McVities Chocolate Hobnobs

The original Hobnob is already dangerously good: crunchy, oaty, slightly crumbly, substantial enough to survive a proper dunking. Then someone covered one side in chocolate and, frankly, that was that.

If you’re uninitiated, we understand. Sort of. The thing about Chocolate Hobnobs is that they’re sweet without being too sweet, which is exactly what makes one an impossibility.

There is almost no situation in which opening a packet of Chocolate Hobnobs ends with you eating the number you originally intended. Two becomes four, four becomes “well, there aren’t many left now,” and eventually you’re staring into an empty wrapper wondering what happened.

They are glorious with tea, exceptional straight from the packet, and one of the strongest arguments Britain has ever made for putting chocolate on biscuits.

Every American we’ve introduced to these has eventually come back with some mixture of gratitude and irritation that we gave them a new vice.

Crunchy oat biscuits topped with smooth chocolate.