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: Tesco Shortcake Biscuits

Tesco Shortcake Biscuits

In terms of being the kind of biscuit that they are supposed to be and tasting decent, so far these are the best biscuits I have bought from Tesco.  As I have noted before, even among supermarket employees, Tesco is not rated as having the most flavoursome products, but this shortcake biscuit, though very simple, delivers what it promises, no more; no less.  There is a touch of creaminess and they are not overly sweet, though there is a hint almost of a glaze in the taste even though it is not there for real.  Fortunately the bicarbonate of soda flavour is absent.  They are thinner than other shortcake biscuits I have known.  However, as I say, these do the job and in that respect exceed other biscuits I have recently bought from Tesco.

Rating:
*****

Biscuit Blog: Crawford's Shortcake

Crawford's Shortcake biscuits

It is important to distinguish shortcake biscuits from shortbread biscuits.  Shortcake biscuits are also pale in colour but have far more of a snap than shortbread which is typically very crumbly.  Shortcake have far less sugar on them, though as I have noted before the amount of sugar dusted on shortbread seems to be decreasing.  Shortcake biscuits have a less creamy taste than the shortbread but are have a rich flavour that is both different from a rich tea and from a malted milk; they are thicker than both of these.  When I was a boy these were popularly known as 'tractor biscuits' because the diagonal shape about the rim of the biscuits look like the patterns left in the mud by tractor tyres when they have been driven along an unsurfaced road.

These shortcakes from Crawfords are not bad.  They lack moreishness and unfortunately have a bit of a 'burn' in the taste which can sometimes happen with cheap versions of supposedly creamy biscuits, most often occurring in malted milks, though not among the recent batch I have sampled.  There is a snap to these but almost a sour aftertaste which feels wrong.  It is almost as if they have gone too far in trying to get the shortcake flavour.  However, unlike some biscuits I have tried recently, they actually taste along the lines of what they are supposed to be.

Rating:

*****