Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Oaties

Tower Gate Oaties

Seeing that I am reviewing another biscuit from Lidl, I guess it is time to head across town to the one branch of Aldi I know there and buy some of theirs to see how they compare with their rival discount supermarket.  With oatie biscuits (I guess 'oaty' would sound too much like porridge) the comparator is always the McVitie's Hob Nob biscuit (particularly loved by Germans).  These from Lidl lack the sweetness of the Hob Nob, they are plainer.  The texture is mixed.  There are the oat chunks that you would expect but the biscuit around them lacks substance and certainly the greater chewiness of the Hob Nob.  The packet is much smaller than many from Tower Gate, notably their ginger nuts.  This is not a bad biscuit and in fact would work better as a biscuit-for-cheese rather than as a sweet biscuit.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Fruit Shortcake

Tower Gate Fruit Shortcake

Back in March, I discussed before the difference between 'shortbread' and 'shortcake' biscuits:

http://rooksmoor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/biscuit-blog-crawfords-shortcake.html

However, it was only recently that I found out that the 'short' is a lump of fat used in the cooking process.  Fruit shortcake biscuits are different from the standard shortcake biscuits you will find in our supermarkets, what I used to term 'tractor biscuits' due to the distinctive diagonal patterning around the edges.  Fruit shortcake biscuits are circular rather than rectangular and are usually around a third of the thickness of a standard shortcake biscuit.  They lack the diagonal pattern but instead have small holes on the upper side, a crimped edge and a kind of 'weave' pattern on the underside; the one pictured is of a classic design in this respect.  They can often have white sugar sprinkled across the upper side.

As mentioned before Tower Gate are a Lidl provided brand notably for biscuits.  Thus, they are aiming at the cheaper end of the market.  These fit the standard pattern, but were a little thin. The biscuit did not have a distinct flavour and the fruit which was present in about the right quantity did not really bring the sweetness I expected.  They had a sightly limp snap on being bitten.  Thus, they were alright but not fruity enough really to mark them out from a standard shortcake biscuit and lacked the creaminess of some fruit shortcakes to allow them to compete against rich tea biscuits.  They get slightly marked up for value.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Ginger Nuts

Tower Gate Ginger Nuts

These were one of the brands of ginger biscuits that seem to have been hit by the biscuit shortage earlier this year so I was glad to find them back in circulation.  For a discount supermarket these are very good biscuits.  They have what you are looking for in a ginger nut - a good snap, a clean not powdery texture and a good flavour. These have the gingeriness that I am looking for, not as sharp as the Hall ones I tried last month.  I think these are a very good biscuit, though a little small in diameter, you get a lot in a packet as can be seen above.  For me they lacked moreishness but as certainly well above many ginger nuts I have been tasting recently.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Sondey Butter Rings

Sondey Butter Rings

These biscuits from Lidl are a kind of Viennese whirl with a more golden colour to them and both less creamy and crumbly.  Indeed some butter rings can almost be brittle or frangible in nature rather than crumbly.  This version almost has a feeling like a meringue on the tongue, almost too sharp in texture to be pleasant.  The key problem for these from Sondey is they are far too sweet which adds to the sense of sharpness.  For a biscuit with 'butter' in the title, I would expect a flavour much creamier and at least much smoother.  If they scale back the sugary nature and make them a little more crumbly, they could be on their way to making a decent butter ring.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Fruit and Nut Cookies

Tower Gate Fruit and Nut Cookies

These biscuits highlight the wide variety that can be found under the umbrella of Lidl's Tower Gate brand.  These are probably defined 'cookies' because of the thickness of them, there are probably three times as thick as a standard biscuit.  The are termed fruit and nut but the amount of fruits and nuts though noticeable can vary in proportion between individual biscuits.  The first one I ate was almost entirely nutty whereas third one had a lot of raisin in it but little nut.  The chocolate is slightly dark rather than milky, so has a serious flavour to it without being bitter.  These biscuits are a little too complex with so much going on.  The depth of them means they lack a snap but they certainly do not crumble.  They do have a reasonable level of moreishness.  Thus, they are good biscuits perhaps only spoilt a little by having so many aspects to them, but overall satisfying biscuits.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Malted Milk

Tower Gate Malted Milk

Today I have encountered an anomaly - a biscuit that tastes like a different type of biscuit to the one it is supposed to be.  It not as extreme as if I had encountered a gingery rich tea, but it is heading in that direction.  Malted milks are one of those sub-sets of biscuits that numerous companies make and probably every supermarket and a lot of smaller stores sell.  Over time I anticipate reviewing a number of different malted milks and you can link through to them using the tags at the bottom of the posting.

For my first foray into malted milk tasting, I returned to Lidl.  I managed to lose the first packet I bought so this was my second attempt.  This is another biscuit sold under Lidl's umbrella Tower Gate brand.  The packet is striking with wavy lines in blue and white which I am not certain are supposed to remind you of milk or Friesian cows or even the cartoon character Blue Cow.  The tagline 'udderly groovy' seems to have been thrown in there for no particular reason.

This brings us to what defines a malted milk.  There are a number of characteristics that these ones fit with and others that they do not.  They must be rectangular with an image of a cow on them.  So far so good.  Above all, they must have a creamy taste and this is where the Tower Gate version falls down.  If I had been eating these blindfolded, I would have assumed I had been eating another sub-set, the Nice biscuit.  Nice biscuits are also rectangular, pale tan in colour and usually have a crusting of sugar crystals.  They have a mildly coconutty flavour and strands you find in your mouth.  These malted milks certainly lacked the creamy flavour.  They felt as if they had a sugary glaze and were as sweet as Nice biscuits even though no sugar crystals were visible.  There was more of a snap eating these than you would expect with malted milk and the flavour was like that of a Nice, but without the strands.  They were reasonably moreish which counterbalances a little me having to mark them down a bit because despite how they appear they do not actually taste like malted milk biscuits should.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Biscuit Shortage!

I could not continue producing my biscuit blog postings without noting that Britain is currently in a biscuit shortage.  This is the result of flooding even before  http://www.cityam.com/230293/storm-desmond-carlisle-floods-close-united-biscuits-mcvities-factory-as-army-drafted-in-and-cobra-meetng-called-to-handle-flood-fallout of a large United Biscuits factory in Carlisle.  This produces biscuits branded as McVities and Carr's.  The largest impact seems to have been on ginger biscuits which are in short supply even now, two months after the initial flooding: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35482789  This has provoked uproar on local radio stations even in southern England and on the dreadful Mumsnet which exists for indignant people.  I had noticed the shortage of ginger nuts even own brand ones in Lidl, Tesco and Asda as people deprived of the brand names have clearly switched to others and have stripped shops of them.  It does show how vulnerable we are to simply one factory going down.  I think Lidl has missed a trick, it should have shipped in more speculoos biscuits from the continent; instead they have just added more digestives where the ginger nuts used to be.  My sympathies go out to all of you unable to get your favourite biscuits but I will be holding on to my small supply of them extra carefully until the crisis is over.

P.P. 06/03/2016
The BBC has an update outlining that the biscuit shortage is likely to be coming steadily to an end over the next few weeks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-35696027

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Classic Shortbread Rounds

Tower Gate Classic Shortbread Rounds

After the disappointment of the pink wafers last month I did consider abandoning Lidl for another store.  Once I have exhausted Lidl's range of biscuits, I will move on, have no fear.  However, it does mean changing where I go on my way home from work.  Roadworks in my neighbourhood meaning reaching Asda is far harder than usual.  Anyway, after sampling this posting's biscuit, I realised that some good could still be found in Lidl's biscuit aisle.

I have noticed recently that there has been an abandonment of putting loads of white sugar on shortbread biscuits.  Too often you cannot really savour a shortbread biscuit because all it is proving to be is a vehicle for delivering loads of plain sugar into your mouth.  The move away from this approach is something I approve of and was pleased to find when I tried these shortbread rounds.  I imagine the word 'rounds' has been added because a lot of shortbread is either segments of a circle, so triangular in nature or these days is in the form of bars of shortbread.  As with the Deluxe Stem Ginger biscuits of January: http://rooksmoor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/biscuit-blog-deluxe-stem-ginger-butter.html there still seems to be the Scottish connection - the same saltire is found on  the box of these rounds.

All of this is fine, you might say, but what do they taste like?  I must say I was very pleased.  They managed to have that buttery flavour that I had been seeking in the Deluxe Stem Ginger but without crumbling or melting away as the old fashioned shortbreads tended to do or go into chunks like some modern ones do.  Thus, they have a very nice shortbread flavour but are still a proper biscuit. It is ironic that these are deemed 'classic' when in fact they fortunately have moved away from the overly crumbly shortbread that once dominated.  I feel Tower Gate has done very well with these.  That is one of the issue of an umbrella brand name used by a discounted store, that underneath it the quality can vary quite considerably.  I only mark them down to four for a little bitter after taste.  In general, however, these are good quality biscuits.  It is a shame there are only nine per pack as otherwise they would be an excellent general biscuit to have in your larder.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tower Gate Pink Wafers

Tower Gate Pink Wafers

Perhaps this type of biscuit which has attracted most attention by name on television.  It features significantly in the first episode of the first series of  'Life on Mars' (2006) set in 1973.  A witness is being questioned and it is suggested that she might like some pink wafers.  A police officer is sent off to buy her some.  Pink wafers with their gaudy colouring and their very sweet flavour could almost seem to sum up the early 1970s. These biscuits have often featured in selection boxes but have always stood out among the various shades of brown that characterise most biscuits.

As you can imagine, having spotted these on another biscuit hunt in Lidl I was eager to give them ago.  These are under Lidl's own brand for biscuits and some other products, Tower Gate.  They were incredibly disappointing.  On the plus side they were as crunchy as promised without dissolving into powder as sometimes can be the case with pink wafers.  However, as you can see from the picture they were more a shade of orange rather than pink, that was despite the colour of the packet and even featuring a pink feline, presumably in reference to the pink panther cartoons.  The main problem was the flavour.  The biscuits were so lacking in the uber-sweetness you especially expect from a pink wafer that they could almost be deemed a savoury biscuit.  Indeed they tasted like a number of plain ice cream wafers sandwiched together.  The 'cream' was almost soggy in nature.  Certainly there was nothing of the pink wafer experience that I had anticipated.  However, I passed the packet to the teenager who lives in my house and he finished them off.

Perhaps I expected too much, but I was certainly let down by this product.

Rating:
*****

P.P. In the interests of balance, I must say that I have passed these biscuits on to a teenaged boy and he said that he really liked them and wondered if I had any more.  This suggests that at least one member of the younger generation has a taste for something that is not uncomfortably sweet and I guess this is why Lidl continues to sell them.

Biscuit Blog: Deluxe Stem Ginger butter biscuits

Deluxe Stem Ginger

These were another Lidl purchase.  You can tell the Deluxe biscuits as they come in vertical boxes.  These for some reason hint at being Scottish with the saltire flag on the cover.  On the positive side they do have decent chunks of ginger in them not too crystalised in nature, though the flavour is not as clear in these than in some even cheap stem ginger biscuits I have tried.  There is a buttery flavour but it is not as rich as I would have liked.  The biscuits break up in the mouth in an unsatisfactory way, neither melting in the mouth as you might expect with a butter biscuit and yet not being crunchy either, it is almost as if they break into chunks; perhaps this is because of the disruption to the structure of the biscuit caused by the insertion of the ginger.

These make a nice change from ginger 'nuts' but I feel that they need work.  I would give them a 3-star rating except for the fact that they are portrayed as 'de luxe' in nature and to really qualify for such a status they would need to be much better.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Lotus Speculoos biscuits

Given the bad reviews of my books with people feeling that English is not my first language; that I focus on the wrong aspects of history, my stories are too long/too short/not even stories and that my history essay collections are 'BORING' (to quote feedback), I have been advised to stop writing fiction and instead focus on other activities.  It has also been pointed out to me that with the bookshops filled with books written by vloggers, e.g. 'The Pointless Book: Started by Alfie Deyes, Finished by You' by Alfie Dyes [there is a sequel too], 'A Work in Progress' by Connor Franta, 'The Amazing Book is Not on Fire: The World of Dan and Phil' by Dan Howell and Phil Lester, 'Girl Online - Girl Online 1' by Zoe Sugg [a.k.a. Zoella - there is a book 2 as well], 'Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter' by Louise Pentland, 'Binge' by Tyler Oakley, 'Hello Life!' by Marcus Butler, 'All I Know Now' by Carrie Hope Fletcher and 'This Book Loves You' by Felix Kjellberg [writing as PewDiePie],  if I want to stand a chance of getting a book contract I would be better off starting online wittering on about stuff first.  The person suggesting that seemed to neglect the fact that I am not young, ditzy or glamorous enough to appear on the cover.

The suggestion was that I move my blog to being about biscuits.  These have an appeal right across the age range and you can express opinions on them without being attacked as a bigot or not 'understanding the real world'.  In addition, I lack the skills to cook food or make handicrafts, so sampling and reviewing biscuits made by others.  I am not sponsored by any company for this.  All the biscuits featured have been bought at my own expense and photographed by me.  This is not advertising because I am sure many of my reviews will be ambivalent, some even hostile.  However, given the range of biscuits out there, I hope I will enable customers to make the choices which are appropriate to them.

Lotus Biscoff Speculoos Biscuits

Given the time of year, it seemed sensible to start with a Speculoos biscuit.  I used the bastardised French term for them as is common in the UK.  They are know as Speculaas in Dutch/Flemish.  They are associated with the feast of St. Nicholas in early December.  However, you may be familiar with these biscuits from getting them on the side of your saucer in coffee shops.  They are medium-hard biscuits with a crystalised, 'sandy' texture.  They are lightly spiced though sweet and make a tasty counterpoint to coffee.

This particular brand came from Lidl.  You will find I buy quite a lot of my biscuits from Lidl as well as Asda, Co-op and Tescos.  In part this is because Lidl is cheap, but also because unlike the other three stores, they tend to stock a lot of products from continental Europe especially in the period around Christmas, which means you can break away from the standard British biscuit types common throughout the year.

These biscuits seem to fit the requirement for Speculoos biscuits perfectly.  They were not too sweet or too spicy.  They did not go soft too quickly and yet they were not overly sharp in terms of the sugar crystals.  Maybe it is beginner's luck, but I felt I had got off to an excellent start with my biscuit selection and had something that was ideal for the Christmas season.

Rating: 

*****