#8574
custard [family]
#8572
tart [family]
"Pop-Tart": toaster pastry brand. "Tart": also old British slang for prostitute (offensive). "Treacle tart": Hagrid's favorite in Harry Potter.
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a small open pastry containing fruit or filling
She baked a raspberry tart.
#8359
muffin
#7694
biscuit / cookie [group]
In British English, biscuit often means what Americans call a cookie. In American English, a biscuit is soft bread.
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a small baked food, either crisp and sweet or soft and breadlike
She served tea with chocolate biscuits.
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a small sweet baked food
He ate a cookie before dinner.
cracker vs. cookie
Both are small baked foods, but a cracker is thin, dry, and savory, while a cookie is soft or crisp and sweet. The British word 'biscuit' confusingly covers both.
- cracker
- A thin, dry, crisp baked item, usually savory and unsweetened. Eaten plain, with cheese, soup, or dips. Made from flour, water, and salt - no sugar. British equivalent: 'savoury biscuit'.
- cookie
- A small, sweet baked item, often soft and chewy (chocolate chip) or crisp (shortbread). Contains sugar, butter, and often eggs. British equivalent: 'biscuit' (the sweet kind). Also a computing term (browser data file).
- In American English the distinction is clear: crackers are savory, cookies are sweet.
- In British English, 'biscuit' covers both - context tells you which kind. American 'biscuit' is something else entirely (a soft, fluffy bread roll).
- A 'graham cracker' is a notable exception: it's sweet but still called a cracker.
#7655
macaron
French meringue-based sandwich cookie with a ganache, buttercream, or jam filling. Not to be confused with macaroon, a denser coconut- or almond-based cookie - both come from the same French root, which is why the spelling and pronunciation are so often mixed up.
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a light, colorful sandwich cookie made from almond meringue with a filling between two shells
The bakery displayed rows of pastel macarons.
#7423
brownie
"Brownie points" = credit for a good deed, especially to gain favor. Also the name for a junior Girl Scout ("Brownies").
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a small, rich, dense square of baked chocolate cake
She baked a batch of fudgy brownies.
#7422
caramel
American pronunciation varies: two syllables or three syllables are both heard.
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a sweet brown substance made by heating sugar
The dessert was covered with caramel sauce.
#7421
marshmallow
Originally made from the root of the marshmallow plant (Althaea officinalis); modern versions use gelatin. Common at campfires (toasted on sticks).
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a soft, spongy white sweet made of sugar, gelatin, and other ingredients, often eaten roasted
They roasted marshmallows over the campfire.
#6223
gelato
From Italian. Differs from American ice cream in being denser (less air whipped in) and lower in fat.
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Italian-style ice cream, typically denser and more intensely flavored than American ice cream
After dinner they had pistachio gelato.
#5986
fudge
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a soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, and flavoring
She bought a box of chocolate fudge.
#3247
brittle
Glass and old bones are brittle. Figurative: "brittle relationship" = fragile, easily broken. "Peanut brittle": candy.
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hard but liable to break easily
Her bones became brittle with age.
#3070
toffee / taffy [group]
British term. Harder and darker than American taffy. "Sticky toffee pudding": beloved British dessert.
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(British) a hard chewy candy made from sugar and butter
She sucked on a toffee.
American: softer and chewier than toffee. "Salt water taffy": classic seaside US candy (originated in Atlantic City).
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(American) a soft chewy candy made by pulling sugar
They pulled saltwater taffy at the seaside.
#2797
pudding
UK "pudding" = any dessert ("What's for pudding?"). US: usually creamy custard-like dish (Jell-O Pudding). "Yorkshire pudding": savory.
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a sweet dessert; (UK) dessert in general
She made chocolate pudding.
#1756
sherbet / sorbet [group]
American sherbet often contains a little milk; sorbet normally does not.
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a frozen sweet dessert, usually fruit-flavored and often containing dairy
The restaurant served orange sherbet.
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a frozen fruit dessert made without dairy
Lemon sorbet cleansed the palate.
#605
macaroon
Not to be confused with macaron, a French almond meringue sandwich cookie - despite the near-identical name and shared French etymology, they are different cookies.
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a light cookie made with egg white, sugar, and usually ground almonds or coconut
A coconut macaroon.