Biscuit Blog: Belmont Oaties

Belmont Oaties

While not a Hobnob, these do very well.  They have that oaty flavour but without tasting something like ryebread.  They do not disintegrate on being bitten and you do not have to pick pieces from your teeth, though you get the oaty texture in them.  There is the hint of sweetness which is right to indicate that this is not a biscuit for cheese.  The packet is a little small, but the thickness of the biscuits is more than reasonable.  Overall good value oaty biscuit if that is what you want.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Belmont Rich Tea biscuits

Belmont Rich Tea biscuits

These are not bad as Rich Tea biscuits go; certainly not as small as some are now becoming.  They have a rather dry starting taste but some richness in the aftertaste and they are reasonably moreish.  They have a good snap and as you would hope for Rich Teas do not crumble easily.  Overall, for the standard range of a discount supermarket they do the job intended for them.  A little less dryness in them would raise them that bit higher.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Belmont All Butter Scottish Shortbread Fingers

Belmont All Butter Scottish Shortbread Fingers

I must apologise for the photo in this posting, the light level was lower than I realised even though I have always lived in unfortunately gloomy houses.  As seems typical with Belmont, the ordinary biscuit brand from Aldi, they have gone for a lengthy title.  These went into a head-to-head with the Lidl equivalent for a taste test by two members of my house and came off slightly worse.  They crumble easily, a trait common for shortbread, but the full biscuit lacks 'bulk' when bitten, it seems too dry.  There is no visible sugar, but the butteriness that you would hope for given the title also seems absent so it comes off as very plain biscuit with only a little of creamy after taste.  The Lidl version just wins out for having better structural integrity and some more of that creamy flavour that you look for in shortbread.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Hill Fruit Shortcake biscuits

Hill Fruit Shortcake biscuits

I bought these Hill biscuits from Aldi.  The first thing is that you get a very long packet, though the biscuits themselves are small.  Perhaps they have too much of a snap for a shortcake.  This is the start of the problem for the biscuit.  It takes more like a Digestive without the oaty pieces in it; the creaminess of a good shortcake biscuit is missing.  The fruit is lacking in sweetness, so effectively you end up with a kind of small - and they are small - Digestive biscuit with bits in it, not a pleasant experience.  If you were looking for a better value biscuit like this, then simply buy a Digestive, they are available from Aldi too.

P.P.  Just a warning: I found that these biscuits have a laxative effect which I put down to the hard currants and the wheaty texture of the biscuit.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Belmont Biscuits Coconut Cookies

Belmont Biscuits Coconut Cookies

These were a really pleasant surprise and found approval more widely in the Rooksmoor household than just from your reviewer.  There tend to be some gems among the own brand biscuits of stores and these are the one from Aldi's Belmont Biscuits range.  They are of a decent size and have a good snap.  Unlike some coconut biscuits they do not crumble.  They have a sweet flavour but do not overdo it.  There is a nice coconut taste but only with a few strands of coconut in each biscuit in contrast to some that are full of shreds.  They are very moreish.  I was pleased with these.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Belmont Biscuits Cookies 'N' Cream biscuits

Belmont Biscuits Cookies 'N' Cream biscuits

These are Aldi's version of Oreos.  However, both the biscuits and the packet itself are very small.  They come close to the taste of Oreos but the darkness of the chocolate biscuit is so strong that it almost gives a 'burn' to your tongue.  The filling is very creamy and these flavours are so at the extremes from each other to make it a very odd taste overall.  You can compare it unfavourably with other sandwich biscuits such as Bourbons and Custard Creams, in which the filling compliments the flavour of the biscuit.  I accept that Aldi has done reasonably well in creating a biscuit which has strong flavours rather than the blandness of too many biscuits I review, but I think it needs toning down on the two components.  The packet and the biscuits themselves both need to be larger no matter what other company's biscuit they may be aping.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Belmont Biscuits Malted Milk

Belmont Biscuits Malted Milk

Belmont Biscuits appear to b Aldi's equivalent of the Tower Gate brand for Lidl, i.e. their everyday version.  Their version of Malted Milk biscuits is not too bar.  It has a sound snap and they are not crumbly, even 'sandy' as some Malted Milks are unfortunately.  The creaminess I seek in a Malted Milk is largely lacking, but instead there is a 'tart' flavour which while not what you might be looking for is not unpleasant and means they avoid being yet another effectively Rich Tea in another form.  They have a reasonable level of moreishness.  If Aldi worked on these and tweaked them to bring out a creamy flavour, these could be very successful.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Memento French Mixed Berries Butter Biscuits

Memento French Mixed Berries Butter Biscuits

I am finding that Aldi likes very long titles for its biscuits.  These are from its Memento range of upmarket biscuits.  As can be seen from the illustration, the box contains a number of sub-packets each holding four biscuits.  These biscuits are pretty small as you can see from the picture.  They do have dried fruit in them but also, it seems, a rather artificial fruit flavour added on top.  I do not think the latter was necessary.  The biscuits are not buttery in flavour but have a reasonable level of snap for this kind of biscuit and are reasonably moreish.  Thus, they are not bad, but they certainly do not have the flavour whether in fruit or biscuit that you would expect to find in a genuine French equivalent.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Memento Half Covered Fruit And Nut Cookies

 Memento Half Covered Fruit And Nut Cookies

I have finally located a branch of Aldi reasonably near my house so have rushed in an bought a range of their biscuits to try.  These are from their Memento range of slightly posher biscuits.  I was intrigued by the 'half covered' in the title, but I guess they have been very precise and you would not be misled.

I must say, they are very thick and they are tasty with creamy milk chocolate and a mix of currants and chocolate chips.  I could not detect the nuts mentioned in the name, but they were still tasty. They do not have a snap, but do not fall apart the way some 'cookies' do, especially ones with fruit or nut elements within them.

I hope this is a sign of good things to come from Aldi as I work through what they have on offer. 

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Asda Rich Tea biscuits

Asda Rich Tea biscuits

These Rich Tea biscuits, not as small as some you find and in the packet you get two sub-packs of biscuits.  They are very dry in taste and lack much of the richness that you would expect.  They almost work like cracker biscuits would in your mouth.  Thus, while good value for money, I would use them as biscuits for cheese rather than as a sweet biscuit.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Asda Cocoa Creams

Asda Cocoa Creams

These are a sandwich biscuit.  Historically BN, the French biscuit company, produced the gold standard for these, certainly in the years before they insisted on impressing smiley faces into all of their biscuits.  Sandwich biscuits are larger than many standard biscuits and typically have a chocolate cream filling.  The biscuit discs themselves really need to be creamy to counterpoint the chocolate in the middle.  BN always did theirs in a square shape; British versions of the 21st century seem to be round.  Perhaps the easiest to access version of the sandwich biscuit in the UK at present is the Lidl Princess biscuit which I need to get around to reviewing here.  This is a comparator for it but comes out as less successful.

The biscuit is large.  The discs have an appropriate snap and then a little crumble.  However, they really lack the creaminess which is vital in a sandwich biscuit.  I do not know how some of these supermarkets - Asda is not alone in this, Tesco is also guilty - manage to get so little flavour into some of their biscuits.  The chocolate cream inside is of the correct consistency.  It should be of a milk flavoured chocolate, but I recognise that dark chocolate is the leading flavour now.  I like dark chocolate so enjoyed this cream and funnily another person eating these who insists on milk chocolate and hates dark felt it was sufficiently milky for their taste.  The problem is, with so little flavour in the biscuit disc, all you get is the cream flavour, you might as well spread chocolate paste on a slice of bread.  Unsurprisingly, as a result, they lack moreishness.  These are another of those frustrating biscuits in which the company falls short on one element and so the biscuit fails to achieve what it should be doing.  Not terrible, but could so easily be better.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Asda Coconut Rings

Asda Coconut Rings

While I was looking at the standard biscuits Asda sells under is own brand, I also saw a few which are not provided by other supermarkets.  These coconut rings are one of those.  I have to give Asda some credit for effort as they have tried to make these distinctive.  However, hey do not crumble in the way as shown on the packet, though as you can see from the damaged biscuit on the left in the picture they are pretty fragile.  They are thin and quite small; they fortunately do not crumble as suggested and have a fair snap.

My main problem with these biscuits is the lack of 'coconutness' if there is such a word - but I imagine you get what I mean.  I would expect more sweetness coming from the coconut and those small shreds of coconut that you would find in a decent Nice biscuit.  There is some hint of coconut flavour and a rare shred, but once more we effectively seem to have a Rich Tea with a different texture and supposed flavour, but insufficiently different really to warrant you buying these as an alternative to a plain biscuit.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Asda Garibaldi biscuits

Asda Garibaldi biscuits

I shot these particular biscuits on a board for playing the Japanese game Go.  It rather gets abused in my house, often used as the base for bathroom scales in rooms where the floor is uneven.  However, given the wide diversity of length of biscuit packets and the size of biscuits even of the same type, I am wondering if I will used it more often so that you can see from the number of squares covered the scale of what I am showing.

I had not been to Asda for a while so when in there for a reason I have now forgotten, I thought it a good idea to pick up some of their standard biscuits in order to provide more comparators for the basic biscuit types common in the UK.  I started with Asda's Garibaldis.  One positive thing about these is that they are scored well.  Unlike most biscuits, Garibaldis are sold in strips which require the eater or the person filling the biscuit tin, to break them off.  It is unfortunately too common for Garibaldis to be scored poorly or for the biscuit to be too crumbly, so that breaking them off you end up with erratically sized biscuits and often too many wasted crumbs.  As you can see from above, these break very neatly.

I do expect a glaze on the top of my Garibaldis and that was missing from these.  In fact they are rather lacking in sweetness all round.  The raisins used are not particularly sweet.  The biscuit itself has a very dry flavour.  It has an appropriate snap when you bite into it, not crumbling away too much as can be a problem with Garibaldis.  There is some degree of moreishness but it is not that strong, I think because the actual biscuit is somehow plainer than the best Rich Teas and the sweetness is really lacking.

I would be tempted to add half-a-star if I could to the rating below, because Asda has got the scoring of these Garibaldis done very well, but overall it is not an appealing biscuit.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Crawford's Ginger Nuts

Crawford's Ginger Nuts

I must say that these do come in a very long packet and while they may cost more than supermarket own brands they are decent value for what you get.  Interesting the first flavour you get when you bite into them is almost orangey,  It is not unpleasant.  The snap is of a medium strength, not as strong as you often find with Ginger Nuts but certainly well away from crumbling to powder as happened on some poor quality ones.  One problem is that the ginger flavour is slow to develop and I had to eat four before I got that on my tongue.  I did find these biscuits moreish, but I think that is in part due to the time needed to build up the flavour on my tongue.  I wonder if that is intentional on the part of the makers.  They could be improved with more gingeriness going on right from the start.

Rating:
*****

P.P.
Looking back over the biscuits I have reviewed since this time last year, it is interesting to see those which have attracted the most and least attention.  The clear stand-out biscuit for viewing by readers is the Sondey Butter Rings, despite me scoring them only 2 stars back in March:

http://rooksmoor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/biscuit-blog-sondey-butter-rings.html 

The ones which have attracted least attention from readers are the Lotus Speculoos biscuits, I reviewed a year ago, despite me giving them 5 stars.  This maybe because they were on the end of my first biscuit blog entry and there is stuff about vloggers getting book contracts to start with.

http://rooksmoor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/biscuit-blog-lotus-speculoos-biscuits.html

It will be interesting to see what attracts most interest next year and indeed whether any new kinds of biscuits are on the market.  Saying that I still have work to do getting through Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Aldi and if I can find one somewhere, Morrisons.

Biscuit Blog: McVities Rich Tea Classic biscuits

McVities Rich Tea Classic biscuits

These are a little small in diameter but the main surprise with them is the sweetness that you get on the first bite.  The have a decent snap as you want on Rich Tea biscuits but they rather lack the creamy aftertaste which is the sign of a really good one.  They have a reasonable level of moreishness.  However, they are really too sweet for the kind of neutral, creamy flavour that you want with a Rich Tea and especially if you do not take sugar in your tea, you may find these jarring with your appreciation of the cup of tea itself.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Fox's Party Rings

Fox's Party Rings

As I noted last month, biscuits from Fox's tend to be smaller than average and these are no exception.  You do get a long packet of them, though, as the picture shows.  I was attracted to these by their very 1970s appearance.  The rings come in a number of colours, though in my packet pink predominated.  The different colours are not different flavours.  The coating is a very hard sugar layer, which surprisingly does not taste that sweat.  The biscuit below has quite a strong snap and a flavour like a milder version of a Shortcake biscuit, though much thinner than those tend to be.

Overall, then they have a very mild flavour which means you could treat them like colourful Rich Tea biscuits, they will not disrupt the flavour of a cup of tea in the way you might expect from such gaudy, 1970s-style biscuit.  Their notable element, like the best of Rich Tea biscuits is that they are moreish, raising their rating a little.  Given how small they are, they hardly fill you up.  Perhaps on that basis they are designed for modern children's parties at which you do not want the children to get a sugar rush but feel they are getting something better than standard Rich Tea biscuits.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Fox's Crunch Creams - Ginger

Fox's Crunch Creams - Ginger

I should have put a size indicator next to these biscuits as, in common with other biscuits I have seen from Fox's these are small.  The packet is short and the diameter of the biscuits is probably about two-thirds of the size of the average ginger nut I have reviewed here.  I did not include a picture of these biscuits on edge, but in fact, as you can see from the packet, these are sandwich biscuits, i.e. like a Custard Cream or a Bourbon, they consist of two biscuits joined by a smooth filling.

Aside from the size another challenge is the lack of ginger flavour in the biscuits.  They have the appearance, texture and snap of a usual Ginger Nut, but lack the flavour.  They are very plain biscuits.  As a result, it is the filling which gives these biscuits most of their flavour.  Perhaps surprisingly the filling is lemon.  It is not too sharp, and would counter-point a good ginger flavour but that is absent, so the biscuit flavour overall ends up imbalanced.  These are not terrible biscuits, but they do not really offer what they promise.  If you want this flavour then you would be better off with a standard Custard Cream, or, perhaps better, get two typical Ginger Nuts and spread lemon curd between them.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Co-operative All Butter Shortbread Fingers

Co-operative All Butter Shortbread Fingers

These were a pleasant surprise,  They are in Co-op's 'Loved' range but they tasted much better than I had expected.  The packet, as is common with shortbread, is short, but the biscuits themselves are very creamy in flavour.  They have a firm snap without being too brittle; you expect shortbread to have some crumble but not to disintegrate, so these strike just the right balance.  There is no sugar covering on these as you find on some shortbread, but actually, in this case, it allows the core flavour of the biscuit to come out clearly.  Very moreish.  As you can gather, I was very pleased with these.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: McVitie's Marie biscuits

McVitie's Marie biscuits

When I saw these, I imagined they a British version of the Galette style biscuits from Brittany in France, a type of biscuit I enjoy and brought a lot home of last year when I visited Sables D'Or.  They are similarly circular with writing on the topside.  However, the glaze which is common on Galettes was missing.  As I tasted them, I found they also lacked the snap which is typical of a Galette and the flavour lacked the creaminess and sweetness.  In effect these Maries are simply Rich Tea biscuits with a slightly different pattern.  They are not even as thick as they are portrayed on the packet and that packet is small so you would expect something better than just another Rich Tea.  It is a shame McVitie's have not really tried to bring in a British Galette,  This is not a bad biscuit, but I cannot rate it hardly as it falls short of what it seems to promise from the name and packet.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Tesco Rich Tea Fingers

Tesco Rich Tea Fingers

One type of biscuit I have been asked to review is the Rich Tea.  There is some prejudice against these.  I had a colleague who claimed they were unsuitable to be eaten and instead should just be used to build things for children.  Though some people find them dull, they are a cut above Digestive biscuits.  However, I think Rich Tea biscuits are both very British and serve a useful function as was summed up in McVitie's 1978 campaign for their Rich Tea biscuits - 'a drink's too wet without one'.  This does not mean dunking them; that is a disgusting practice which ruins both the drink and the biscuit, but it does mean that the dryness of the Rich Tea complements beverages very well.

The first Rich Tea I am looking at is from Tesco and is slightly different to the standard in not being circular and not having a smooth, though pierced topside.  These are a finger variety which I suppose do sit nicely in a saucer.  The packet is long which is good because these are pretty small biscuits.  They are thin as well, certainly not as thick as you would expect from a Rich Tea; this makes the snap when you bite a little feeble compared to what you would anticipate.  In terms of taste they are ultra-dry, almost like paper on your tongue and lack the creaminess at the back of your mouth that you expect.  They do their job but not brilliantly and there is room for improvement.  I guess they are for people expecting a lot of guests and yet does not want to spend too much on giving them anything too tasty or large.

Rating:
*****