How cute is this packaging! A biscuit made into a face. A heart shaped mouth. A would have shown a smile but an open mouth works just as well if not better.
Bakewell tart - one of Britain's best inventions. Not in my humble opinion. In my boastful opinion of Britain. I am not impressed with potholed roads nor the price of Covid-19 tests but I am impressed by Bakewell tart and macaroons.
What do we miss from the UK when in Singapore, France, or anywhere? We can buy digestive biscuits and scones in Singapore. But not clotted cream. The price of your supermarket shop is double, so we do a lot of home cooking. We bake bread. But not biscuits. Because since covid-19 we have been on diets to maintain a healthy weight. All that weight watching stopped when I arrived at the Writers
Summern School in Swanwick and saw the biscuits.
I had forgotten about wonderful, beautiful crunchy and munchy British biscuits.
The Americans were ahead of the Brits with biscuits, called cookies, and 31 varieties of ice cream, back in the 1960s. But I dream of British biscuits, cakes and desserts when in Singapore. You can get a fine bread and butter pudding at the Tanglin Club, a private members' club, which had teh numbers who could dine reduced to two for much of the last month or so (July 2021) because of Covid 19.
My recent discovery is that you can get a version of traditional Bakewell tart called a Bakewell slice from Mrs Crimble's. Ooh delicious.
My second favourite is the macaroon. At first I rejected the red jam centre because years ago I had had red jam biscuits which were dry. However the Macaroons had a juicy coconut and overall moist and chewy.
Coconut trees behind the umbrellas. Photo by Angela Lansbury
I spend part of the year in Singapore, land of the coconut. Fresh coconut and coconut milk are disappointing if you have been brought up on the succulent Bounty Bar. Mrs Crimble's macaroon is a big moist biscuit.
I preferred the Mrs Crimble Bakewell slice to the other version I tried.
The wicked cake co version of Bakewell Slice had an icing topping. My husband commented, "They didn't go overboard with the jam." But things strike you differently on different days, and according to what else you have just drunk or eaten.
You can cook up your own version of Bakewell tart. It was featured by Mrs Beeton.
Macaroons are also a favourite of American, British and other Jews at Passover (which pre-dates Lent and Pancake Day) with its rules about giving up bread made with yeast.
An Italian version is crunchy Amaretti de Saronno, which are popular at Christmas.
Amaretti, from Wikipedia.
Bakewell Tart Recipe
Ingredients:
One and three-quarter pints of breadcrumbs;
a pint of milk;
3 eggs;
55g sugar;
80g butter (unsalted);
25g ground almonds;
red jam.
Method
Butter a pie dish,
Add the breadcrumbs.
Cover with a layer of strawberry jam;
Mix the milk with the beaten eggs, ground almonds, butter and sugar;
Beat all the ingredients together,
Pour into the dish.
Cooking
Bake for an hour in the oven on a moderate heat. eg 180 to 200 centigrade in an electric oven. (What about fan assisted ovens? My friendly family chef says: All ovens nowadays are fan assisted. Even the plug in one we bought for the worktop in Singapore. Ovens have been fan-assisted for decades.
Serves 4-6.
https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biscuits-Mrs-Crimbles-Crackers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroon
About the author
Angela Lansbury is British and has lived in the UK, USA, Spain and Singapore.
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