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 |
Ruth Horsley
Tunnocks Wafer Review |
I have just seen a comment about Gray Dunn caramel wafers. I purchased a packet some time last year but I cant remember where from. They were still as delicious as my childhood memories recalled. Tunnocks are not a patch on Gray Dunns. The new plain chocolate Tunnocks are preferable to the milk but sources are limited. I would love to know if Gray Dunn still produce their caramel wafer as my father and I would be keen to buy them again.
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Nicey replies: Ruth,
Make sure you are sitting then read this. |
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Sarah Bunn |
Hi there
I just found your fab website which brought back childhood memories of biscuit assortments that my mum used to buy at xmas and birthdays. We usually had Rover, where there were never enough jammy dodger ones to go round, with those vile pink wafers sucking up all atmospheric moisture until you ate them out of desperation at the end of the tin. Sometimes we had Danish all butter that were all a bit samey and those small round ones had sugar crystals that were a touch too big for my liking!
In our house, and some of my family the left over Rover tin would be used as a place to keep importnat papers, bills etc.. Did anybody else do this with their assortment tins. In fact I might have to get one for my filing!!
It would be cool to have assortments on your site and to hear feedabck about them!
Love the site!
Sarah |
Nicey replies: Sarah,
Thanks for a terrific email. We love biscuit assortments but reviewing more than a couple can be quite a task, still you're right its only a matter of time. Good call all the Danish all butter. The Danish seem to have used up all their inspiration on their Bacon and Pastries activities. Evidently when they got to biscuits they were spent, and just managed to make the same thing over and over only slightly altering the shape occasionally. |
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Martin the Muncher
Bourbon Review |
Dear Nicey,
First up, thanks for a most excellent site!
Reading your Bourbon review reminded me I hadn't tried my wife's favourite biscuit of the moment. As a preamble to this mini-review, I must point out that, being lactose and gluten intolerant presents her with quite a challenge in the biscuit munching department.
Anyway, the biscuit in mind is the 'Trufree Bourbon Biscuit', available in Holland & Barret, GnC, Sainsburys and other stockists of 'alternative' fare. These are labelled as wheat, gluten, milk and egg-free, so the Mrs has no problems consuming them in great quantity; vegetable fat and soya flour seem to be the main substituted ingredients. The question in my mind was how they compare to the real thing. Sadly, the shelves of our local Sainsbury only yielded their own inferior brand as a reference so my study will remain slightly flawed.
Well, putting aesthetics first, the Trufree biscuit is shaped exactly like the real thing, right down to the 'BOURBON' stamped onto each side of the sandwich, although the biscuit is only about 2/3 the size of the traditional variety. Colour wise, the biscuits are slightly lighter and the filling slightly darker. Experiment proved that it is perfectly possible to eat these in the deconstructionalist manner (i.e. separating the biscuit and filling layers for separate consumption), although the adhesion of the components is adequate for consuming whole.
The texture, while firm, was lighter and crumblier, although not so 'gritty': the Sainsbury traditional biscuit has a lot of sugar crystals embedded in the biscuit. The filling seems about the same, but I suspect a higher coccoa content. Taste-wise, there is actually little to choose. Due to the lightness of the flour component, the biscuit part seems sweeter, although not unpleasantly so. The filling tasted like (and probably is close to) real chocolate.
The one drawback is that soya flour seems not ideal for creating a dunking biscuit with the result that the test sample dissolved. These are definitely accompaniments to rather than integral components of the Sunday afternoon tea and sit-down.
All in all, then a pleasant little surprise and Mrs will be dismayed to find her stash of these biscuits dwindling fast.
Keep up the good work!
Yours,
Martin the Muncher. |
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Nathan |
Dear Nicey,
As both an ardent supporter of the 'cup of tea and sit down movement' and a fledgling environmentalist I have long fought my moral conscience over the environmental issues of the burgeoning biscuit tin box issue. Indeed, a great many of our community have expressed concern over the irrevocable damage caused by stockpiles of leftover biscuit tins (especially over the Easter and Christmas period, analysts have noted).
Alas, the G8 summit failed to reach a legitimate mandate. But now it appears we finally have a solution! Behold this wonderful 'biscuit-tin' computer - the perfection of hi-techery and bicuit wizardry.
Yours hopefully,
Nathan |
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David |
Thank you for giving me back my memory of the Royal Scot. This fine biscuit has not crossed my mind in over 20 years, but now I can almost taste it's buttery, salty sweetness.... I must go and put the kettle on. Do you think that if we talk about them often enough those fine people at Fox's or McVities might reissue them - if only as a limited edition?
On the subject of lost biscuits, do you remember those small round ones with a shallow well in the centre containing pink (and sometimes white) cream and a dusting of sugar. They had a bevelled rim (a little like a round shortcake) and the best thing was to nibble this off to liberate the cream. They used to appear in selection tins, but never (to my knowledge) as a stand alone item. Did they have a name I wonder - I like to think so.
Keep up the excellent work.
Kind regards
David |
Nicey replies: Wouldn't that be fantastic if we could resurrect a biscuit. A bit like a biscuit Jurrasic Park, Woo. Of course we would have to buy them by the bus load or our biscuit wishes might never be granted again.
I certainly remember something very similar that had jam in the middle sort of like a biscuit version of a jam tart. They only travelled in selection tins. I don't know if they are releated to your biscuits but I could certainly see off a packet of them. Yay, for Jam. Theres not enough Jam around these days. |
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