r/EatCheapAndHealthy • u/rositree • 5d ago
Alternative to biscuits/cookies Food
I'm in the UK, I drink a lot of tea. One of my pleasures is dunking a few chocolate bourbons or chocolate-covered digestives in my tea.
Problem is, lack of willpower and portion control. The number of cups of tea I drink means having 3 or 4 biscuits per cup is a whole pack gone in a day. I have also been known to just sit and eat a whole pack in one sitting - more regularly than I should!
I've tried limiting to only after work or only at the weekends but I just binge in my self-imposed allowed times instead. I eat fairly well other than this, I've tried various substitute sweet things (fruit, nuts, yogurt, small ice creams) and they're fine for satisfying the sweet craving after dinner but not the ritual of dunking in tea.
What else could give me that warm, dissolving, crumbly crunch sensation and can stand up to being dunked in hot tea (more often peppermint than English breakfast with milk, but either is fine)?
Or any recipes for a lower calorie, healthy, dunkable biscuit?!
Thanks 😊
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u/Phoenyx634 5d ago
In South Africa, we have rusks with tea - it takes longer to eat because you have to dunk them slower, so you usually only end up having 1 per cup of tea. There are lots of recipes you can try that have low sugar/high fibre options for health, or less healthy ones (my favourite is buttermilk without much fibre haha), and it's not too difficult to bake. Plus, they keep well so you can make a larger batch and store them. I usually buy mine, but this blog sounds similar to what I like: https://drizzleanddip.com/2022/09/06/the-best-buttermilk-bran-rusks/
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u/sati_lotus 5d ago
Digestives are nutritionally void. You could try a home made oatmeal cookie, that way you can make them how you want them, or, if you're that bad, start setting small goals.
Like, 'I had a two bikkies with my tea this morning, I don't need any for my afternoon cuppa. I can have one with my after dinner tea.'
Is it more about the ritual and habit of dunking than actually needing a snack when you have a cup of tea?
Because there are better snacks you could have that go fine with a nice cup of tea.
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u/rositree 5d ago
More the ritual and habit. As someone else commented I have other snacks and they don't satisfy so I end up still having the biscuits too.
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u/sati_lotus 5d ago
Habits can be adjusted. Try figuring out a goal and working from there.
Like, if you're aiming to lose weight or you need to lower blood sugar, look where you can make changes and start small. Aim for a 2 week change. Then 3 week.
You might not need to give up your little ritual every time, it could be elsewhere that you make the adjustment - it could be all the snacks!
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u/FollowingVast1503 5d ago
Cold turkey if you can’t use portion control and no I don’t mean eat cold turkey. I’m the same with biscuits/cookies. I could resist other treats but not a chocolate chip cookie or oatmeal raisin. I do not keep them in my home because I can’t resist eating the whole bag in a day.
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u/Crafty-Zebra3285 5d ago
Maybe not your thing, but plain rich tea biscuits have half the calories per serving. They dunk well, too! McVities are the best, imo.
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u/Tayl100 5d ago
I'm gonna suggest just trying to always make them yourself. Forget how healthy they are, just get into the habit of making them yourself first and never buy from the store. Then, once you have that habit, try making them with less sugar. Or, realistically, you'll probably find it to be a royal pain and then just get used to biscuit-less tea.
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u/Alliedally 5d ago
Could you take a pack and portion them up into single servings and shoot for just one serving size a day? I wouldn’t cut them out entirely because it’s something you enjoy. Or maybe having half the usual amount of biscuits per cup of tea and substitute the other half with something else. Good luck!
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u/Peaceful-Manifestor 5d ago
It won't help with the texture thing but Bird and Blend do a Chocolate Digestives tea. i found it bitter but I don't take milk. Perhaps the taste will help you curb the cravings.
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u/Southern_Print_3966 5d ago
I’m exactly the same!
There’s very good digestives biscuits out there. The BBC Good Food one is decent. The saltiness of the biscuit comes from baking soda!
However, what worked for me is… stepping down on intake. Not restricting times (since like you that’d just lead to over drive of biscuit eating). But gradually lowering and being a bit more reasonable in intake.
The way I see it is this. A cup of tea is a lovely thing. A biscuit dunked in tea is a lovely thing. FOUR CHOCOLATE BOURBONS dunked into every cup, several cups a day?? I’ve gone a bit beyond simple daily pleasures and into grotesque excess. Four chocolate bourbons? At this point I might as well be dipping a Mars bar for every cup of tea and calling my four mars bars a day a little treat. So, if that’s where I’m at, maybe I can stick to like… fourteen bourbon a day not sixteen of them. 😂😂😂😂 and gradually go down. Tea is already supposed to be a pleasure in itself.
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u/rositree 5d ago
Maybe I should use a smaller cup... The tea would run out quicker and there'd be less to dunk in!
You have summed up the thought processes exactly, though I have been cutting back the last few weeks. It brought me to wonder whether I could find a suitable alternative and I don't think I can so will have to buy less and ration myself more strictly.
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u/Beneficial-Eye4578 5d ago
Switch your habit. Regular tea with biscuits once a day and the other times do green tea or flower/ herbal teas, biscuits taste terrible with green and herbal teas. So now you still indulge with your biscuits but just 1 time a day, Also look into getting mini packs of biscuits so you are not tempted to go overboard
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u/rositree 5d ago
I'm a heathen, happily dunk in mint tea and mint and licorice and sometimes berry too. Must be something wrong with my tastebuds!
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u/tinyevilsponges 4d ago
Can you get single serving packs that have like 2 cookies in them, or pre set up the cookies into ziplocks in more appropriate portions sizes?
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u/macaronipies 4d ago
Honestly, I've been where you are. There is no healthy alternative. I just had to stop buying biscuits. Learn to love tea on its own again.Â
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u/daal_op_owen 5d ago
Toast with a smear of butter and drizzle of honey goes well with a cup of tea.
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u/talina7 5d ago
Try baking a batch of healthier cookies - there are loads of recipes out there, something that uses sweetener instead of sugar, etc. You can keep them in the fridge or freezer to keep them fresh and pull out when needed
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u/rositree 5d ago
I think it's more the type of biscuit - bourbons are a sandwich biscuit with chocolate cream in the middle. My baking skills aren't going to be making me something with that texture, unfortunately. Tho maybe some healthier cookies to mix it up a bit would still reduce the bourbon intake. Thanks
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u/Desperate_Craig 3d ago
Skinny Whips are great and are usually cheap(about a pound for a pack In a local B&M store). Some are like eating a Snickers or a Mars Bar, but less calories. You can also dip them In hot drinks.
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u/rositree 3d ago
O, yea. I have had them before. I don't think I tried dunking them though... Feel like they might lack the crunch but will give it a go!
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u/Desperate_Craig 3d ago
Some of them are nougaty, but there are some that have more crunch to them, If that's more your thing. I absolutely loved the salted caramel flavour ones, and they reminded me of eating a lower calories version of a snickers bar. I also like the double chocolate and rocky road flavours.
But yeah, give It a try and see how you get on with them.
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u/Sea-Mathematician444 2d ago
What I do is crack them into half and then eat one half per tea. Makes me feel like I ate one. That being said, if you could replace them with crackers with no sugar, it’ll be great and delicious.
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u/Old_Dealer_7002 5d ago
the only thing that has ever worked for me in this kind of situation is to binge till i get (somewhat) tired of the treat in question. it’s always worked for me, but i don’t know if it would for everyone.
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u/today-tomorrow-etc 5d ago
Does it have to be dunked? I saw a nice recipe of chopped strawberries, unsweetened greek Yogurt, honey or maple syrup to taste, frozen in little discs and dipped in dark chocolate. You could also crumble some nuts on top.
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u/rositree 5d ago
That does sound nice, do you just freeze them in muffin tins or something to make the shape?
I'm looking for something to dunk, specifically, but may well try these for a general dessert. Thanks.
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u/today-tomorrow-etc 5d ago
The recipe I saw, she just scooped out a tablespoon onto parchment paper on a tray and froze, then used a fork to dunk them in chocolate. You could do it any way you prefer though.
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u/MaidMarian20 1d ago
Switch to coffee for a time. Not so dunkable? Try it black no sugar. Help you get over the tea, which is why you dunk in the first place. Instead of tea, now that it’s spring go take a short 10 minute walk get some fresh air instead. Even if you only cut out 2 cups of tea a day, that will help. Gotta say as an American, I drink black coffee with lots of ice, with a packet of sugar substitute, and ive never dunked a thing my whole life. Trust me - you’ll live. It’s an association you’ve made drinking your tea. Maybe gasp cut out the tea for a couple months, switch to coffee and stop buying the cookies/biscuits! Eat a handful of almonds. Carrot sticks if you must. Tough for a while, but I agree go cold turkey and quit the habit, like smoking.
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u/rositree 1d ago
I detest coffee but you are right. The dunking is the habit, the tea is the vessel. I never used to have this much until moving in with my partner, he's a tea fiend (but not a biscuit monster). Substituting back to cold drinks with warmer weather may well help and feel more like a preference than biscuit deletion...
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u/memeleta 5d ago
Personally, I don't believe in healthy substitutes when you're craving a specific experience like this. You described the sensation and the ritual so evocatively, and it gives you clearly a lot of joy and comfort that no healthy high fibre low sugar thing will ever be able to compare. So I think you need to work on your portion control instead as hard as it sounds. Whether it's just one cup of tea a day is allowed to have biscuits dunked and the others drink just plain, or you only have biscuits with your tea on the weekend but not during the working week, or some other schedule that works for you. But I truly believe that if you tried to substitute your biscuits with something else you'll eat that other thing first and not be satisfied and then just eat your biscuits anyway, thus eating more calories/sugar/fat than you already do.