Hundreds and Thousands
March 1, 2011 at 21:24 | Posted in biscuits | 7 CommentsTags: Arnott's, biscuit, hundreds, hundreds and thousands, icing, pink, thousands
When I was younger, we used to go to an Indian restaurant that did a ‘meal deal’ where you got a starter, main and dessert for some ridiculously cheap price. It was good too; perhaps tandoori chicken to start, then a beef rogan josh with rice to follow. Pudding was always the same though – a single scoop of vanilla ice cream, sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. Except there weren’t hundreds and thousands; usually you got three or four. Very occasionally five. We used to wonder about this; how painstakingly the staff must have taken a tiny pinch of hundreds and thousands from the pot to put on each dessert. No doubt a catering pack of them lasted the restaurant for years.
Arnott’s are not so frugal, however, on their ‘Hundreds and Thousands’ biscuits, as each biscuit has about three hundred of them sprinkled on each one, held in place by the thick pink icing. The back of the biscuit is given over to a wavy line pattern, a bit like a TV set that has gone on the blink.
The blue pack and cartoon graphics immediately alerts us that these are part of that range aimed at children. (Well, aimed at parents for their children, I suppose. As a public service announcement I feel I should point out that feeding sugary snacks to your kids is not recommended. I say that, although Baby Chillikebab is already eating marmalade on toast, and is only ten months old, so I daresay she’ll graduate to biscuits sooner rather than later.) The immediate thought here is that these are going to be very sugary and unexciting, although we’ve been surprised before.
Unfortunately, in this case, we were not surprised. They are very sugary and unexciting. The combination of the icing and the hundreds and thousands do make them quite crunchy, and they have quite a strong vanilla taste, which puts them ahead of the nasty Tic Toc. But only a bit ahead. These get just three out of ten.
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Books, biscuits and bicycles... 
I am very happy to come across your blog, because
it seems to me that to find out a bolg featuring biscuits like yours.
Arnotts Hundreds and Thousands are very lovely, they doesn’t seem
wholesome,though….
If I were a kid in your counrty, it would be my favourite.
Children love something colourful.
In my country, japan, I have never seen a biscuit with hundreds and thousands among mass produced Japanese biscuits.
Comment by Biscuit Van— March 3, 2011 #
I am biscuit van, again.
I cannot write english perfectly, so on the previous message, I have to edit slightly.
I wanted to say “it seems to me that to find out a bolg featuring biscuits like yours IS DIFFICULT .
I missed typing the twain words” is difficult” .
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
Comment by Biscuit Van— March 3, 2011 #
Now look Chilli, I’ve waited long enough – where’s your review of the Arnotts Ginger Nut? Or Nuts? There are thousands of biscuit fanciers who’ve had to repair teeth after tackling the NSW Ginger Nut, and I guess we’d like some acknowledgment of the fight it puts up in the face of imminent dunking & oblivion.
Great blog.
Comment by Offenbark— March 4, 2011 #
Thanks for the comment. A review of the Ginger Nut is in the works, I promise!
Comment by chillikebab— March 4, 2011 #
Generally we are in agreement on our biscuits – which ones are preferred, which ones are only suitable for elderly people with no teeth etc. However on this occasion I must disagree. The Hundreds and Thousands biscuit may not seem the most exciting (child’s biscuit etc etc) but icing and sprinkles add a distinct flavour of excitement to what would otherwise be, I admit, an incredibly bland biscuit. The icing is firm but not hard and the sprinkles make it crunchy so you really feel like you are eating a biscuit, not just some soft thing that dissolves in your gums. Protest now complete – looking forward to your next review!
Comment by Liz Irwin— March 7, 2011 #
Ah Liz. . I feel you are confusing childhood nostalgia with objective reality. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course. If these biscuits make you happy, then you should eat them!
Comment by chillikebab— March 9, 2011 #
Arnotts ones are disgusting try griffins ones yummo!!!
Comment by m.jade— December 2, 2011 #