How about “a nice-cuppa-tea-and-a-sit-down”? It’s the perfect way to recharge when out for a day of sightseeing, or shopping, or just running errands. The afternoon is winding down and you need to relax for a few moments, over a hot cuppa. And, what do you need when you’re having that “sit-down”? A biscuit or two, of course.
The marketing genius who decided that tea and biscuits should go together was James Peek. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Peek Freans Company, once one of the biggest biscuit (cookie) companies in the world. How did it start? With ‘tea’, of course!
William Peek was born into a wealthy family from Devon. In 1818 William decided to move to London and start a tea importing business, W. Peek and Company. It became quite successful and within two years William’s two brothers, Richard and James, decided to join the firm. The name of the company then became, Peek Brothers and Company.
Peek Bros Trademark — Camel Caravan. 1884. Peek House, 20 Eastcheap, London. These premises were the headquarters of Peek Bros & Co., dealers in tea, coffee and spices, built 1883 – 1885. (Ward-Jackson)
In 1824, James Peek married Elizabeth Masters and had 8 children. As most fathers, James wanted his sons to join him in the family tea business. But his two eldest sons were not at all interested in tea. Ever-creative James, realized that a business which would complement “tea” might be perfect for them. He suggested a biscuit business. Of course, his sons were still just teenagers at this point, so now James needed someone to run his new biscuit business.
3rd U.S. Infantry eating hard tack.
James’ niece, Hanna, had recently married George Frean. George was a miller and baker of “ship biscuits” or what was commonly called “hard tack”. Hard tack is a simple, tasteless cracker made from flour, water and salt. It is very inexpensive to make and can last for long periods of time, making it commonly used by the military. James wrote to George, saying that he had set up a biscuit business for his sons, but because he was still managing the tea business, he wanted to know if George would manage the new biscuit business. George agreed. The business was set up with James and George as partners, and the factory opened in London in 1857. The new partners registered their company as the Peek Frean Company. Just as James had predicted, the business took off, but after three years, the sons wanted nothing more to do with it.
Now George needed help. George wrote to his long-time school mate, John Carr of the Scottish biscuit company (perhaps you’ve heard of Carr Crackers and Biscuits). Carr accepted the offer and came down from Scotland to join the company in 1860. Throughout this time the Peek Frean Company was just producing those tasteless “ship biscuits”, but Carr was working on new ideas and new products. In 1861, they introduced the Garibaldi biscuit, a thin oblong of biscuit dough with a filling of dried currants. It’s still very popular in the U.K. as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Now it was time for a softer, sweeter biscuit with no “docker holes” (which kept the biscuit from rising during baking). Carr named this new soft and crumbling, yet crisp biscuit, the Pearl Biscuit. The Pearl Biscuit was revolutionary. Everyone loved them. In the meantime, an order from the French government came in for 460 tons of “hard tack” which was needed to help feed the armies during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Business was booming!
After the “Pearl”, came the “Marie”, then the “Chocolate Table”, “Pat-a-Cake”, the “Golden Puff” and then in 1910, the company introduced the first cream sandwich biscuit, now known as the “Bourbon” biscuit , a chocolate sandwich with a chocolate cream filling. But did Peek Frean invent this biscuit?
Credit for the “Bourbon” biscuit, the “Custard Creme” and “Nice” biscuits go to Harold Trixie, not an employee of Peek Frean, but housemaster at the King Edward VI Boarding School in Nottinghamshire. Harold’s father was a baker, and created the “two biscuits sandwiched together with a creamy filling”. Boarding schools at that time were notorious for underfeeding their students. Remembering the French-inspired baked goods his father would make, Trixie used the same method, a soft filling between a harder outer shell, to make biscuits for his young male students. Disguised as a demonstration of good etiquette, Trixie began hosting informal ‘afternoon tea’ sessions at the boy’s school, bringing in his own baked goods and biscuits. Because of the extra sugar and fat provided by the biscuits, it was noticed that Harold Trixie’s students had begun to outperform their peers. His chocolate creation was named the ‘Bourbon’ after the French noblemen’s House of Bourbon.
The Peek Frean Company began hearing about these unusual two-piece with a creamy filling cocoa biscuits. They contacted the school to ask whether they could reproduce these interesting biscuits, for which they were willing to pay a fee. When put in touch with Harold Trixie, they were told that the biscuits were free to whoever cared to bake them. Peek Frean began producing Bourbons, crediting Trixie with his creation, and they became an immediate success.
Peek Frean’s mission was that their workforce should be healthy, comfortable and contented. For over a hundred years Peek Frean’s focus was the community, with free medical and dental care for their over 4,000 workers. In addition to its own fire brigade and post office, they founded a cricket club in 1868 and later musical and dramatic societies were set up. In 1918, they cut back worker’s hours, introduced a week’s paid holiday for everyone, a pension fund, and daily tea breaks. This was a true family-run business which employed generations of families. Sadly, the biscuit factory closed in 1989, but there’s hardly a Brit who doesn’t lovingly remember them.
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References: Brighton Toy Museum, Cook’s Info, Wikipedia, Exploring Southwark, Rousdon Estate, Quora,
The Middle East should really be credited with giving us the origins of the macaron. By the 1st century, they were exploring the culinary possibilities of adding honey, fruit and nuts to food, which resulted with almonds becoming their biggest export. By the 7th century Persians were indulging in rich, luxurious cakes and pastries, made from these ground almonds called “marzipan”. These treats reached Europe by the 14th century and it is actually Italians who created this little marzipan nugget. The name “macaron” comes from the Italian word for paste which is “macaroni” (pasta is a paste made from flour, water and eggs). I grew up calling pasta macaroni, didn’t you?
The cookies remained an Italian treat until the Italian princess, Catherine de’ Medici, requested her pastry chefs travel with her to France to make these little delicacies which were to be served at her wedding to the future king of France, Henri II. This all occurred in the 16th century, but the almond meringue cookies didn’t become popular until the 18th century when, during the French Revolution, two Benedictine nuns began making and selling the cookies in order to support themselves. Sister Marguerite Gaillot and Sister Marie-Elisabeth Morlot became so popular they were referred to as the “Macaron Sisters” and the village of Nancy in France has now dedicated a square to them.
Have you ever been to Ladurée? I have not (but I adore PAUL, their smaller venue).
In doing research for a good, authentic recipe, I’ve learned that Digestives actually originated during the elaborate Victorian period of Great Britain when long multi-course breakfasts and dinners were served. The Digestive biscuit was created as a way to ‘help’ aid digestion either after or before one of these marathon meals. The thought was the whole wheat flour and oatmeal would add fiber and the antacid properties of baking soda would aid “digestion”. Hence, the “Digestive“.
In a small bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, with a mixer, cream the softened butter and brown sugar together.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Working with half the dough at a time, put the other half back into the refrigerator. Working quickly, place the chilled dough onto a floured board and roll to 1/4″ thickness. Don’t roll too thin or they will crumble after baking. Cut with a 2″ cookie cutter (or smaller, if you want more cookies) and place on parchment lined sheet pans. This is a very wet dough so flour your work surface and work quickly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350° or until firm. It is not necessary to have them brown. The longer they bake, the crisper they will be. Remove the pans from the oven and let them cool completely before transferring the cookies to a wire rack.
For chocolate Digestives, melt good quality bar chocolate in the microwave and then thin the melted chocolate with about 2 tablespoons of cream. Mix well. Either dip or spread the chocolate onto the cooled cookies. These cookies keep very well for a week or more in a tightly sealed container.
