the Europeans came.
I did see this made on the Aboriginal Channel I used to watch in Canada – the channel dedicated to all things Native Canadian.
I didn’t know so many cultures have different types of fried dough – how about that. Once I did an article about different unleavened breads for a start-up magazine in Malta… the magazine was wonderful but it didn’t make it.
Oh there are so many magazines, these days, online and print, so it’s so difficult to get into the market. And what about all the food blogs etc. We are totally flooded with information!!!
Liz
I know…. I’m constantly saving – on my computer and Pinterest – plus pulling great looking recipes out of magazines. I’ll never make them all, even if I live to 100!! (You have a far better chance, my motivated friend!) ; o )
I used to but stopped. I’m flooded with cookery books, everywhere, and piles of food magazines.
Liz
I think I may have told you that I recently gave away LOTS of cookbooks… trying to downsize…
I keep thinking I’m not going to clip anymore magazine recipes… but then I see some I just think I need to have. Like a recent one for chicken roasted with a honey glaze. The recipe looks delicious and the way the chicken is roasted is unusual, so I’d love to share it.
I am mad about roasting chicken. So I wouldn’t mind having that recipe with honey glaze. I am going to plan making the yankee pot roast this week. Will give you a feedback! I have hundreds of cookbooks and I keep on imagining one day I’ll cook all the recipes! wishful thinking ha ha!
Liz
I know… we’d have to live for a few hundred years to have time to make all the recipes we’ve gathered!! Hundreds of cookbooks – that’s awesome!!!
Oh God sometimes I freak out…because I want to make everything but I can’t!
Biscuits. Cookies. I don’t care what you call ’em, Liz. They’ve got lemon flavoring and look awfully crispy. That’s all I need to know, They’re delicious! 🙂
These ones were really nice and tasty John. I ate them slowly for one week! I would certainly make them again!
Liz
I agree with you, Liz, as long as they taste good, who cares what you call them. And these do look good! I like the addition of lemon in them. I wish we had tea in the afternoons in America! These would be perfect for tea.
Hi Shari,
You can create your own afternoon tea anytime you want. This is a free world. Have a wonderful week.
Liz
Always entertaining how everyone call ,the same thing a different name. I don’t care what you call these, they look delicious. So much baking going on lately, I’d be as big as a house if I were near you. I have so much I want to bake but realistically should cut down. Perhaps more salad recipes! Actually I’m looking forward to lots of veggies from the garden. That being said it was a pie recipe today! I’ll never stop baking.
Ha ha do you know I had to stop baking because I was adding up all the pounds I’d worked so hard to lose? I took a ten day break, that’s why am able to post daily. As soon as I start baking again, the posting will slow down. I’m never able to bake, take photos and post at the same time. I get drained.
Please take lots of photos when you go to Europe. I love Europe but am not able to visit any time soon. Have a great week!
Liz
That’s quite a definition–and it doesn’t really clear things up, does it? Whatever–I love them all and lemon butter sounds like a delectable combo!
Soo good. Have a great week!
Liz
so good it looks…
Thanks, Bhumi.
Liz
It doesn’t matter at all. I’ll take a dozen, thank you!
Okay one dozen coming up your way!
Liz
YUM!!! I love the way they look!
Thank you!
Liz
I had to chuckle at your post. My version of a scone has an egg added rather than with baking powder biscuits, no egg! In Australia, cookies are biscuits as well, or it seems as if it has some kind of icing or embellishment then its cakes. And to make matters even more confusing, biscuits become bickys! Such fun in what we call things. Every one of us is sure we call them by their proper names. Anyway Liz, I like your cookie recipe! It actually looks more like a lemon shortbread….will I have to try the recipe to find out? Yes I will! Now if someone here would just make me a “flat white” I’d be happy! It is a windy blustery rainy day here so perhaps some bickys are what’s needed to chase the chill and rain away! How are things in your neck of the woods?
Oh yes the British call them Bickies, too. The worst for me is the US calling lasagna sheets, noodles, because in Asia noodles is a totally different thing.
I’ve never had a flat white but I sure do love a cappuccino, frothy and foamy, after a excellent dinner.
The weather is awesome. I can’t complain. Have a lovely, Sunday, my friend!
Liz
I hear you! It’s really odd how our language is the same but in some respects very different, and even different from the countries most of the early Americans came from…that being Great Britain, Ireland and Scotland! The paper bag one for instance, we call them bags, the US folks call them sacks! Where did the word ‘Pop’ come from for us? In US it’s soda and also in Australia it’s soda! Did the word just pop into our heads? Anyway, just words and nothing to get into great rows about. The flat white is an Aussie invention and I just love it. Two shots of espresso and white whole frothed milk! Yummy! Cappuccinos are close but still…..! Hope your week is fabulous!
Sacks?? what in the world. I read about flat white and wished I could taste it. I plan one mega trip to Australia in the near future. My weekend was good and this week is March Break so kids are at home. Woke up to a drizzly day so just looking out the window as I type away and listen to music. Have a lovely day. Saw the weather forecast on gusty winds your side.
Liz
I guess I live in an area with lots of Italians ’cause I’ve never heard anyone call pasta ‘noodles’… I guess they do that in other places here in the States… strange….
Oh good, pasta should be called pasta. I’m glad to hear that!
Liz
Hi…listen…just wanted to say that I’m sorry about inundating you with “likes”, but you have good stuff on your blog 😉
#confession – I go MIA for awhile then I have to catch up ♡
No problem at all. Thank you for showering me with “likes”
Liz
You know what, I’ve had people comment (when I’ve posted a scone recipe) that an American fluffy biscuit, the type the ‘South’ is so famous for is the same as a scone. NOPE!! I heartily disagree. I think the writers of that definition never actually ATE a Southern-style American ‘biscuit’. They’re much less dry and much more fluffy and buttery. (Let me at those guys….. scone equals an American biscuit indeed!!)
Isn’t it funny… the whole ‘biscuit’ thing… Of course, in Quebec, a ‘biscuit’ (bis-quee) is a cookie!!
And – son of a gun – you have posted once again!! I wish there’d been such a thing as a ‘food blog’ when my sons were growing up… or when I fed TONS of people at our farm…. now…. I cook and bake ‘sometimes’. BUT – I just made another great bread – prepared the dough in the bread machine and ended up baking it in two loaf pans…. not because I planned it that way but because I must’ve lost count and put in too much flour. The poor bread machine was having a REALLY hard time kneading the bread, so I put in another 1/2 cup water. AND – the bread is great!!!! (It’s a ‘ooops’ version of my Honey Walnut Bread… which I haven’t post yet… and now… I WILL !!
Am I pinning this recipe – is there ice in the Arctic?? ; o )
Talk about overloading mixers. I put too much batter in a favourite stand mixer of mine and it conked out. I have been so sad…because I really loved it and it’s irreplaceable because it’s antique.
Last week my house was flooded with cake. Every corner you turned, had a cake. By Thursday, I had to stop because the rate of eating was much slower than the rate of baking.
Maybe you should Fedex me one of the loaves (LOL). Thanks for pinning and have a wonderful Sunday
P.s do you have a good recipe for a Southern-style American ‘biscuit’? Please swing it my way!
Liz
Well – it seems you found the recipes for southern style biscuits !!!!!!
I’m sooo very sorry about your mixer… it is heartbreaking… I know how upset I was, at first, when my bread maker was groaning away… And your mixer was beloved and irreplaceable.
Hey – what were you doing making all those cakes??? I’ll make you a deal – you FedEx me cakes and I’ll Fed Ex you bread!
Trying to meet my posting goals of course. You gotta have recipes to post, right? I have to start baking tomorrow again, or else I shall run out of posts in the next 15 days or so. Have a good night. I’m still working on a post right now and also watching late night news. It’s called multitasking. That deal sounds good enough for me!
P.s I still haven’t thrown away the mixer. I keep on hoping some miracle will wake it up!
Liz
I love it!! I would do the same thing… I wouldn’t throw away the mixer either… I’d hope my brother-in-law to – perhaps – fix it. You just may find someone local who can ‘fix things’.
I really admire your determination to meet your posting goals!!! You are my hero!!
I forget if I told you I want to see an endocrinologist to find if I have Hypothyroidism… for sooo many reasons – one of them being memory loss… and weight gain…. and a lack of energy. I am HUGE – for me. I have never gained weight like this. I’ve gained so much since last fall – and weight gain is one of the signs… as well as dry hair etc. etc. etc. I’m also going to start a detox and ‘good-eating’ program with my cousin, who is a nutritionist. I did it a few years ago and I felt wonderful for a long, long time.
I would sooooo love to get back to being The Real Me.. the person who accomplishes A LOT!!
Looking forward to all your new posts my friend. PS I always have the TV on when I’m working on a post. Sometimes ‘regular television’ and often a movie or documentary using my ROKU.
Have a great day Liz!!
I didn’t post over the weekend because I was away. But the posting streak continues because I’m determined to meet my goals this year. I hope you’re enjoying the detox. I’ve never had one. Maybe one of these fine days, I should try…Have a good night! Still watching news and blogging!
Liz
You go my determined friend!!!
Most determined!
liz