Featured Biscuit: The Cadbury's Bournville biscuit.

Hello there, biscuitoids! Again I must apolgise for my apalling lack of biscuit bloggery recently. As penance, I am drinking coffee after dark to do this for you. As the nights are drawing in, you may argue that it is hardly an acheivement, but I for one feel very strange drinking caffeine in the dark hours, unless its still dark when I get up in the morning. However, if I am lucky I may be able to get TWO biscuits reviewed this week! So you're all wondering what this week's biscuit is? Well, as promised, and as you can probably see from the title, its the cadbury's bourneville biscuit. Jolly good show.

Size:

Again, Cadbury's your biscuit size : biscuit per packet ratio is letting you down :( sad face. Yes it is thick and chocolatey but at this price, even when on offer, I still feel you should be giving us more biscuits. Only buy these biscuits if you are a true biscuit devotee such as myself, or you can afford to fritter away precious pennies on tasty treats such as these. What I didn't mention in my last post was that Cadbury's biscuit range not only includes the Crunchie and Bournville brothers, but also the Dairy Milk, Turkish Delight and Caramel varieties. Two packs for £2? hmm.... as they fit nicely in the hand but begin melting quickly, I suggest a thumb and index or middle finger holding technique.

Dunkability:

Dear friends... much like the Crunchie biscuit, this is woefully unsuitable for dunking. However, if you insist on dunking your biscuit, PLEASE for the love of all that is good DO NOT DUNK LIKE THIS:

As you will be left with a small pile of melted chocolate, and not the dampened biscuit you require from such dunking practices. Melted chocolate runs down your hand if you are a biscuit nibbler, causing you to be in a terrible mess. If you are a biscuit biter, it requires you to take either a larger than nescessary bite or an oddly shaped bite, leading to a textural confusion of the palette. So if you really do insist on dunking this biscuit, please- break it in two before dunking : 

 ....Dunking rant over. Still, I think these are best enjoyed alongside a beverage.

Crumbliness:

Very few crumbs from either a bite or a snap on this biscuit! Even fewer than on the Crunchie biscuit! They are not as crumbly as I was expecting given the picture on the packet, and I was somewhat disappointed. Also, the packaging does not advertise in its picture of a biscuit that the inside of the biscuit is chocolate, but that it contains a "chocolate flavour cream". Describing itself as "Sumptuous cadbury classic dark chocolate biscuits with a gorgeous chocolate flavour cream centre" I felt somewhat deceived, as the picture on the packet clearly shows a plain biscuit, something more in line with your common or garden digestive. Confusion! 

Tastiness:

Let me begin by saying, despite what I am about to say, I really did enjoy this biscuit. Those who prefer dark chocolate on their biscuits will certainly appreciate this. However, I was a bit disappointed with its flavour. Aside from shirking the work and having a chocolate "flavour" cream centre instead of having a proper chocoalte cream centre, it also had something of a nutty aftertaste, which to a person who has a severe allergy to nuts such as myself could cause some alarm. As a self confessed lover of dark chocolate over milk, it pains me to say that I cannot condone buying these biscuits a second time. With comparatively few dark chocolate biscuits avaliable, I am yet to find anything that can satisfy my dark chocoalte biscuit cravings as well as the mcvities dark chocolate digestive can. However, there are a lot of dark, unchartered, biscuity waters, so lets see what I find! :)

Overall Awesomeness:

Overall, I have to say I am ....I'll say it again, disappointed by this biscuit. It is above a standard fayre biscuit, so it has one star for that, and has chocolate so gains a further star in that respect. But with its after tastes, false flavours, small biscuit number per packet, and expensiveness, I cannot give it any more than 2 stars. Sorry, Cadbury's, but this time you have let me down :(

Next time, Vinnie has sent me for the good stuff. I'll be trying out the Fox's Ginger Crunch Creams, in honour of Danny, who suggested them.


Thanks biscuit lovers!!
R
x

Featured Biscuit : The NEW Cadbury's Crunchie Biscuit

Well hello there, Biscuit Fans! I'm so sorry I've not been posting very recently. I am a bad blogger. But in my defense, I am a 3rd year student. Anybody who has done this knows that third year is a busy busy time!  Never mind, because here is a SPECIAL BISCUIT REVIEW! At the request of my friend Marjanne, I have decided to review these:

"Not a McVitie's biscuit!!!" I hear you cry! Well, not to worry because there are lots of other GREAT biscuit manufacturers. I am not biased! And this shall prove it.


Size:

Not a huge biscuit. But its quite a thick one, and has lots of chocolate which makes up for its small size. However, great consideration must be put into purchasing these biscuits as there are only 8 per packet! At the supermarket of my choice, there was a new range of cadbury's biscuits on a 2 for £2 offer. Meaning that you'd get 16 biscuits for £2. Only after having bought them did I consider the value for money thing.... never mind! 

Dunkablilty: 

Owing to the thick layer or milk chocolate on the outside of this biscuit, I have come to discover that not all biscuits are suitable for dunking. This being a prime example, for if you dunk the biscuit without having broken it first to reveal its crunchy innards, you are left with a melty bit of chocolate on a crunchy biscuit. However, some people like that in a biscuit, in which case, good for you for sticking out of the dunking crowd and jumping off the bandwagon! I chose a second dunking after breaking the biscuit in half as seen here-

This offered a somewhat more varied dunking experience, and although the biscuit itself was very tasty, the Crunchie cream filling does not mix well with a hot beverage. In all honesty, I think we should all just keep out Crunchie biscuits out of our cups and mugs. That is not to say that dunking this biscuit is forbidden, just ill-advised.

Crumbliness: 

This biscuit does not crumble, but good lawd does it crunch. I suppose thats why its a crunchie biscuit. Because it has crunchie in. For those who do not like crunchie, I would still give this biscuit a go, because its still dead tasty and a treat for a cold morning such as today. Again, I suspect that the chocolate (and in this case the crunchie filling also) gives the biscuit structural integrity allowing it to resist crumbling even from the most chompy of mouths. 

Tastiness:

NOM. This is a tasty biscuit. All the goodness of a crunchie, but in biscuit form?? YES PLEASE! However, if you don't like milk chocolate, stay away from this one. I will be reviewing its brother biscuit the cadbury's bournville biscuit in due course. Yes, its very nice. However, the crunchie biscuit tends to leave a strange aftertaste in the mouth. Not unpleasant, but it lingers longer than one might like. That is why these biscuits are best ALONGSIDE a beverage rather than in one.

Overall Awesomeness: 

On the outside: A normal chocolate coated biscuit. But what's this unusual thickness?? Could it be an extra biscuity dimension?? why yes it could! Its is! Its crunchie flavoured filling and honeycomb peices nomnomnom (disclaimer: I DO know what real honeycomb is and would rather this sugary imitation was not called honeycomb, but I don't know what else to call it other than "sugary ....stuff" so for now we shall just call it honeycomb) All round a good biscuit. However, it falls down on the small number per packet and the unsuitability for dunking, something for which my father will be pleased, as he views biscuit dunking as an abhorrent practise. I would give this biscuit.... 3.5 stars out of 5.

If you've tried these biscuits, leave me a comment letting me know what you think of them. Also, if there are any biscuits you want me to review, leave that in a comment too! :) 

Until next time, Biscuit Fans!!

R

xx

The Featured Biscuit : RICH TEA FINGER

Hello there Biscuit fans! Apologies for my recent lack in postings, but I've been very busy making daemons and being in rehearsal for His Dark Materials lately. Anyway! ON WITH THE BISCUITS!!

Size: 

Not very big, but deliciously moreish. Satisfyingly thin! An unusually sausage shaped biscuit.

Dunkability:

Although called the rich TEA finger, I not a tea drinker myself, so have chosen to commit the heinous crime of dunking a rich tea finger into a cup of coffee. Please feel free to send me hate-mail regarding this despicable act. My advice when dunking a rich tea biscuit, whether round or finger is to have a spoon at the ready incase of the biscuit breaking apart and falling in your beverage. After much experimentation, I've concluded that the ideal dunking time for the rich tea finger is JUST ONE SECOND. Yes, biscuit friends, anything more than this could cause your well earned biccie to turn into a sodden mess. If you prefer a softer dunking for the biscuit, you could be permitted to dunk for 2 seconds. Anything further than three seconds requires a rescue mission with a teaspoon, having had the submerged part of the biscuit turn into a sodden mess at the bottom of your cup or mug. 

Crumbliness:

This biscuit is suprisingly uncrumbly, but its rounder biscuit brother, the regular rich tea, is rumoured to be extremely cumbersome when it comes to crumbs. It has a satisfying light crunch before dunking, but can be a bit mushy if dunked for too long. Quite an ideal biscuit for tea time.

Tastieness: 

The rich tea finger is sweeter than its chocolateless appearance would have you beleive. It is however a bit of a bland biscuit with no real flavour other than sugar. But all the same, I still like it :) Its small crumbs however, have a habit of getting stuck in the back teeth and require drinking lots of water to get rid of. Or just sitting there and licking your own teeth. Which is weird...but it works better. Also it goes well with many things. A friend of mine told me that they go well with chocolate philadelphia. She was right. A tasty treat for those long nights writing essays like us students so frequently avoid doing. Thanks Harriet! I suspect that they'd also go very well with nutella and blackcurrant jam. However, I cannot verify this, being allergic to hazelnuts and not having any blackcurrant jam. 

Overall Awesomeness: 

I think this biscuit is vastly underrated. However, it could do with a little spicing up, perhaps with the addition of cinnamon. Would you buy a cinnamon rich tea? You heard it here first. 3 out of 5 stars. 

Next time I'll be reviewing the much asked for CUSTARD CREAM!

Thanks, Biscuit lovers!!

R

x

Gregynog Biscuits - update

So here are the biscuits that we had at Gregynog. What a lovely selection!

Thanks again, Biscuit buddies

R
x

Public Biscuits and biscuit etiquette

Hi there biscuit lovers!

  So I was recently away for a couple of days with my university group for a production we'll be doing in december at Gregynog. Aside from feeding us a huge number of times (breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner - all very tasty ) I had tried to control my biscuit addiction, and taken minimal stocks of my faithful tasty snacks. With me I had taken 9 gingernuts. And although I'm not going to be reviewing biscuits in this post, I'll still put some pictures up

However in the morning, we discovered that elevenses (for my American pals who may not know, elevenses is a snack-sized meal served in the mid morning) we were confronted with a VAST tray of biscuits. I could hardly believe my eyes! (I think a picture was taken of me with the tray of many biscuits and as soon as I know who took it, I'll ask them if I can post it on here)

But then I was faced with two very complicated questions. Which biscuits to choose, and also how many was it polite to take at a time? I had thought that the answer to the second question was obvious- No more than three at any time. You can go back for more if you have had more than half of your hot beverage, whether tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. However, whilst my friends mainly seemed to stick to these vague, unspoken rules, I had seen some carrying MORE THAN THREE BISCUITS AT A TIME. I was stunned. How was this possible? Was I being unreasonable? Was the etiquette different here?? WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? Eventually we chatted about it and decided that we would leave it to the blog readers to decide- 

How many biscuits is it polite to take when offered? Let me know in the comments! I mean, its all very well and good to take a bzillion biscuits when you're on your own in your room contemplating the title of your next best selling novel, but when they're biscuits you are being offered, it can be quite a conundrum! 

To summarize my version of public biscuit etiquette -

- no more than three biscuits at a time

- always have more than one type

- always get to the chocolatey ones before someone else does

- seconds is allowed after half a beverage, no sooner. 

Thanks, biscuit lovers

R

x

p.s. For those interested, the biscuits I chose were the faithful bourbon, the fruit shortie, and the double choc-chip cookie. Gregynog had a splendidly wide variety of choice. Top marks, Gregynog!