As you can probably guess, this was a fun assignment…
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With the help of celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager and housing association Riverside, a group of ex-homeless veterans are rebuilding their lives and cooking up a storm in their own artisan bakery. Jess McCabe reports
On the first bite, the Viennese finger explodes with sweetness on the tongue, with a hint of vanilla. A moment later, it crumbles smoothly and dissolves.
No, Inside Housing hasn’t launched a foodie supplement. A housing association – Riverside – is, however, going into the biscuit business. If all goes to plan, its cookies will soon be on sale in a supermarket near you.
The 51,500-home landlord even has a celebrity chef on board – Rosemary Shrager – who provided the recipes for the cookies, starting with an ‘oaty nog’ and a ginger biscuit. Her face will appear on the packaging.
Cookies might be one of the more unusual commercial ventures entered into by a social landlord, but aptly it has a kind of circular logic. Riverside’s biscuit profits will be used to support an artisan bakery run by ex-homeless veterans staying in its specialist supported housing project, The Beacon, which opened in 2011 and houses 31 ex-service people in the northern garrison town of Catterick.