Betty Neels nearly always includes tea with biscuits (British word alert!) somewhere in her novels. Usually in the Ward Sister's office after a tricky bit of surgery or possibly a ward round. Her heroines occasionally go to bed without supper, and manage to stave off their hunger by polishing off a tin of biscuits washed down with water from the tap.I was at Safeway yesterday morning doing a bit of shopping...when I came upon their selection of imported biscuits (that's cookies to you...). I've wanted to try some, but frankly, I'm not willing to spend too much on small packets of cookies that I'm not sure the family will like. Good news! They were on sale for $2.00 each. My budget can handle that - besides, Dr. van der Stevejinck has seldom met a cookie (or biscuit) he didn't like.
We tried the Digestive Biscuits first. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about them:
"A digestive biscuit, sometimes referred to as a sweetmeal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit popular in the United Kingdom....The term 'digestive' is derived from the belief that they had antacid properties due to the use of sodium bicarbonate when they were first developed."
If a graham cracker and a butter cookie got married and had kids - they would be somewhat like these. I don't know how often they come w
ith chocolate on top, but that was the only variety available. They tasted fine - the entire family (well, the four of us) all had a couple as we tried to decide if we loved them or liked them. "Like" was the final verdict. I liked the delicate buttery texture...but the cookies had a faint aftertaste of bicarbonate of soda...and made me burp. In a delicate and ladylike fashion. I don't mind a bit of burping after chugging root beer, but not so much after eating a cookie.Rich Tea Biscuits were much better received. I'm totally in love with them. They are nearly exactly the same as the butter cookies that are commonly given out in decorative tins at Christmas time. They go down quite well with a nice hot cup of cocoa.
I have oft wondered about the "digestive" part of the biscut. Good to know. I swear I am going to be well prepared to visit Denmark or England at the end of this year.
ReplyDeleteDare I suggest a Betty field trip? How awesome a trip would that be?! Perhaps I'll start with a penny jar.
A field trip would be beyond awesome. I'll put a few "gulden" in a jar also...
ReplyDeleteI'll be saving my pounds and pence! I love how rich tea biscuits look. Yum! Way to take one for the team, Dr. van der Stevejinck.
ReplyDeleteDigestive biscuits are heaven to me. I do not recall them making me burp ladylike or otherwise, fat, yes.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that Betty would approve of the hot cocoa. However, I will overlook it due to your fab setting with tea and biscuits.
ReplyDeleteI've already stolen all of the pennies from my hubby's money jar for the trip.
Sure, Betty wouldn't have had cocoa during the day - unless she was snowed in during a blizzard, but she did often drink it at night.
ReplyDeleteLU (for Lefevre Utile) is NOT a proper source for chocolate digestives (sorry, I left a snotty comment on an earlier post because I stupidly didn't look for this one) -- but their Petit Ecolier are to die for, so I forgive them.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, let me send you some McVitie's Chocolate Digestives. No burping, I promise!