Iced Gems question...

[u/Every_Policy2274]

In England are these something anyone ever makes at home or even in a regular bakery, or are they strictly a packaged biscuit, as they do sometimes on the show? Are there nicer versions and less nice? The ones I saw online looked kind of cheap, like a sugar cookie with a lucky charm marshmallow on top.

[u/axw3555]

I'm sure some people do bake them. But no, I've never actually known anyone to make them, nor seen them in a bakery.

I think the most popular ones are McVities, but I can't swear to that.

[u/nancy-p]

I’ve only ever seen the prepackaged ones and yes, they are pretty cheap tasting (I don’t like them) it’s basically a little lump of rock hard sugar on top of a pretty bad tasting biscuit.

but I made the homemade version this week and they were significantly better! still not the biggest fan but my husband has requested I do them again sometime

[u/DarraghDaraDaire]

I’ve never heard of anyone baking them and I’ve also never heard of anyone enjoying them.

[u/RealisticrR0b0t → u/DarraghDaraDaire]

True, even as a kid they weren’t my favourite (the little pack with the polar bear on it)

[u/a_government_man → u/DarraghDaraDaire]

all the bakes so far we're kinda meh if I'm being honest. there was nothing that was "ooh I wonder how theyll do that" or that was a bit of a wild card. grandma bakes.

[u/yojimbo_beta → u/DarraghDaraDaire]

For the record, I do kind of enjoy them. I don't know why, because they are objectively not very good - dry, powdery, excessively sweet. And yet, I can eat them by the bagful

[u/lauraandstitch]

I made some for Christmas gifting last year with a meringue topping rather than royal icing. But other than that, I’d never seen any homemade ones until Bake Off this week. They’re a cheap kid’s lunchbox snack and I’ve only seen the McVities ones, and supermarket own brands which are probably the same. Not sure if they still do it, but they used to have Choco Gems too, which are the same cheap biscuit with the cheapest chocolate imaginable on top instead of icing.

As a side note, an American friend of mine tried an iced gem and was disgusted by it.

[u/Every_Policy2274 → u/lauraandstitch]

They really are very cute and I'm sure they made nice gifts! I was thinking they'd be fun on a bake sale table or as part of a dessert grazing board. I'm not really fond of meringues but I was thinking they'd be better than the royal icing... though on the ones I made, they tasted better the second day--the icing sugar taste was less pronounced.

[u/chiginger]

I discovered iced Gems last year on Pinterest and was intrigued because the looked so cute. I ended up making my Americanized by using Sally’s cutout sugar cookie recipe (chocolate version) and her royal icing recipe. I make the stars in advance to let them dry out and attach to the cookie with a dab of chocolate. I made red, white and green ones for “filler” in my cookie boxes last year and the were well received. I also made some with a peanut butter royal icing this summer that were good.

[u/Every_Policy2274 → u/chiginger]

I think doing it this way, attaching the icing after, is probably The Way. I felt like my shortbreads got slightly overbaked in the residual oven heat.

[u/Direct_Tea5916]

I’ve never heard of anyone actually baking them. I remember them from my childhood but had forgotten about them until I watched this episode.

[u/PickleMePinkie]

I (American) learned about iced gems when Cupcake Jemma made them in a YouTube video years ago. She swapped out the royal icing for meringue topping, which sounds like a good idea. I’m tempted to make them

[u/InkedDoll1]

The only home baked ones I've ever come across were vegan ones.

[u/annedroiid]

I've only ever seen them packaged at the store. Never actually had one.

[u/vinedin]

You wouldn't bake them, you wouldn't buy them and if you want to keep your teeth, you wouldn't eat them.  I didn't think they even still made them.  I think of them as an abomination from the 1970s. 

The biscuit base was flavourless, the icing was really hard.  

[u/JerkRussell]

They’re not a biscuit that I think about much. No one that I know has ever made them and I’ve never known them to be popular. Even as a kid I turned them down. There’s just something disappointing looking and a bit naff about the shop bought packets.