The earliest evidence of food we might call biscuits were probably baked on stones in Neolithic times. The Romans certainly had a form of biscuit, (meaning ‘twice baked’) which was used for soldiers’ rations.
We buy and eat more biscuits in Britain than in any other country and at last night’s meeting we certainly helped towards maintaining this British record.
Here is the recipe for the delicious little biscuits that our hostess made for us:
INGREDIENTS
125g caster sugar
35g unsalted butter cubed & at room temperature
25ml cream or whole milk
Zest of a lemon
1 egg separated
Decoration such as raisins, candied peel, blanched almonds or pistachio nuts
METHOD
- Sieve flour, make a well in centre & add butter, sugar, salt, cream & just over half of egg yolk. Mix well, but fast & lightly. Do not overwork, but form it into a dough, which should be slightly sticky & firm. Wrap in plastic wrap or put into a bowl with a plate on top & leave to rest in the fridge for an hour.
- Remove from the fridge & roll out on a well-floured worktop. Aim for a thickness of about 6 mm. Using cutters, cut out shapes & put them on a baking sheet lined with greased baking parchment or a silicon baking mat.
- Beat the egg white & left over yolk together with a small pinch of salt & brush this over the surface of your biscuits. Decorate each one with a raisin, piece of candied fruit or nut.
- Bake at 180C conventional or 170C fan for 15 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
We discussed the well-known biscuit makers Huntley & Palmers of Reading (or Biscuit Town as it was once known), who in their heyday sent biscuits as far abroad as the heart of Africa and the mountains of Tibet. Peak Freans of Bermondsey (another place known as Biscuit Town), Jacob’s, Carrs of Carlisle ( about which Margaret Forster wrote an excellent book called Rich Desserts and Captains Thins), Crawfords, McVities and McFarlane Lang.
We did a taste test of three different brands of Chocolate Digestives (one of which was covered in white chocolate! Too sweet for my taste. The Daily Telegraph recently blind tested 9 different chocolate digestives and surprisingly Aldi and Lidl topped the polls with 5/5 stars each. (McVities 3 stars and Waitrose only one star!)
Question. When is a biscuit not a biscuit? Answer: when it’s a Jaffa Cake. Apparently, the matter was settled in court (at great expense) when it was decided that cakes hardened when they go stale and biscuits go soggy! So, no VAT on Jaffa cakes!
We had a short quiz.
- Located on the French Riviera on the south coast of France. This is France’s most populous city.
- What is the name of the major league basketball team based in the largest Californian city?
- Annabel’s, Tramp and Hacienda are all what?
- Which character did Danny de Vito play in 1992 film ‘Batman Returns’?
- Makers Mark, Jack Beam and Jack Daniel’s are all producers of what type of alcoholic drink?
6. This Italian General is perhaps best known for contributing to the unification of Italy and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
7. Where in the body would you find a phalange?
8. Which biscuit helps you break down food?
Funeral biscuits were so called because it was once commonplace to place a biscuit on a corpse, which a mourner would eat before the burial to take on the sins of the deceased.
Captain Scott ordered special glucose- enriched biscuits from Huntley & Palmers for his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Tins of these biscuits can still be seen on the shelves of Scott’s hut on Ross Island.
Vintage biscuit tins can be worth a lot of money.
Click here for a link to vintage biscuit tins at the V & A
Are you sitting on a fortune?
