Languages are fun. In Turkish,

Bisküvi (Biscuit): https://www.akakce.com/biskuvi/en-ucuz-ulker-potibor-800-gr-...

In German,

Kekse: https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/4360170...

Again in Turkish,

Kek: https://www.akakce.com/kek/en-ucuz-balocco-panettone-500-gr-...

But if it's a wet cake, then, "Pasta": https://www.carrefoursa.com/pastalar/c/1289

What you consider to be pasta is "makarna": https://www.carrefoursa.com/pastalar/c/1289

So, makarna/Macaroni is normally considered to be a sort of pasta, but in French there is,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaron

I love this madness :)

There's not just macarons but also macaroons which are a completely different type of cookie/biscuit.

In UK we have French macarons, but also macaroons ... which are one of two distinct types of biscuit, both with the same name -- one made of almond and one made of coconut, although the latter is more like a flat cake.

Those both in USA too, same spelling.

There are also Scottish macaroons, which are covered in chocolate and desiccated coconut: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=scottish+macaroons&t=h_&iax=images...

And in France they also have Macron to make matters even more complicated :)

Fun fact(1): The German word Kekse is a Germanization of the term "cakes". Although a biscuit isn't exactly a cake :)

(1) - At least I think it's funny :)

The term “cookie” literally means “little cake” from the Dutch “koekje”. The term “biscuit” comes from the French for “twice cooked (cake)”.

> ... a biscuit isn't exactly a cake...

Certainly not. By law. Biscuits are luxury goods, and as such are taxed appropriately, whereas cakes are essential food items, and have a lower tax rate. This culminated in a VAT tribunal in 1991 [0] where the makers of Jaffa Cakes argued that said items were cakes not biscuits, in order to get the lower tax rate. One of the winning arguments was that cakes go stale, while biscuits go soft. I think this could count as precedent for a proper legal definition of the difference between cakes and biscuits. (Of course, American-style cookies aren't biscuits either by this definition.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cakes#Legal_status

this is an underrated comment that explains the difference between cookie and biscuit in an unambiguous way

Biscuit - "twice baked" in French.

That would then be „Zwieback“ in German, which refers to a kind of crispy mildly sweet bread that children get fed when they are ill :)

Or Doppelback, a break type

This is one of those facepalm moments :-))

German also has Biskuit, but it's used for a kind of dough used to make cake sponges.

We (French speakers) call macaroni macaroni though. Although there is also the term "coudes", meaning "elbows".

Aha! Well, I got fooled by Wikipedia, which links to the French page "macaron" from the English Macaron page as its translation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaron

After I did follow the link, I saw my mistake :)

Are those American biscuits like scones? I thought they were akin to dumplings. We really are "two countries separated by a common language".

(To be clear, these dumplings:

https://www.errenskitchen.com/suet-dumplings/

Not these dumplings:

https://omnivorescookbook.com/recipes/how-to-make-chinese-du... )

I believe they're essentially scones (though no sugar which I suppose is optional in a scone) but eaten like dumplings.

Dumplings are of course far superior. (And clotted cream & jam is a better way to eat a scone.)

Or the madness that is jam & then clotted cream…

That really does just objectively make less sense, I don't understand that debate - you don't try and apply butter to your sandwich after layering cheese and tomato or whatever, you spread the more solid thing first.

Perhaps there is a culinary 3D printer than can print in 3D, jam and clotted cream.

Yep. I don’t get it, and I’m sure the Cornish apologists will be here shortly to explain why it makes sense.

This is exactly why we should all support Cornish devolution.

Cornwall has to cling to it, because otherwise all they have is cornish pasties and incest

I live in Devon, so I'm compelled to agree. Cream goes first, no matter what the Cornish have to say on the matter. Although, apparently the late Queen preferred the Cornish method.

And why exactly should we listen to a German when it comes to these things?

I'm sure you only mean to be anti-royalist^, but the implication for the rest of the citizens by birth of this fairly multicultural country is extremely intolerant if not racist.

^Understanding that just makes it a baseless & lazy argument, a joke at best.

Jam spreads thinly and is less viscous, so is much more suited to a thinly spread layer across the surface.

Clotted cream is far thicker and lends itself to a big dollop on top which keeps its shape and does not run off the sides.

Why do people still question this obviously infallible logic?

Sir, if you're spreading your jam thinly then you are doing scones wrong.

How to pronounce scone is another divisive topic in itself.

Does it rhyme with gone or cone?

Linguists at Cambridge University have published a map of the regional variations:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-app-maps-decli...

I've always pronounced scone as scone myself but my wife insists on saying scone as scone. Madness.

“Home to Scone” to paraphrase Shakespeare’s Mark Anthony.

I've never in my life heard someone say "Backend" instead of "Autumn"

There's a third common sound where it rhymes with "on": 1. /skɒn/ 2. /skoʊn/ 3. /skɑːn/

But I guess that also depends on how you pronounce gone, as to whether it rhymes with 1 or 3…

I make biscuits and scones regularly and yes, it's the same recipe minus sugar, which is similar to the suet dumplings recipe here EXCEPT you would not boil/poach a biscuit - that would make it a dumpling. I'd say it's more the method of cooking that defines a dumpling than the dough recipe - you could use biscuit dough but it doesn't have to be and often isn't.

I think it is pretty clear - cookies are a doughier cake-like (but not risen) mixture containing egg, biscuits are just flour/sugar/butter.

> Now if someone could explain to me how a shit savoruy scone is a "biscuit" on your side of the pond

It may be because "scones and gravy" sounds like it would taste, well...British.

Don't get anybody started on the tax status of Jaffa cakes

(Sorry)

The system lords are gonna get really pissed if someone starts making cakes out of their jaffa.

Random observation: Tesco’s website reminds me so much of Costco brand and feel that I had to check if one owned the other.

For me, the best description I've been given comes down to the way that they are baked:

Cookies - Starts from a ball or blob, which spreads into a flattened shape during baking.

Biscuits - Starts from a shape cut from a flat rolled sheet, that mostly retains its shape during cooking.

Which would make biscuits "Plätzchen" in German.

I guess you're being sarcastic?

Based on the pictures, those look more or less the same to me...

Very different, to the degree that if you were offered one and given the other you'd be confuse (but of course, you wouldn't vocalise it).

Sarcasm, if this is sarcasm, doesn't scale well across cultures, and especially not online, in addition, in text form :-)

That's if you're being sarcastic in addition to OP's original comment.

This is not sarcasm. I have a distinct idea in my head of what a cookie should generally look like, and it doesn't look like a biscuit. I can see the confusion, both have chocolate chips in and your classic digestive usually doesn't, but I'd put good money on my ability to identify one or the other

No, they're very different, but I agree that the pictures look alike.

It's definitely sarcasm :) Most Brits would likely identify the first link as "cookies" too (based on their appearance at least)