British Biscuits to Buy Online - Bakewell Tart, Bakewell Slice and Coconutty Almondy Macaroons

Food Connections biscuits. Called flapjacks, confusingly, since flapjacks to me are pancakes.

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/

mrscrimbles.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biscuits-Mrs-Crimbles-Crackers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroon

wickedcake.co.uk

About the author

Angela Lansbury is British and has lived in the UK, USA, Spain and Singapore.

Belated Birthday Treats from Tanglin Club Discounts - Fetch Or Have Delivered

Delicious duck from the Tanglin club. Ordered in. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We started with melt in the mouth duck. My husband said that he can cook chicken, but duck is more complicated so we ordered in the duck.

We also had chicken kebab which came with cubed pressed white rice and cucumber. 

Caesar salad, a starter.  Great tangy ham.

Caesar salad started in the USA, depending on which website you read, invented at Caesar's Palace hotel restaurant or by a waiter called Caesar. (At any rate not by the Roman Caesar.) The original and authentic version was supposed to have anchovies. I am not keen on anchovies. The Tanglin offered several versions with different meats. 

We added mango to the sugary macaroons. The raspberry was sold out. The lemon was tongue-tingling. The passion fruit seemed to be tasteless jam, until I licked the filling separately and found a teeny slice of fruit. However, my husband found none so we reckon next time we will pass on the passion fruit but we loved the lemon.

My Birthday Treat 

I had had a birthday discount voucher from the Tanglin club. We had used most of my discount voucher on a meal in the Churchill Room. However, I still had a small number of dollars to use up. The club sent a handy reminder that the last date to use the voucher was approaching.

Do you belong to a club which you cannot visit? Do you have friends who have invited you to a club? 

The Tanglin Club in Singapore sends us three kinds of discount vouchers:

You could order the Tanglin food for yourself as a member, or to serve at home to a visitor to your home. (Providing they are willing to leave their home and visit yours. Unfortunately, my favourite friend, a fellow author, has been asked by her family to stay home during the current situation - whatever the level of lockdown. They are sending her food.

Meanwhile, what is the Tanglin doing for us as members? Sending vouchers. As usual:

Birthday Vouchers - Every Year

One birthday voucher for my husband who is a full member (with voting rights at the AGM).

One birthday voucher for me, an associate member.

Discount Vouchers - During Covid-19 Restrictions

One discount voucher for full members only, during the current Covid-19 phase which prevents us eating at the Tanglin Club.

Why do they do this? If they made no profit at least it would keep the staff busy, keeping up morale, and in practice. That applies to those cooking, serving, operating the website and phone queries.

It would also keep the food suppliers in business. And keep up the relationship.

They presumably hope to make some profit. On each order they could make extra profit if you order wine. If you pay for delivery. If you get in the habit of ordering, you like the food, and re-order. You might not order now. But by looking at the menu, you have it in mind for later.

If you were thinking of selling your membership because it is no use to you during Covid, you might feel that something is of use.

The birthday vouchers are issued the first day of your birthday month and last for three months. That is generous. Since many members travel, that is good. You might well have had a family meal at home for a birthday, or at some special unusual new place and not want a meal out at the club in the same week. For my birthday I went to a smart gourmet restaurant with a wine offer for mother's day. My husband said he did not want a double credit card bill and calorie count in one week = or even one month.

What We Ordered

From the Tanglin tea room I wanted macaroons. We opted to have just two. One per person. Different flavours. Cut in half, we each got to try two.

Amazingly, next day my weight had not gone down but had not gone up either. Hurray.

Websites

https://www.facebook.com/tanglinclub/

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/

About Angela The Author

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President.

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meetings 1st Wednesday evening is Wednesday June 2nd at 7pm; and third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Bailey & Sage For Fun Food in the Kings Road, London

We went to Bayley and Sage to buy cheese. London has a good selection of cheese shops. When we are nearer Baker Street station we regularly visit La Fromagerie. Near Piccadilly you have Paxton and Whitfield. Another cheese shop is near The Shard. Now we've found another great place, Bayley and Sage. First, a huge selection of cheeses.

Cheeses galore at Bailey and Sage.

The occasional gift for yourself or another - such as the apron with chickens and eggs, at about £20. That's a lot for an apron. I want it. I'll have to go back and get it.

Then you can have a mini quiche heated up in the microwave to take away. £2.75. We had a choice of three kinds. We chose salmon and asparagus.

When you are tired of green beans, try yellow beans.

Plus vegetables. Yellow beans to make a change from green beans. A huge melon.

You can get a double espresso to take away for £1.95. Nowhere to sit down. You could carry it back to your car.

As we were leaving I saw the giant meringues in the window. Various colours. All sugar, of course. How about something with nuts?

Little coloured macaroons. How much? We asked an assistant. £12.50?

Nice for a present. A bit expensive for our tea. Do you have anything similar, but cheaper? Then we spotted some giant plain coloured almond macaroons at £4.50.

Yummy. Then we inspected the packaging and discovered that the maker was Sally Clarke, whose restaurant we have been to for birthdays, very expensive but a delicious treat. We never tried out the patisserie to take away nearby. Now we have.

Bailey and Sage have a second branch opened in Fulham this week, June 2016.

Bailey and Sage
Parsons Green
34 New Kings Road
Parsons Green
London SW6 4ST
tel: 020 7736 2826

Sally Clarke
www.sallyclarke.co.uk