Chocolate biscuit
A chocolate-covered digestive biscuit | |
| Type | Biscuit |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Flour, cocoa powder or chocolate |
A chocolate biscuit is a biscuit (called "cookie" in the US) which is covered in chocolate, or which has been made by replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder.
Chocolate biscuits are quite popular in places all over the world, particularly the United Kingdom.[1] The composition and recipe may vary considerably and there is often legislation to specify how the biscuit may be described. In the United Kingdom, a biscuit made without an external coating may only be described as "chocolate" if it contains at least 3% of dry fat-free cocoa solids.[2] If there is a coating, this must contain cocoa butter as the fat to be described as chocolate, rather than just "chocolate-flavoured".[1]
In 1891, the Cadbury brothers filed a patent for a chocolate-coated biscuit.[3]
Tax
The exact structure and composition is significant in determining the taxation applicable in the United Kingdom as value-added tax (VAT). The general principle is that luxury foods such as confectionery are taxable, while basic foodstuffs are not. Case law and rulings have determined that a chocolate-covered biscuit such as a chocolate digestive or KitKat is taxable while a chocolate chip cookie or Jaffa Cake is not.[4][5]
References
- ^ a b Duncan Manley (1998), Biscuit, Cookie and Cracker Manufacturing Manuals, vol. 5. Secondary Processing in Biscuit Manufacturing, Elsevier, p. 22, ISBN 9781855736245
- ^ P. R. Whitely (2012), Biscuit Manufacture: fundamentals of in-line production, Springer Science+Business Media, p. 79, ISBN 9781461520375,
An uncoated biscuit that is to be named as a chocolate biscuit in the United Kingdom should contain a minimum of 3·0% fat-free dry cocoa solids in the finished product.
- ^ "History Cook: the rise of the chocolate biscuit". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "The bounds of confectionery, sweets, chocolates, chocolate biscuits, cakes and biscuits: Chocolate biscuits", VFOOD6240 - Food: Excepted items: Confectionery, HM Revenue and Customs
- ^ John Connell (9 August 2012), "Bitter-sweet rules on chocolate very taxing for Cumbrian shoppers", News and Star