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 |
Karl ‘Two lunches’ Hughes |
Hi Nicey,
Re: Dilemma
My colleagues and I have spent some time this morning trying to work out whether this recipe is a CAKE or a BISICUIT.
We have a split in opinion. Can anyone out there please help resolve our conflict and let us know the official verdict.
Then we can get on with our work.
PS Nice Site!
Kind Regards,
Karl ‘Two lunches’ Hughes |
Nicey replies: Dear Mr Two Lunches,
Its not a Biscuit, niether is it a cake, it is however the sort of thing that is often seen sharing a shelf with the equally troublesome flapjacks in our local bakery. The Kiwis make a lot of this type of thing, and maybe that has something to do with the Scots that emigrated there. They call them 'tray bakes' I believe. Whilst for us it shouldn't be too much of an issue if something takes up an unusual spot on the great venn diagram of biscuits, cakes and related items, for the VAT man its a big issue. The VAT man would probably see this as a biscuit that way he could tax it due to its chocolate being largely external.
I fear I haven't answered your question, never mind. |
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Andrew Maddison |
Dear Nicey,
As an experimental sort of person, I have recently been trying to bake my own chocolate chip cookies, which despite lacking the substance and rigour of many good British biscuits, can be very comforting when still warm a gooey, especially when served up with either a hot cup of tea or an ice cold glass of milk.
I thought the best way to bake American cookies would be to use their own native recipes, and therein lies the problem. I have managed to convert the volumes used in American recipes (usually cups of flour etc) to weights without too much difficulty, but no matter how hard I search I cannot discover the weight of a 'stick' of butter.
I have one friend who remembered that in America a pack of butter is divided into four sticks, and that a pack is roughly the same size as in Britain. This might make a stick weigh in at 4 ounces, but I would dearly love confirmation before I rink life and arteries to a mis-proportioned recipe.
If either you or any of your readers could help I would be much obliged,
All the best,
Andrew.
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Nicey replies: Your guess is as good as mine. How a nation as technologically advanced as the Americans still insist on using such arcane units of measurement is beyond me. All this feet and inches stuff is based on the distance from the end of Henry V nose to his thumb, yet they program it into their space craft. This then ploughed into Mars as some of the more sensible people at NASA had used meters but forgotten to tell the blokes still using feet and inchs. At least Beagle 2 knew roughly where it was when it smashed itself into tiny pieces.
Plus they have a different inch which they use for surveying, its only two millionths of an inch different to a proper international inch, (which incidentally is now defined in terms of the meter). But why bother? Mind you the Canadians have their own inch aswell.
And all this cups business is fine if you posses the American standard cup, and know how tightly to stuff things into it.
Butter used to be sold by the half pound, as opposed to 250g. That makes a stick 2oz based on what your saying. |
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Mrs Dixon |
Here at Warwick towers we like biscuits, but also CEREAL BARS.
Some of these have a consistency which goes well with a cup of tea and a sit down, especially at 11am when you've not had any brekky.
We were wondering if you have done any NCOTAASD research into cereal bars?
Our super-favourites at the moment are the rather expensive EAT NATUARAL bars, some of which even have belgium chocolate on 'em.
But we could get a whole packet of custard creams for the price of ONE Eat natural bar and we don't like the pretendo-breakfast cereal cereal bars like rice crispies or weetos.Ohhhhhhh no.
What do other people think?
Mrs Dixon of Warwick Towers |
Nicey replies: I occasionally mess around with cereal bars when skiing, they can be a useful source of oats at altitude. I like the ones with Apricots in them. I don't need to tell you that its very naughty to miss breakfast, its the most important meal of the day apparently. |
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Lee Betts |
I am hoping that you can settle a discussion that I have been having with a work colleague on the subject of chocolate biscuits.
I am of the view that chocolate biscuits should be stored in the fridge in order that they do not melt, particularly in the current hot weather. However my colleague says this is wrong as biscuits stored in this way taste of 'cold', whatever this means.
My personal belief is that my colleague is from another planet, however I have no proof of this.
p.s. Great website
Regards,
Lee Betts |
Nicey replies: Lee,
Well I think there is something in both points of view. Personally I would say the chilling the biscuits will affect their flavour, with it being diminished somewhat. However, I don't much care for limp on the verge of melting biscuits. So yes keep them in the fridge in the summer, but allow them to warm a little before eating so that the flavour can be appreciated.
If your colleague is from another planet then he will most likely have a very different appearance, perhaps extra limbs and he may not be bilaterally symmetrical favouring some higher order of symmetry such as the five fold symmetry of the Echinoderms such as starfish and sea-urchins. His body chemistry may also be very different requiring him to breathe a mixture of gases that would be toxic to us. His eyes may be sensitive to parts of the spectrum we can't see like the ultra violet. He may also be adapted for life in a gravity field that is weaker or stronger than that which we are used to, with a short stocky build or long graceful but brittle bones. Does any of this ring true? |
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Siobhan Williams
ToffyPops Review |
Hey Nicey,
It has been brought to my attention that you currently have the Toffeypop as biscuit of the week. This has now brought a debate from over a year ago (which took place on your site between Mr Mark Daszkiewicz and I) back to the forefront, and feel it would only be fair for the malted milk, or my personal preference, the chocolate malted milk, to take centre stage as not only biscuit of the week, but the biscuit of the new generation of bic-aholics.
I remember when you joined in my malted crusade Nicey. Don't let me down in my hour of need.
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Nicey replies: Yes I remember it well. I probably would still give it to the chocolate malted milk in a fair fight as its such good value very tasty and has pictures of cows. I also noticed that Asda are now stocking Toffypops which is good. Maybe we'll do |
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