Look back with us on biscuits of yesteryear and win some pretty, festive tins, too!
The arrival of the Christmas Biscuit Tin (initial caps our own) heralded the start of the festive season for us. (That and the moment you noticed that your mum was stockpiling large boxes of Amaretti biscuits, or the massive tin of Quality Street got opened).
In The Simple Things’ office, each of us clearly recalled at least one Christmas Biscuits Tin of our childhood fondly: a tall, round affair that was decorated to look like a festive fairground carousel and was so heavily coveted by all the children of the family it had to be thrown away to avoid a mutiny over who could keep the empty tin; one with a Victorian Christmas family carolling in the snow that was an annual feature of a trip to a maiden aunt’s; another a tasteful National Trust shortbread tin that became the home for the family’s more delicate Christmas tree decorations.
Each wove their way into a family tradition or memory. Some are still being pressed into service today.
It didn’t much matter what was in your biscuits tin back then. It was the fact that they were ‘special’ that mattered. A cranberry shortbread or foil-wrapped mint chocolate cream was always welcome, don’t get us wrong, but even a workaday fig roll seemed a bit magic when it came out of the Christmas Biscuits Tin. Heck, you could pass off a pink wafer as exciting in December, and as we all know, they are nine parts air to one part biscuit.
Now we’re (a bit more) grown-up, the biscuits themselves take on a much more significant role in the choosing of a Christmas Biscuits Tin. But if you’ve got a lovely tin lurking in the cupboard already there’s nothing nicer than making some yourself.
Back in our December 2019 issue, in our feature Tins of Comfort and Joy, Louise Gorrod invited us to her annual festive biscuit exchange, with a few friends and a Christmas tipple. You can buy a back issue from our online store.
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