Last time we had this conversation, I think we decided that this particular pastry just didn’t exist in Britain, and many Brits sat around trying to come up with similar ones instead.
ETA: My experience with scones is that they are similar, but not quite the same. biscuits tend to be fluffier, for one thing.
At the camp I attended as a teen there were some exchange counselors. I DISTINCTLY remember a debate in the dining hall over what the Brits called a biscuit
Uh no…that’s not a scone at all. That’s more of a generic ‘morning bun’ though it were made with a brioche-type dough it might be called a sticky bun. This is more of a scone.
A scone is essentially a biscuit but they’re not precisely the same thing. Scones typically have a slightly higher proportion of sugar, and all cream instead of milk, and the resulting dough is less developed than that of a biscuit. More importantly, scones usually incorporate some sort of fruit, typically currants or cranberries.
I guess this is why the OP asked the question he did, because whilst your above description might be true for where you live in the world, it certainly does not apply everywhere. Scones in Australia generally have NO added sugar (they are just flour, a little butter and some milk) although they can also be made with lemonade or yoghurt if you’re feeling adventurous. And sure, we do also have fruit scones, (and savoury too FTR) but they’re typically sultanas rather than currants: fresh cranberries are a rarity here.
IOW, words for things change depending upon your home country.
Scones made with milk, not cream. The cream bit comes when you break them open, often with a dollop of jam for true decadence
Fruit can be added to the mix, but in my experience they are usually prepared plain when homebaked. If you were to add fruit then it would be currants or sultannas. Cranberries are not a feature of Brit or Aussie baking.
We don’t have American-style biscuits. As others have noted, we have scones, which are similar, but we don’t have such a thing as ‘biscuits and gravy’.
There are some casserole recipes that are topped with scone-style dumplings that might approxiomate the experience of eating biscuits and gravy. And we have bread and gravy (at the end of a meal, when the kids are still hungry and there’s only gravy left), but we don’t have biscuits and gravy unless we’re consciouly imitating American cuisine.
We don’t have cornbread either (cornmeal itself has been pretty rare in the shops until fairly recently).
On the UK ‘biscuits’ vs US ‘cookies’ thing, there isn’t perfect alignment.
UK ‘biscuits’ are usually crisp, sweetened, thinnish baked-dry things - I think these are sometimes termed ‘crackers’ in the USA.
We do have cookies in the UK and they are:
-Usually of not perfectly regular thickness
-Often of not perfectly regular shape or size
-Usually containing inclusions such as chocolate chips or raisins
-Often chewy
-Often sweeter than biscuits
(We do also have ‘crackers’ - and these are usually some kind of dry water biscuit - most popularly eaten with cheese)
In my experience, there is a good deal of overlap between what is a British scone and an American biscuit. My first time in Britain, I was actually quite a bit surprised at what a British scone tasted like. At the time, for me, it was pretty much indistinguishable from an American biscuit. The only difference I remember is that the ones I ate always had raisins in them, but otherwise they weren’t sweet like American stones, and the texture was pretty much that of a biscuit. Maybe slightly crumblier, but not much.
There is nothing finer than biscuits and gravy, but whenever I try to recreate the delights I have tasted in my many visits to the US, it always goes wrong - particularly in that the biscuits never rise properly. And the sausage doesn’t taste as good.
KFC in the UK did serve US-style biscuits as part of some meal deal at one point; I had them in the late '80s/early '90s. Alas, they went the way of McDonald’s root beer.
We have two main types of teacake over here, with some regional variations.
The first type is almost what you’d call a s’more - cookie base, sometimes a dollop of jam, then marshmallow, all covered in chocolate - Picture
The second main type is a sweet bread roll with sultanas/currants in and is served cut in half and toasted - Picture