I’ve often wondered what cookies are like in other countries. The cookies from China was my first taste of cookies outside the US. Luckily, I have the pleasure of sharing with you what cookies in the UK are like! Check out this guest post from caffesociety.co.uk!

Cookies in the UK

If you have ever visited the UK or dined in a British teashop and had the chance to sample some cookies, you probably noticed that they were very different from cookies in the US. Traditional UK cookies have a unique texture and flavor. They tend to be a bit crunchier and dryer than American cookies. They also have a different kind of sweetness. American cookies usually have tons of sugar, chocolate and frosting. Even American sugar cookies are coated in icing and sugar sprinkles. If you prefer a cookie that is less overwhelmingly sweet, you might find traditional UK cookies more appealing.

In the US, cookies are usually served with milk for dessert. In the UK, cookies are more of a snack than a dessert and they are typically served with tea. In order to have a more authentic cookie eating experience, eat the UK cookies with a cup of English breakfast tea. Try dipping the cookies into the tea prior to tasting.

The most well known type of UK cookie is the biscuit. A UK biscuit is not the same as a biscuit in the US, which is a soft, flaky form of bread. UK biscuits are a type of cookie. They are usually small, crunchy and sometimes sweet. Most biscuits are basically compacted shortbread, which is made from butter, sugar, flour and milk.

It is quite common to enhance biscuits with fruit flavors. Lemon cookies have the perfect combination of bitterness and sweetness. Orange biscuits are also worth trying. Many fruit flavored biscuits have almonds or peanuts in them.

Biscuit cookies can also be brown sugar based and flavored with spices or herbs. Gingersnaps are made of molasses, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon. Lavender shortbread is slightly less sweetened to bring out the lavender flavor. Lavender cookies contain butter, lavender sugar and flour.

Sandwich cookies are also customary in the UK. Sandwich cookies are made up of two cookies, usually shortbread, with some kind of filling in the middle. Fruit fillings, like lemon or currant custard, are common. Sandwich cookies can also contain a rich chocolate filling. Try spreading your favorite flavor of jam on the flat side of a shortbread biscuit and then placing a second biscuit on top of the jam to make your own homemade UK sandwich cookie.

Cookies from the UK are very inexpensive and are comparable to the prices of US cookies. You can purchase two-ounce packages of raspberry, key lime and lemon flavored cookies from online shops for about $2.00 and five-ounce packages for about $5.00. Eight-ounce packages of jam filled cookies can be found for around $6.00 to $8.00. Shortbread cookies are usually about $5.00.

If you would rather make your own UK cookies, hundreds of recipe databases can be found on the internet. Search the web to find a recipe that looks good to you and make the cookies at home. Remember to eat the cookies with tea for a more authentic experience. If you are not a fan of tea, you should research coffee machines UK cookies can also be served with coffee, so you should consider purchasing a coffee machine so that you can eat your cookies with fresh, hot coffee.

I would not normally eat the Mrs. Field’s cookies, but I was craving a sweet one day and these were in the kitchen, so I caved! I took the red box of 8 individually wrapped cookies and grabbed one of these:

I’m not at all new to the world of Mrs. Field’s. And if my tone didn’t show it already, but I’m not a huge fan of these cookies. It’s hard to explain why: they are delicious. Even if they are baked 6 months ago and thrown on the supermarket shelves to sit and wait for me to eat them, they are still soft, moist, and chewy. They are so tasty, so buttery. The cookies have a genuine homemade bumpiness on top and are not flat like other mass-manufactured cookies. The chocolate chips retain that highly sought-after gooeynessthat you don’t experience just anywhere. Speaking of chocolate chips, they are not lacking in that category:

So, why do I dislike them? Because they have like 300 calories each. And it’s not because they are huge. I mean, they aren’t small either, but they do have more calories for their size than average. Upon closer inspection I also found out that they contain hydrogenated oils / margarine and high fructose corn syrup. I realize I’m not eating cookies for health reasons, but even I still have standards!

All in all, I would eat this cookie RARELY when I am DESPERATE. I like to keep my hydrogenated oils and HFCSs at a minimum, so eating this wouldn’t be horrible on occasion.

If you want to see my last review on Mrs. Field’s, read about her chocolate chip cookie cupcakes.

• Taste: Delicious. 10
• Crust and center moistness: The wrapper keeps these cookies VERY moist. 10
• Value: $3.99 for a box of 8. $0.50 ea. great deal! 10
• Overall: High calories, hydrogenated oils, and high fructose corn syrup make me not want to eat it. But I suppose that’s why these are so tasty. 7 for me, but a must-buy for those who don’t care. Can’t lose with Mrs. Field’s!

Ok, I can’t figure out how to embed this specific video, but you HAVE to watch this video! It’s a clip from Robot Chicken on Adult Swim: The Cookie Monster finally makes his way through to the Keebler Elves’ cookie making base. It’s hilarious!!!

http://eater.com/archives/2011/02/14/cookie-monster-vs-the-keebler-elves-on-robot-chicken.php

It’s quite fitting that National Cookie Month is the same month as my birthday. Eat on!! Nom nom nom

Coral Tree Cafe is TOTALLY my kind of place! It has a lot of veggie stuff but I’ll cut to the point; the COOKIES!

Grabbed this, a veggie sandwich (panini?) and a mint tea latte for $18. This cookie was $1.95. The sandwich was great, the mint tea latte was uhhhmazing, and the cookie was ok. A good end, but.. nothing to write home about. or blog about. just your standard cookie.

• Taste: 7 — nothing too notable here, but not a bad cookie by any means.
• Crust and center moistness: kinda crunchy, kinda soft. I’m in between about this cookie in all manners lol
• Value: $1.95 for quite a sizeable (but mediocre) cookie. Everything here is kind of expensive though. It fits the establishment, but not my pocket.
• Overall: …pass. 6

Hey cookie lovers! I don’t know if you know this or not, but I have a FB page. Please join!!

http://www.facebook.com/ChloesCookieBlog

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