Biscuits
The
word biscuit comes from the Latin ‘bis coctus’, which means
twice-baked. It is thought that biscuits have been baked for thousands of years
and were originally baked in a hot oven and then cooled in a cool oven,
although this process would not be found in modern processing factories. Cookie
is derived from a Dutch word, koekje, which means little cake. The low moisture
content of biscuits means they have a longer shelf life than other bakery
products and so have been used in epic journeys such as sea voyages of the 15th
century. British and European tradition involved serving biscuits in a
semiformal situation with tea or coffee in between main meals, especially in
the afternoons. Small biscuits were preferred so that a range of appearances
and flavours could be offered without a large intake of food
DECORATION
OF BISCUITS
The final product can be
altered by secondary processing after baking. A wide range of processes are
used to decorate biscuits, but two of the most popular are cream sandwiches and
chocolate coating. In a cream sandwich the cream is 30% of the final biscuit
weight and is made up of sugar, fat, and flavourings such as fruit acids,
cocoa and skimmed milk powder. Cream is either poured into a stencil position
on the biscuit base or deposited directly onto the base. Various methods of fully partially dipping biscuits into a chocolate bath are used. Icings,
made from icing sugar, water and sometimes fat or a gelling agent, are another
popular finish.
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