The only thing better than a biscuit with your cuppa is a GIANT biscuit with your cuppa.

A team of bakers in Carluke have made a bid to bake the biggest Empire Biscuit in the world, a giant golden crumbly version of one of Scotland's most popular teatime treats.

Clarks the Bakers was approached with the idea to mark the town's popular Jam and Ham festival.

The big biscuit, which the bakers said they managed to produce on their first attempt, measures in at 36 inches in diameter and 18 kilos in weight.

Jonathan Lightbody and Brian Clark were delighted to take on the challenge.

"We got approached by R&W Scott, the jam and curd makers and they told us that somebody had managed to bake a giant Jammie Dodger," says Brian.

"They asked us if we could do something similar and produce a giant Empire Biscuit.

"We thought 'well we've never done it before, so we'll try it'."

"We just looked at the size of our ovens and tried to work out how big we could make it while still being able to get it out the door," says Brian.

"It was our first attempt and it worked so if somebody else wants to beat it then we'll try for bigger next year."

The baking duo used eight bags of flour, three bags of sugar, 16 blocks of butter, ten jars of raspberry jam and 50 eggs.

It was topped with 2kg of fondant icing.

"It only just fit through the oven door," adds Jonathan.

"It's completely edible and we didn't have to change the recipe at all."

An Empire biscuit, also known as an Imperial biscuit, is a sweet bake popular in the UK, particularly Scotland.

The classic two-layer biscuit, sandwiched with jam and topped with icing, actually began life as a Linzer or Deutsche Biscuit.

When the First World War broke out, hostility towards Germany led to the biscuit's moniker changing repeatedly, often to derogatory terms.

Eventually it was renamed the Empire Biscuit as a way of uniting the country and the name stuck.

While particularly popular in Scotland, the treat also has links with New Zealand and Northern Ireland.

It is sometimes called a Belgian biscuit due to its resemblance to a Belgian bun.

Jonathan and Brian's creation contains a traditional shortbread base, sweet jam layer, topped with icing and glacé cherries in the centre.

It still has someway to go to beat the world record for the biggest cookie, however.

The largest biscuit measured 754 m² (8,120 ft²) and was made by the Immaculate Baking Company (USA) in Flat Rock, North Carolina in May 2003. The chocolate chip cookie weighed 18 tonnes (40,000 lb) and had a diameter of 30.7 m (101 ft).

The Carluke big biscuit marks the start of the Jam and Ham festival on Thursday, September 28 which also features the much appreciated Jampionships.

Brian judges the children's bakery section at the festival, which he pops along to every year.

"It's nice to be asked to do these sort of things, being local," he says modestly.

The giant biscuit is something new for him, though, and something he hopes to try again in the near future.

"It was fun to do," says Brian. "We'll maybe try and come up with something new for next year's Jam and Festival too.

"We've got a nice big oven so we can experiment. We're open to suggestions."

"Maybe a giant millionaire shortbread or a big Victoria Sandwich."