The hits just keep coming for Arnott’s biscuit fans, with sweet-tooths suffering the loss of yet another classic.
Frustrated shoppers have taken to social media in recent days to question the Australian biscuit giant over the apparent disappearance Honey Jumbles from shop shelves.
On Monday, Arnott’s revealed it had quietly stopped producing the product about a year ago.
Arnott’s PR digital and social director Amy Wagner told The New Daily the decision was due to poor sales.
“As part of [an] ongoing review, we stopped baking our Arnott’s Honey Jumbles in July 2021,” she said.
“At this stage, there are no plans to bring the product back to shelf.”
But Ms Wagner did offer some hope to sad Honey Jumbles fans.
“We know there are some passionate Honey Jumbles fans out there, which is why Arnott’s executive chef, Vanessa Horton, has adapted the Honey Jumbles recipe so that people can recreate these biscuits at home,” she said. (See recipe at bottom of story)
Although the discontinuation was officially confirmed only on Monday, shoppers had noticed the biscuit’s disappearance in recent months.
“So, Arnotts [sic], we’re just going to cancel Honey Jumbles without any warning huh?” one person tweeted in July.
Another Twitter user lamented the disappearance of the sweet biscuit, which they said helped them through chemotherapy thanks to its use of ginger.
“A friend of mine brought me a packet of honey jumbles [sic] when I was having chemo .. just for this reason. Luckily I didn’t get any nausea though,” they tweeted.
“Still, it’s sad they don’t make them anymore. I know I’d rather eat a biscuit than take a pill if I needed them.”
Tweet from @MMinInfosec
News of Honey Jumbles’ demise came just weeks after Arnott’s also cut an office tea room staple, the Classic Assorted variety pack, also due to low sales.
That axing sparked some backlash when shoppers realised its apparent replacement, High Tea favourites, cost more for a lighter range of biscuits.
Bake-at-home Honey Jumbles
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Makes: 20
Ingredients
75 gram unsalted butter softened
¼ cup honey
¼ cup treacle syrup
1 ½ cups plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp bi-carb soda
1 ½ tbsp milk
Icing
1 egg white
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Pink food colouring
Method
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.
In a small saucepan, combine butter, honey, and treacle. Stir over moderate heat until melted and smooth. Don’t let boil. Set aside to cool slightly.
Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl, add honey mixture and milk, stir well until combined. Chill for 30 mins or until firm.
Roll mixture into 30-centimetre logs and cut into seven-centimetre lengths. Place on prepared tray and bake for 12 minutes. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling tray.
To make the icing, whisk the egg white in a medium bowl until frothy, sift the icing sugar into egg white and whisk until smooth. Dip half the biscuits front side into the icing and set aside. Add some pink food colouring to the icing and repeat with the remaining biscuits.
