BISCUITS I The Empire Biscuit. Moffatt, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

The British Empire was responsible for many great misdemeanours but it was also responsible for the creation of the grand old dame that is the Empire Biscuit. In a cruel twist of the palette knife it was originally known as the Deutsch biscuit. Churchill would surely have been relieved to see it renamed at the outbreak of WW1 although Northern Ireland shamefully never made the leap to the new name. Can we just make clear that it’s not a Jammy Dodger, this Empire is iced ffs. Most sightings have been in the Scottish Borders, possibly because of the prevalence of shortbread there, while you are baking that fine biscuit you might as well knock out some Empires too. Top fact – it’s similar to a New Zealand Shrewsbury and is popular in Canada, let’s not get distracted at this point though. Do biscuits reveal much about our national identity? Probably not much but maybe a little. Sometimes the last vestiges of Empire are revealed in the smallest things. Should we hang on to an old name? Will the sun ever set on The Empire Biscuit?