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 |
Richard Soos
 Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Dear Nicey and Wifey,
On the subject of Tim Tams, I also happened to catch one of Arnott’s pimped-up ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ range of Tim Tams, the Chilli Choc Fling, when travelling last year.
Now I’m all for a bit of glamour in my snack treats, but I don’t like my biscuits being violated by marketing teams and image consultants. I say let the baker’s art shine through and leave the sweet talking to cream centres and chocolate coatings thank you very much. I have to say in this case, they did.
I could tell a tale of sophisticated tastings or I could just say that these bad boys didn’t see much sunlight once the first one was tested. Dark chocolate inside and out with a nice little bite to the filling, oh yes. I have to admit, it’s been nearly a year since I tried em and I can’t recall whether they were partnered with tea, it was all over too quickly. Something tells me they’d make more of a ‘platter treat’ than a dunker, but there’s those who’ll dunk anything, so perhaps it’s a case of “each to their own”.
I had the presence of mind to take a photo with my phone should I meet someone who needed this valuable info, I dug it out of my reference archives for you. If they or other chilli choc hybrids are in the UK let us know.

High tech hybrids seem to be the path our biscuits are taking. Tasty though they are, are you worried we may lose the simple foundation biscuits like the Digestive and the Rich Tea?
All the best
Rich
ps Bahlsen rock but they’re Zoo biscuits now have posidrive impressions from the screws that hold the shapes in place. What’s all that about? German engineering where you need it most on a biscuit? I don’t think so.
pps Does the jam in wagon wheels react with the chemicals in the marshmallow to give that “I think I’ve got a wrong un” taste in the roof of your mouth or is it part of the grand design? |
Nicey replies: Good thinking on the photo, if only more people would take snaps of strange foreign biscuits. I'm not worried about sensible biscuits being under threat from exotics, I am however slightly concerned about biscuits with chilli in them. I think that could lead to all sorts of strange biscuits for thrill seekers such as something with Fishermans Friend flavour filling or maybe Victory Vs.
For a real tour de force of Burton's Jam and Mallow technology get some of their teacakes the combination can almost be eye watering at times.
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Ryan Simpson |
Dear biscuit fans,
I take great exception at my favourite biscuit, the Pink Wafer being named 'yukkiest biscuit'! OK so it may have been the token 'left at the bottom of the variety pack' biscuit for many years, but the recently released Pink Panther Wafers, made by Rivington have given the humble pink wafer a new lease of life. Always perfectly rectangular, crunchy, and with a generous helping of yummy vanilla flavoured cream, the Pink Panther wafer is a tasty treat for all the family, and hopefully will help to re-elevate pink wafers to their rightful place at the top of the biscuit barrel. In years to come, as I look back on my life with a twinge of nostalgia, I'll always reserve a special place in my heart for the biscuit that helped shape my childhood. One day, when I have my own children and they are spoiled for choice among all the space age, new fangled biscuits that have found their way onto the shelves, I will give them two words of advice to heed their entire lives through - "Think Pink".
Best wishes
Ryan
PS - I refer you to this article from the Rivington Foods website
Living Proof that Pink Panther wafers are good for you!
Sunday Independent December
WAFER ADDICT LUCY?S IN THE PINK!
101 year old Lucy Warne?s diet for a long life really takes the biscuit. The former schoolteacher puts her longevity down to the five packets of pink wafer biscuits she?s eaten every week for the last 19 years.
Lucy?s son, Colin said ?It?s the only sort she eats and we always laugh about it because she says that?s why she?s lived so long. I think it?s definitely worth giving them a go because is certainly seems to have worked for her?...
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Hugh Maddison |
Dear Nicey,
For some reason the chefs where I work insist on calling Custard "English Sauce" whenever they put it onto the menu! Is this some strange EU directive that means its not allowed to be called Custard unless it comes from the Custardy region of France or Germany or where ever? Whatever the reason, I can report that it tastes just the same. Maybe we need a capaign to Save Our Custard!
On a different point, my childhood favorite desert was Banana Custard, which my brother and I used to make by pouring a generous helping of custard over a sliced banana. Delicious!
Yours aye,
Hugh
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Nicey replies: Bananas and Custard are a proper pudding. The younger members of staff and myself often tuck into a bowl. |
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Hannah Brooks
 Bourbon Review |
Hi Nicey
Was just wondering if you'd seen this Super Bourbon?
Hannah |
Nicey replies: No we hadn't, that's a lot of fun for 27 pence pack of Bourbons. We once had a picture of a Super Oreo sent to us which frankly looked horrific.
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Dean Anderson
 Animal Biscuits Multireview Review |
Hi Nicey,
A friend just returned from the US and, knowing my love of biscuits, brought me back a box of childhood favourites, Barnum’s Animal Crackers.
I’ll be honest, they are a bit strange. Not a great biscuit at all, but horribly addictive. Unlike our own animal biscuits, they’re not covered in chocolate either, which doesn’t help. Obviously, through the name Barnum, there’s a circus theme. They come in a cardboard box, which I think is meant to be a circus truck transporting animals. It has a little string handle on it so small Americans can carry them to school. When you open them up, however, there are all sorts of animal shapes, such as koalas and giraffes and other things you wouldn’t normally see in the big tent.
Boasting ‘a rich source of calcium’ they kind of have a malted milk essence to them, but as if someone had tried to merge a malted milk with a rich tea and with an overwhelming taste of the cardboard box. I’ve been unable to determine whether this is because they have been transported or whether they always taste like this. I really wouldn’t recommend them, however, in a US based biscuit emergency, they might just pip the Oreo. |
Nicey replies: Ours tasted like that too, so it's probably another biscuit which you have to be raised on to really like. |
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