Size
this is an excellent biscuit size. Round, it gets points. Same size as your standard issue mcvitie's digestive (with or without chocolate), gets points. Thick enough for a good crunch. points! points points points! In the past, I've been dissapointed by McVitie's downsizing their special edition biscuits. They must have been reading this blog though to hear of my disapproval.
Dunkability
the dunkability of this biscuit is a bit hit-and-miss. Whilst taking this photo for the dunkability rating, I held on to it for too long and it became rather mushy, though did not sink to the bottom of my cup like the proverbial biscuity titanic. That being said, I don't think it would've lasted much longer. Unless you are one of those strange people who enjoy having their biscuits turn into a soggy mush, I would not recommend a dunk longer than 2.5 seconds maximum. Anything longer than 5 seconds could require a teaspoon rescue mission. Being a chocolate biscuit, there was a certain amount of chocolatey meltyness. It being chocolate orange, it didn't mix well with my coffee, but on a second attempt during a much shorter dunk, it was most satisfactory.
Crumbliness
What suprised me most about this biscuit was that when I attempted to break it in two for its photograph (a standard, as biscuityblog veteran readers will know) it broke into three rather than two! Whether or not this is something to do with the temperature on the day which I indulge my sweet tooth (it being a pleasantly warm, yet breezy day in March) or the fact that it is a chocolate orange biscucit remains to be seen. I should probably consult a higher-qualified biscuitologist than myself for such questions. Being a digestive biscuit, it is made of wholemeal flour- which I find adds for a more interesting texture- though occasionally you do get a little bit of wheat husk stuck in your teeth; although this is generally after excessive biscuit consumption.
Tastiness
Something my Grandma (whom I am visiting at the moment and who purchased the biscuits upon which I make my observations) said about the biscuits is that the orangey flavour is somewhat synthetic-y tasting and overly sweet- perhaps better accompanying a dark chocolate topping than the milk chocolate- which as far as I am aware are the only type of chocolate orange biscuits that McVities make. Perhaps McVities will, as they did with the size issue of special edition chocolate biscuits, heed my advice and make a dark chocolate version avaliable? Personally this would be preferable to me, as I maintain that the dark chocolate digestive is a vastly superior biscuit in everyday biscuit fayre. I found it difficult to discern whether or not the biscuit itself was orange flavoured, because the chocolate/orange combination was rather overpowering. However, had the biscuit been orange flavoured, I feel it would've been too much. With regard to the aforementioned synthetic taste to the chocolate, I checked the packaging to see if it was some nasty E number that we were to thank for this and was suprised to find out that the flavouring was natural and genuinely from oranges, which leads me to believe that it was something in the chocolate generating this aftertaste.
Overall Awesomeness
The packaging has a triumphant little yellow sign on it that says "we're back!" which is lovely- however I don't ever remember seeing them before in the shops so either this is a pre-my writing biscuityblog biscuit, or a pre-my existence biscuit. That being said, the packet is also very orange, which to the peripheral vision of the casual observer might make it difficult to distinguish from a packet of McVitie's Ginger Nuts (yet to be reviewed by me, I think- but an extremely good staple for anybody's biscuit tin). The crumble was quirky, the taste was a little sweeter than I am usually partial to, but I found to be a very satisfying biscuits. Things the biscuit could do to improve by my standards would be to have a chocolate version avaliable, to those of us who prefer a more intense chocolate experience, and to perhaps put a little more on- I referred a few posts back to the claim that dark chocolate digestives were claiming to have more chocolate on them, and feel this would suit the chocolate orange digestives well. Whether or not "we're back!" means that they are not to be gracing the shelves of supermarkets on a permanent basis or are metaphorically simply popping in for a cup of tea before going back off galavanting round the world is something only time can tell.
I (and my Grandma) award this biscuit 3 stars!!
Until next time, biscuit fans!!
-R
x
