I Write Sins Not Trage-doughs

Oct 2

2 min read

Britain.

Rain. Queues. Unreliable public transport. Buckingham Palace.

Tea.

And, of course, biscuits.

Whether you’re partial to a petticoat tail, bonkers for bourbons, or you just like being covered in tiny crumbs, everyone* loves a biscuit.

Unless it’s the middle of March and you’ve got to make thirty American cookies in a tent.

Growing up in the 90s, cookies meant Maryland. They were hard, salty, and only exciting because occasionally you’d get one with where the chocolate chips had melted on the top so you could lick them and pretend it was an actual chocolate bar, and not something you were eating in your nan’s living room while it rained and she was trying to distract you while your parents were out doing the Big Shop.

But they were a far cry from gooey, soft-centered-crispy-edged New York-style cookies. The closest that we got to those was a Millie’s Cookies in the local mall, its buttery caramel fragrance seemingly developed solely to distract children from trying on shoes. Warm, squidgy, and decorated to order, this was a world away from the crunchy supermarket packets of ginger nuts and pink wafers.

In 2026, we’ve moved on from the classic chocolate chip cookie. From blueberry cheesecake to roasted soybean to loaded custard cream cookie (or, as I like to call it, Biscuit-ception), there’s a cookie out there for every taste and every dietary requirement.

This week, the GBBO contestants showcased flavours from jaggery to tiramisu to cherry, cherry, and more cherry. It’s a far cry from BBC-era Bake Off, where the bakers had to make sensible things like gingerbread or Viennese whirls.

Or a three-dimensional biscuit box filled with other different biscuits.

If you’d like to try your hand at this American classic, here’s a recipe for our oh-so-seasonal Pumpkin Spice and White Chocolate Cookies.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup white flour, plus two tablespoons

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon clove

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Cream the butter, then gradually add the brown and white sugars and beat until creamy.
Beat in the egg, vanilla, and spices, then sift and stir in the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Stir through the white chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoons of the batter onto a greased baking tray, then bake for about ten minutes. Leave to cool on the tray before moving to a wire rack.

Looking for something plant-based? Replace the egg with 1/3 cup of non-dairy milk of your choice, and the butter with your favourite vegan alternative.