Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
TandC Lidds
Abbey Crunch Review |
Abbey Crunch happens to be the favourite biscuit of both myself and my beloved, but for some unknown reason we cannot seem to buy them in any of the major supermarkets in the area in which we live ( Herts& Essex Border). You can imagine our delight however two years ago when we walked into a small shop in a little village in Ibiza and saw a shelf full of our favourites, we managed to get seventeen packets in our cases to bring home.
Earlier this year we were in Benidorm and went into a small shop near our hotel and discovered that they also sold Abbey Crunch needless to say but we stocked up again. Faced with the prospect of having to wait until the next time we went abroad to stock up you can understand the wonderful glow we felt when we discovered them in a Unwins off licence just round the corner from where we live, we can cancel moving to Spain for the time being. If anyone else can tell us of outlets where we might be able to purchase the biscuits I would be very grateful.
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Nicey replies: Oh yes all very valid stuff that. Finding Abbey Crunch is never easy, you have to look in unlikely places. I find petrol stations are useful. |
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Suzy
Penguin Review |
Hi Nicey,
Once I heard about the Tim-Tam Slam I instantly saw the potential of this phenomenom to add itself to our biscuit munching habits here in the UK. I endeavored to discover the suitability and technique for several of our British wrapped biscuits.
Report 1: The Penguin
This was an obvious first choice because of its similarity to the Tim-Tam. I bit the biscuit at either end to allow for tea passage. As the biscuit gets melty if held, I recommend this is done without hands, simply holding the biscuit carefully in your mouth and dipping the end into the tea. I sucked until the chocolate on the outside began to melt slightly, then withdrew the biscuit from the tea and, using slight incline of the head, flicked the biscuit into my mouth.
Result: The Penguin may be a denser biscuit than the Tim Tam, but it is still eminently suitable for Slamming. The technique is tricky and could get messy for beginners, so using a finger to usher the biscuit in and using a shorter length of biscuit are both acceptable and often recommended. Caution must be advised to avoid risk of choking.
Report 2: The Rocky Bar
Next I tried the Rocky Bar, a sweet light golden biscuit topped with a small layer of caramel and coated with a strange chocolate that tastes milky and not as smooth as Cadbury's chocolate. I tried exactly the same technique as with the Penguin.
Result: An excellent success. Although the chocolate seems cheaper there is more of it. The biscuit is lighter and absorbs tea very well,and the caramel adds a soft chewy egde that was most agreeable. The same cautions as for the Penguin must be applied.
Report 3: The Kit-Kat
Here I was taking a risk. Would wafer be suitable for tea-sucking purposes? Would the thin fingers remain stable, or would it be a cardboard soggy mess? I bit the ends off the single finger of Kit-Kat, and was drawn between whether to bite the finger in half for two shorter slams or whether I should do it in one. In the end I tried both, and proceeded with the Penguin Method.
Result: Fairly good, considering that I am not a wafer fan. The Kit-Kat remained stable but the full length test required me to use hands and bite it twice to get it all in my mouth, definitely a messy endeavor. I would recommend the two-halves method, which gave a smaller, hotter Slam but one that can be done hands free without risk of too much mess.
Conclusion:
The preliminary tests have gone very well, and suggest that these British wrapped biscuits are indeed suitable for Slamming. More tests must be done on a wider range of our biscuits forthwith! Well done to the Australians for pioneering the technique.
Sincerely,
Suzy. |
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Jeanne Langton |
I have just discovered your site today (having read a back issue of the Daily Mail!) and it is now destined for my favourites!
When I read the article in the Mail, two biscuits came to mind that were firm favourites of our family when I was a child - Royal Scots and Granny's Cookies.
I note on your site that Royal Scots have been discontinued, which I was very sorry to learn. My father, who is French, loved these biscuits. When he came to the UK to live, having married my English mother whilst she was doing a stint as an Au Pair in France, he spoke little English. My maternal grandmother spoke no French and was at pains to find ways of making him welcome. She offered him Royal Scots and he loved them ever afterwards. Each time my grandmother visited, she brought a new stock for him and he guarded them jealously! If only I could find some for him now!
The second biscuit, Granny's Cookies, were my favourites. Dark in colour and very crisp, they were marked with a chequer-board pattern with grooved lines. My sister and I liked to break these into tiny squares, along the lines, before we ate them piece by piece. I seem to remember they had a taste of mixed spice or something similar. Have you ever come across these??
Anyway, enough of my waffle!
Kind regards,
Jeanne Langton
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Nicey replies: No not heard of Granny's cookies, although I can well imagine the whole little square thing.
That's a lovely story about your Dad and the international language of biscuits. |
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Maddalena Feliciello
ANZAC biscuit Review |
My Dear Nicey & TW
Tempted by your lyrical review on the launch of the Anzac Biscuit I duly hunted them out at Sainsburys' on Sunday.
I am now hopelessly addicted to Golden Syrup and Oats.
This is bad, really bad, I am eating them even without a cup of Yorkshires Finest to hand. I woke up thinking about them today and had three for breakfast. Then made the tea and had two more.
Luckily, unlike other addictive substances currently proscribed by the good law of this land, it is unlikely that I should be tempted to introduce them to others and gain their wide eyed and drooling compliance (could they be bent to my will with Classical Conditioning.....alarm clock -biscuit, alarm clock - biscuit?)
Eve would not offer these to Adam.
They are MINE, all MINE.
should I thank you....hmmnnn?!
Who the hell wants to be a size 6 - 8 anyway?
M :-)
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Scott Crowther
Bourbon Review |
Hi
I just wanted your opinion on the glut of cheap imitation biscuits available in your average local corner shop.
Take my personal favourite biscuit, the bourbon cream for example. Usually, dimension wise, roughly twice as long as they are wide, with a deep and rich soft filling sandwiched between two crunchy chocolatey biscuits. Perfect for eating 'in the buff', or dunking in tea or coffee (although tea is always my choice), they are, quite simply, perfection.
Imagine my horror to be given a packet of 'Essential Bourbon Creams' as a gift from my father, purchased at his local corner shop. Sneakily packaged so that you cannot see the offending product through the wrapping, or even as an image on the outside, I was dismayed and disappointed to find a roughly square item inside, with a pale imitation of the dark brown colouring I was expecting. Having the driest and thinnest layer of filling ever tasted coupled with outer layers roughly twice the thickness of the norm, this 'Bourbon' (if you can call it that) sucks all moisture from your mouth instantly. A truly painful eating experience, even with a good cup of Tetley.
Can I suggest that a 'taste off' would be a worthwhile exercise to identify the best brand of biscuit, so that we may never again suffer the pain of eating a food item that dares to call itself a biscuit?
Naturally, I would happily volunteer to be a taster guinea pig - in the interests of science you understand.
Oh, and thanks to my Dad for the packet. I know it's the thought that counts, but frankly don't bother next time unless you have a 'nicecupoftea' bourbon buyers guide to hand.
Scott C
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Nicey replies: Well 61mm by 30mm 10 holes should be the metric to follow. Step outside that at your peril.
Anyone else called Scott want to mail us today? |
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