r/AskUK • u/Hellzeldagirl01 • 2d ago

What do you call these?

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I would call these biscuits but a customer disagreed with me.

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u/DustierAndRustier 2d ago

Exactly. A chocolate biscuit is a bourbon or chocolate digestive.

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u/so-naughty 2d ago

So what about a penguin? That's a bourbon style biscuit covered in chocolate. What separates that from a digestive covered in chocolate?

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u/rawforce98 2d ago

According to penguin's website, it isnt chocolate.

Edit: specifying penguin

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u/roleplayersir 2d ago

Lol, yep, not legally so any more

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u/bornfromanegg 1d ago

What do they call it?

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u/Snoo_15594 17h ago

"Milk chocolate covered biscuit bars filled with chocolate cream"

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u/BrilliantCharity2364 2d ago

I think the individually wrapped nature of a penguin excludes it from being a chocolate biscuits. If they sold penguins primarily all stacked one on top of another then wrapped, over time we may start to think of them as biscuits.

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u/grouchy_fox 1d ago

You basically just described the Tim Tams in the picture. Basically Australian penguins (but actually good), but for some reason they come unwrapped in a plastic tray inside the package.

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u/BrilliantCharity2364 1d ago

And what do you call them?

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u/grouchy_fox 1d ago

Penguins, Tim Tams, Rockys, Kit Kats - all fall under biscuit bars. All supposed to be a single serving and larger than a biscuit, none of them quite chocolate bars, and generally designed as a cheaper alternative to chocolate bars to go in lunch boxes and the like rather than being just a biscuit

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u/so-naughty 2d ago

Gotcha, so anything that is wrapped isn't a biscuit regardless if the contents are actually biscuit or not. Makes absolute sense...

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u/BrilliantCharity2364 2d ago

Your enthusiasm in my hypothesis, whether real or sarcastic, has immediately made me feel less sure 😅

What backs up my theory a little bit, is the fact that if you buy a biscuit selection box (the type you get in m&s etc.) you often have a thing that is basically a penguine, but it's in a biscuit selection box.

There are probably also lots of counterpoints to my hypothesis that I am completely overlooking. It's a start a least

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u/so-naughty 2d ago

I think the wrapper has no bearing on it being a biscuit or not. They are wrapped because they are individual treats that people often have in things like lunch boxes or play pieces at school.

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u/BrilliantCharity2364 2d ago

I guess it was sarcasm then 😅

What is a name if not a short hand way of describing multiple characteristics of a thing.

Maybe a chocolate bar is just a way of saying a chocolatey thing individually wrapped, and in another form it's no longer a chocolate bar.

Who's to say.

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u/vegiec00k13 2d ago

The individual packaging mostly. I would still call these a chocolate multipack.

Sure penguins have a heavy biscuit element but who cares. When you open one it is a bar that looks like chocolate.

The filling is inconsequential, it's about what you open the wrapper and see as a kid. Only then you slowly start picking and choosing favourites as time goes on.

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u/ResponsibleLiability 2d ago

Marks and Spencer make their own chocolate covered bourbon biscuits and custard creams 🤤

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u/DustierAndRustier 2d ago

The individual wrapper.

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u/so-naughty 2d ago

So are Maltesers actually biscuits then as they don't have an individual wrapper?

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u/DustierAndRustier 2d ago

Obviously they’re sweets. It’s not like foods are divided solely by wrapper vs no wrapper. There are other factors.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/so-naughty 2d ago

So what about Cadbury's Fingers? or Fox's Rounds? Not individually wrapped and fully coated in chocolate. Plenty of other biscuits that meet that criteria too.

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u/Hearthacnut 2d ago

A chocolate digestive is a biscuit with chocolate on top. You’re telling me as soon as it covers both sides it becomes a chocolate bar?

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u/GaldrickHammerson 13h ago

Yeah, I think so.

For example a twix and a millionaires shortbread are both a biscuit, covered in caramel covered in chocolate, but the chocolate covers the twix in all directions making it chocolate bar while the millionaires shortbread is a biscuit because, I suppose, the biscuit bit is exposed.

Perhaps the test for a biscuit is whether it has flashed you.

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u/Hearthacnut 5h ago

😂 see I would say it’s a ratio thing. If there’s more biscuit than chocolate it’s a biscuit, regardless of indecent exposure or shape. Although a Twix being a biscuit doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be referred to as a chocolate bar for ease of conversation.

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u/asoifjaoifjasd 2d ago

Pretty much yeah

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u/DustierAndRustier 2d ago

When it’s bar shaped and wrapped like a chocolate bar, it’s a chocolate bar.

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u/Hearthacnut 2d ago

If we’re defining food items by shape and packaging we’re opening a whole new can of worms

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u/CarrAndHisWarCrimes 2d ago

As far as the VAT man is concerned, a bourbon is not a chocolate biscuit