In the UK, biscuits aren’t merely a morning snack to propel us through to lunchtime, they’re a cultural cornerstone. According to trade magazine The Grocer, 55 per cent of shoppers pick up a packet every week. That’s a lot of crumbs on the sofa.
But while our supermarkets continue to offer an inexhaustible range (even including individually-wrapped biscuit bars in their meal deals), Waitrose reports that it’s still the old favourites that land in customers’ baskets most often.
Amidst a rise in biscuit buying across the board, sales of the brands’ own-label dark chocolate digestives are up 35 per cent since this time last year – a trend the store’s biscuit buyer, Daniel Skinner, hails as “the return of our favourite childhood biscuits”. Indeed, the chocolate digestive was voted Telegraph readers’ favourite in 2024, above shortbread fingers.
So, with so many to snaffle, how are we eating them? We’re all well-versed in the cake-or-biscuit debate, but the biggest question on our lips is what’s the best way to eat your favourite biccy – are you a nimble nibbler or just dunk and disorderly?
Chocolate digestives
Ranked top cookie by Telegraph readers, though it appears we’ve been eating them wrong all these years. During its 100th anniversary celebrations, digestive manufacturer McVitie’s revealed that the correct way to eat its iconic creation is chocolate-side down, so it melts luxuriously on the tongue.
Custard creams
The current number-one choice for Waitrose shoppers presents two eating options: twist the biscuits apart then lick the vanilla buttercream filling (scrape it off with your teeth if you must), before chomping the sandwich halves – or dunk the whole lot in tea for a couple seconds to soften the cream slightly. Likewise bourbons, but it must be coffee or milk instead of tea.
Shortbread
The biccy of choice for Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage who uses its classic tartan tin as fashion inspiration. Dunk a finger in tea or hot chocolate if you must, but I prefer to break off small chunks and eat them one by one, allowing time for each to dissolve slowly in the mouth.
Penguins
Eat them like the Aussies and do the Tim Tam Slam (named after the Australian-made equivalent). Bite off diagonally opposite corners of the chocolate-coated sandwich biscuit then dip one nibbled corner into hot tea. Suck up the tea through the chocolate cream filling like a straw.
Choco Leibniz
My favourite for serving alongside an espresso and the only biscuit I keep in the fridge (to maximise the snap). Like the digestive, this is best eaten chocolate-side down. Leave to rest over a warm cup of coffee for a few moments then nibble the overhanging edges before enjoying the gently melting chocolate below crunchy, buttery biscuit.
Jammie Dodgers
The perfect biscuit for those who like to take it slow. There’s only one acceptable approach here: nibble a full circuit of the perimeter then repeat a few mini-munches at a time, until the jammy love heart at the centre is finally reached, to be devoured in one mouthful.
Garibaldis
The ultimate dunker in my book. Hold your nerve and keep the garibaldi steadily dipped in a mug of tea while the biscuit puffs and those chewy raisins swell; you should manage seven seconds before disaster strikes.
Tunnock’s Tea Cakes
Yes, we’re really stretching the biscuit boundaries now. But who can argue against the allure of this Scottish classic? To keep your fingers clean, crack the chocolate dome with a teaspoon and scoop out the marshmallow centre. Really want to go to town? Briefly grill or blowtorch the tops of two teacakes to lightly melt, then press together to create the decadent “Tunnock sandwich”. You’re welcome.
Jaffa Cakes
Controversial here not only because of their legal categorisation as cake, but because of the debate surrounding their potential scoffing methods. Some will recall the playful “full moon” advertisement from the Nineties and replicate a two-bite (or half-moon to total eclipse, if you will) technique. Others choose to deconstruct the bake by removing the chocolate, then base, then finally eating the glorious jelly-disc whole.