Starbucks Ginger Biscuits

Starbucks Ginger Biscuits cost £2.20 and carry 229 calories a packet with 18g of sugar and 3.2g of saturated fat. Traditional ginger biscuits, sold as a small packet.

They sit almost exactly between the two other biscuits here. Sugar at 18g is nearly double the shortbread at 9.5g, while saturated fat at 3.2g is under a third of the shortbread's 10g. One is a butter biscuit and one is a sugar and syrup biscuit, and the numbers separate exactly along that line.

At 229 calories a packet it is the lighter of the two by 42, and at the same £2.20 price. For anyone weighing saturated fat over sugar, this is the better of the pair by a clear margin.

Ginger biscuits get their snap from syrup rather than butter, which is the same reason the Bearista gingerbread is so low in fat. Syrup sets hard as it cools and gives the biscuit its characteristic crack, where a butter biscuit stays short and crumbles instead.

Ground ginger rather than fresh is what a biscuit like this uses, and the distinction matters for flavour. Dried ginger loses much of its pungency to a warmer, sweeter heat, which is why a ginger biscuit tastes spiced rather than sharp and why fresh ginger makes a poor substitute.

The packet format is worth a mention next to everything else in this case. A packet is shareable and resealable in a way a single cookie is not, so the calorie figure above is for something two people might split rather than a fixed portion one person faces.

Ginger biscuits are also the traditional partner for a hot drink in a way shortbread is not, and the reason is structural. A hard syrup biscuit survives a dunk and softens evenly; a short butter biscuit disintegrates into the cup within a couple of seconds. Anyone who dunks has only one real choice in this case.

Wheat and milk are declared and it carries a vegetarian label. Prices reach £3.05 on delivery.