The Jealous Crumpet

A sweet little blog


9 Comments

I Just Discovered Tunnock’s Tea Cakes

tunnocks tea cakesThere is a store, World Market, that I like to go to get french sweets for my french husband.  The store is 2 hours from my house so I only go when I am working in this particular town, making it a rare treat.

A couple of months ago, I was standing in World Market’s biscuit/cookie aisle trying to decide if I should get Madeleine’s or langues de chats or both (I went with both), when a man at the other end of the aisle threw up his hands and sighed in exasperation.

Bloody Hell!!! Tunnock’s tea cakes for $5.99 is absolutely mad!! And I’m SURE they’re stale!” he blustered to a younger gentlemen with him.  The other man just shrugged, apparently used to such outbursts, but I was suddenly very interested in Tunnock’s tea cakes.

Despite the exorbitant price and high-probability of staleness, the angry British man tucked two yellow boxes of tea cakes into his basket and huffed away.

My curiosity got the best of me (it usually does) and I immediately grabbed a box so I could see what all the fuss was about. tunnocks tea cakesWhen I got home I put the tea cakes into my cupboard and promptly forgot about them.  On a cold and rainy evening my husband was scouring our cabinets looking for something interesting to eat when he rediscovered the treats.

“What are these,” he asked, intrigued by their definite sweets appearance.

“Oh yeah, it’s a British dessert I bought, but I don’t really know anything about them.  Maybe they’re like a scone or something,” I said.  Note: I am ashamed to have a british food as my blog icon and yet know so little about the cuisine.  I’m learning slowly.  Sorry.

We cracked open the cakes and were not disappointed.  Tunnocks Tea Cakes

They were like little portable s’mores, with a biscuit base, topped with marshmallow fluff and coated in chocolate.  hmmmmm!  Plus they had the added fanciness of a shiny red and silver wrapper that made them just a little more exciting.  So much better than the hard, stale, overpriced biscuits that I was expecting.  Tunnocks Tea Cakes


7 Comments

Biscuits Roses de Reims

Biscuits Roses de Reims

My husband recently visited his family in France, but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts I didn’t get to go with him.  To make matters worse he sent me daily updates of the amazing cathedrals, vineyards, and museums that he had visited, as well as photographs of each decadent pastry and dessert he ate.  Jerk.

As a small consolation to missing out on the fun, he brought me back a bottle of Champagne and a tin of Biscuits Roses de Reims. American Translation: Pink cookies from the city Reims.

Reims is a city located in the Champagne region of France.  The region of Champagne, unsurprisingly, is where true Champagne comes from, as opposed to sparkling wine which is essentially Champagne (though my husband would disagree) that is produced in a different area of the world. Technically, sparkling wine should not be called Champagne unless it comes from the Champagne region of France.  It makes sense.

Always hold the cork when opening Champagne or you could put an eye out!

Always hold the cork when opening Champagne or you could put an eye out!

The biscuits roses are delicate, sweet cookies, dusted with sugar and are meant to be dipped in a glass of Champagne, hence their popularity in Reims.  They are made with very basic ingredients: sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, a raising agent and the pink coloring cochineal (which is made from insects), but they are delicious!  Any dessert that is to be enjoyed with Champagne is alright by me.both4I had the Fossier brand of the biscuits roses.  Fossier has been producing these pink treats since 1756! In 1756 America was still under British rule. France was 37 years away from beheading Marie Antoinette.  It was also the year Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born and the year that the British and the French formally started the 7 Years’ War.  Amazing, the french were engaged in war, but still had time to invent an amazing cookie.  Biscuits RosesThe biscuits are pink because original the baker added vanilla to the recipes for taste, but it caused the white cookies to have unappealing brown spots on them.  To remedy this problem the baker added pink coloring to mask the brown and a lovely dessert was born.Fossier Biscuits Roses