McVities Tasties Shortcakes - 150g

Shortcake lives at the sensible end of the British biscuit aisle, alongside the rich tea and the digestive. It is the tea-break biscuit: office kitchens, the tin at your gran's, the packet passed round when the kettle goes on.

In Canada, people go looking for this one by name because a cup of tea does not feel quite finished without it. It is that particular snap and crumble, the one you grew up dunking, that you are after.

A 150g packet is a good everyday amount, enough for a few afternoons if you are disciplined, one long film if you are not. Roll the end over or tip them into a tin and they keep happily in the cupboard. Dunk them quickly, they go soft fast, or crumble one over a bowl of ice cream when nobody is watching.

McVitie's makes plenty of the biscuits Britain runs on, from digestives to Hobnobs. Shortcakes usually leave with a box of proper British tea bags and a second packet, just in case.