Fox's Creams: Nice

Product name: Fox’s Creams: Nice
Purchase details: £0.49 for a 175g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 59 per biscuit

I have a strange relationship with Nice biscuits since there was a period in my childhood when it seemed to be the only type of biscuit that was ever in the tin and they just seemed so...well, boring. Yet I always knew that, once I caved in and had one, they were actually enjoyable. I think I was the only kid who was taught to pronounce them like the French city rather than the adjective, though!

This probably makes me appear really stupid but, until now, I’ve never realised that Nice biscuits are actually coconut flavoured. It was the promise of ‘real flaked coconut’ that attracted me to this packet of Fox’s Creams: Nice, but I thought this was a new concept with the coconut being in the cream – oops! To be fair, the description provided was ‘shortcake biscuits sandwiched with a coconut flavour cream’, so I was right, but I thought the actual pairing of flavours was something new (which it obviously isn’t).

These biscuits came in a baby blue wrapper with a polka dot theme which I really loved. Whilst Fox’s is a British brand, and the contact address provided was also for the UK, the country of manufacture wasn’t explicitly stated and so I have not included it in my product summary.

Unlike standard Nice biscuits, these were oblong rather than rectangular and, I was surprised to see, had no sugar granules on the surface. They remained simple in appearance, though, with ‘FOX’S NICE’ stamped on each side. Inside the sandwich, the white cream layer was thick and appeared to have been piped onto the biscuit in blobs.

It’s been a long time since I last had a Nice biscuit but these certainly had the smell I remembered. To me, it’s a unique aroma that I find hard to describe. However, it was pleasant and faintly coconutty.

In both appearance and taste, the biscuits seemed more oaty than standard shortcake ones. I also didn’t find them as sweet as normal Nice biscuits, which I put down to the lack of surface sugar. However, there was still a sweetness there and, despite being quite plain, the flavour did work, and the biscuits had a nice, soft crunch.

On its own, I thought the coconut cream was amazing! I couldn’t decide if it reminded me more of cupcake frosting or raw cake batter. In the end, I decided it was the texture of the former (soft but ever-so-slightly coarse) and the taste of the latter! I was slightly disappointed that the coconut flavour wasn’t strong, however, there was an element of this in the taste.

The cream didn’t have as much of an impact when combined with the biscuit but its presence certainly made the product far better than standard Nice biscuits. However, despite the added moisture, when eating three or more at a time, these biscuits did run the risk of becoming dry and became slightly hard to swallow.

The general experience provided  by this product was a sweet one but, despite containing 4% desiccated coconut, this aspect of the flavour just didn’t seem strong at all. I really did love the cream, though, and would happily eat it from a jar with a spoon! 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10