Biscuits happen a lot in England. Biscuit dunking is almost a national sport, didn’t you know? But some biscuits are just more equal than others.

Take the bourbon biscuit. It’s an unusual being, but one that’s a leading brand in England. Especially as a tea dunker. Ecky thump!

What are Bourbon Biscuits?

It’s a sandwich biscuit! Its two oblong slices of biscuit squish atop of a chocolate flavoured buttercream filling.

These are baked into the traditional shape and then consumed by hungry consumers.

You may also find the biscuits called bourbon cream, bourbon, or the chocolate bourbon.

Although chocolate digestive biscuits were voted the UK’s most favourite biscuit on the market, don’t underestimate the power of the bourbon!

They’re quite sturdy, so make for effective dunking into tea. Which is important for Brits, okay? Especially when watching the telly.

And although bourbon biscuits are quite dry by themselves, with some milky tea they do take on a tasty new dimension.

It’s like having fish & chips by themselves. A bit dry. But chuck a load of gravy into the mix and you’ve got an iconic combination.

What’s the History of Bourbon Biscuits?

The biscuits first appeared in 1910, but back then were called Creola. A London company called Peek Freans introduced them to the biscuit market.

That business was also responsible for Garibaldi biscuits—with the squished currants between the biscuit dough. Hey, guess we’ll have to review those one day!

Anyway, it’s believed bourbon biscuits got the name due to the glory of a portmanteau. Bourneville and Bonn were merged together (that’s one some sources claim, anyway), with the rename taking place in the 1930s.

German inventor Dr. Hans Zehnloch is believed to be behind the biscuit.

He made it while working for Cadbury’s. The Dr. invented the distinctive name across the biscuit, that includes the small holes across the oblong shape.

But the holes have a purpose! They ensure the biscuits don’t crack when they’re baking. Neat, huh?

Anyway, many different biscuit brands produce the things, so no one seems to have total ownership these days.

But Britannia is the most famous! It’s an Indian foodstuff company, which is why quite a bit of old advertising features a distinctly Indian cultural nod. The advert we included is from 1985.

These days you just see them all over the place in supermarkets.

If you’re a biscuit fan we suppose you rush to them! And the UK loves its biscuits, for which these things have played a mighty big part in defining a national pastime.

The Effectiveness of Bourbon Biscuits as Tea Dunkers

Yes! If you need a demonstration of the POWER at play here, then watch the dunking of the two biscuits above.

Actually, the bourbon biscuit loses out to the rich tea one.

We can’t say we agree with the veracity of such a discovery until repeated dunking tests take place. We need more empirical evidence, dammit!

One test isn’t enough. 300? That’d be more like it. Someone should totally get onto that. It’s not like there are bigger problems in the world.

How to Make Bourbon Biscuits

Well, follow the instructions from the lovely lady above. But you’ll need to buy some ingredients as well. For the biscuit oblong bits:

125g soft unsalted butter
125g golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 large egg
250g of plain flour
50g of cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of baking powder

Then you’ll need to get stuff for the buttercream filling. Stuff like:

150g unsalted butter 
360g icing sugar 
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
Pink food colouring

Yeah, then it’s baking time! And you’ll have some fancy biscuits to dunk into your fancy brew!

As Chandler Bing would say, “On second thoughts, gum would be perfection.” Replace chewing gum with “bourbon biscuits” and you’re bang on!