Nice biscuit


A Nice biscuit is a plain or coconut-flavoured biscuit. It is thin, rectangular in shape, with rounded bumps on the edges, and lightly covered with a scattering of large sugar crystals, often with the word "NICE" imprinted on top in sans-serif capital letters. It is often served as an accompaniment to hot drinks, such as tea. The name probably derives from the city of Nice in the south of France. 1929 editions of the Hull Daily Mail carried an advertisement for Huntley & Palmers Nice Biscuits using the phrase "Delightful as the town after which they are named", indicating that by this point their manufacturers intended the public to associate the biscuit with the French town, whether or not that had hitherto been the intended pronunciation.
A Nice biscuit was listed in an Army and Navy Co-operative Society price list in 1895. British company Huntley & Palmers made a Nice biscuit as early as 1904. The Australian company Arnott's Biscuits also claims to have invented the Nice biscuit. Nice biscuits are sold by various companies under different brand names in most of the British Commonwealth as well as other countries.
Dutch biscuit maker Verkade claims its Nizza version as the Netherlands' "most beloved cookie", and in 2010 celebrated the company's 125th anniversary with the release of a new cinnamon variant.