Quantcast
Channel: Kev's Snack Reviews
Viewing all 1263 articles
Browse latest View live

Costa's Salted Caramel and Cream Latte Review

$
0
0
Today's review is for yet another coffee (I'm seriously thinking of rebranding as Kev's Coffee Reviews at this rate!) and it is the awesomeness that is Costa's Salted Caramel Latte! I've already reviewed Costa's White Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Latte and Spiced Apple drinks and now it's now my mission to try the rest of their Christmas Menu before it disappears in January...


The drink is described by Costa as "A true taste of Christmas: our Salted Caramel Latte is made up of Costa Espresso with steamed milk served with salted caramel flavoured syrup, topped with cream and caramel sauce".

When mine arrived it was exactly as advertised (hurrah!), and contained a hefty drizzle of salted caramel sauce above a thick layer of cream. Taking a sip I was met with a strong salted, butterscotch flavour - it was very moreish and tasty - more so than regular caramel in fact - proving that "salted caramel" isn't just a marketing gimmick...it's actually better than regular caramel! The rest of the latte was as expected - very milky and with a hint of caramel flavour, but nothing so strong it distracted from the espresso.

Overall, a lovely drink with a touch of luxury that is worth buying just for the salted caramel and cream. I hope these stick around well into the new year!

RATING: 8 out of 10. 

What is your favourite drink from Costa's Christmas Menu for 2013? Let me know in the comments! :)

Swedish Marabou Chocolate Bars - Frukt & Mandel/Schweizer nöt

$
0
0

As I'm going to be away over the Christmas period this will be my last review for a little while (I know... boo hoo, right!), but hopefully you'll be seeing these bars featured in a new Youtube video from a certain Mr Choc It Out! over the festive period...

They're Swedish in origin - Marabou is a very well-known brand over there and I'm guessing it's the equivalent of our Cadbury's Dairy Milk, in fact it's owned by Kraft Foods who own all the big brands nowadays so there you go! Marabou bars were available in the UK from Ikea up until 2011, who unfortunately stopped selling them. You can still buy them online but they're not cheap!

So when I found these bars on offer at two for a pound in a discount store, I couldn't believe it! I suspect not many people in the store realized their significance and quickly snapped up several bars. Below are my thoughts on each variety...

Frukt & Mandel (Fruit and Almond):

This bar is a simple combination of creamy Marabou milk chocolate with dried fruit and almonds. The chocolate tasted very creamy and rich, and actually nicer than most mainstream milk chocolate we get here in the UK. I thought it was much better quality than Dairy Milk in fact. The cocoa solids clock in at 30% which is certainly higher than Dairy Milk, which may explain the nicer taste. The chocolate melted in the mouth smoothly and the raisins and nuts added a lovely chewiness and crunch; they tasted surprisingly fresh despite being imported. Overall, a very tasty bar which I would recommend snapping up if you see it on the cheap!

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Schweizer nöt: 

I couldn't find a translation for this bar online but I'm assuming it means Hazelnut. Unfortunately it didn't taste as nice as the Frukt and Mandel version, in fact the chopped hazelnuts tasted somewhat "off" and would probably have been nicer as whole pieces. I didn't enjoy this much, but would give it another chance if I found a fresher bar.

RATING: 6 out of 10.

Overall:
Although these two bars were a mixed bag - one was lovely whilst the other was a bit rubbish - I am so pleased I discovered them, being a fan of different types of chocolate from around the world. It's a rarity to find Swedish chocolates in the UK, especially considering Ikea unwisely chose to stop stocking Marabou (tut tut!).

Some of these bars are still available from discount stores and market stalls - they're definitely worth a try if you happen to come across them!

For other Marabou reviews check out: 
Marabou M's (like M&M's)
Marabou Black Saltlakrits (salty licorice bar)

Have you tried Marabou chocolate? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments...and here's wishing a very Merry Christmas to all my followers and fellow bloggers! :)

Kev's Christmas Pick & Miss

$
0
0
As a quick last-minute post before taking a blogging break over Christmas I thought I'd do a little round-up of the gifts I would recommend and the ones I would avoid this year...enjoy!

Kev's Picks:

Hotel Chocolat Xmas Sleekster:



The Hotel Chocolat Christmas Sleekser is delicious and an absolute must for anyone who likes a variety of tasty chocolates! Available from hotelchocolat.co.uk.

Artisan Du Chocolat Magic Wands:


These are pricey but oh so tasty! I can't imagine anyone being disappointed at receiving a beautiful box of these for Christmas!

Paul Wayne Gregory Christmas Collection:



Ok, I haven't actually tried these yet, in fact they will be shared out with my family over Xmas...but don't they look amazing?! The flavours are xmas pudding, passionfruit and salted caramel. Available from paulwaynegregory.com.

Honeycomb Matchmakers:



These are cheap but oh-so moreish! I would highly recommend picking up a pack of these from Tesco or Premier Stores!

Morrisons Belgian Chocolate Turkeys:



These look very cute and are perfect for kids, so I can forgive them for their cheapo chocolate!

Ritter Sport Caramel Orange:



Available from monstersweets.co.uk, this is a fantastic chocolate bar for all the Chocolate Orange lovers out there!

Ritter Sport Kokosmakrone:



And for the coconut chocolate lovers, this bar is just as good! Also available from monstersweets.co.uk.

Kev's Misses:

Cadbury Roses:


One of the worst things you could do this year is bother with Cadbury Roses - see my rant about them HERE.

Quality Street Fruit Cremes:


I was looking forward to trying these Quality Street Fruit Cremes especially as they contain a new lemon flavour, but they were a huge disappointment. Just don't bother with them - even with their inevitable post-xmas price reductions!

Cadbury Snow Bites:


I haven't reviewed these Cadbury Snow Bites yet, but they're so sickly sweet and pointless I don't see the point. They're basically Cadbury Mini Eggs rolled in icing sugar.

Well, that's it for a while...I look forward to getting back to blogging after the festive period and hopefully finding more fun new snacks worth writing about! 

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my followers and fellow bloggers!

Niederegger Marzipan Flavour Hot Chocolate Review

$
0
0

Niederegger hot chocolate and cappuccino mixes have been available from TK Maxx stores over the festive period, and luckily there was still a box left when I nipped in there for a spot of post-xmas shopping recently. They were out of the cappuccino version but I found the hot chocolate variety for £2.99 for a box of 10 sachets.

Niedereggar is a famous German marzipan producer, which you may or may not have heard of before. They produce lots of different flavours and spinoff marzipan products, and even have their own marzipan cafe and museum! I had never heard of a marzipan flavour hot chocolate before though...this must surely be a first for Niederegger.


The sachets were gold in colour and had instructions in German as well as English. I made a cup using hot water which produced a decently frothy drink, which almost looked like it does on the picture on the box!


It tasted as you would expect, really - like hot chocolate with a strong marzipan almond flavour. It wasn't unpleasant, but not being the greatest lover of marzipan I found it kind of... boring. The actual hot chocolate wasn't the best quality I've ever tried, although the instructions stated it can be made with hot milk as well as water; so perhaps using milk would've improved it somewhat. Overall, this is a good drink for marzipan lovers, but it's not really for me.

RATING: 6 out of 10. 

Price: £2.99 per box.
Available at: May still be available at TK Maxx. Also available in cappuccino, lattes and teas!
For more info check out Niederegger's Online Shop

Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate Review & Happy New Year!

$
0
0

It's taken me a while but finally I've gotten around to trying Costa's legendary Black Forest Hot Chocolate - turns out I saved the best until last! It's described by Costa as: "Costa Hot Chocolate with an added shot of Blackberry syrup and topped with cream, cherry sauce and a sprinkle of Belgian chocolate curls."


When mine arrived it had a huge pile of cream and plenty of cherry sauce on top, in fact it was dribbling down the glass there was so much of it! There were plenty of chocolate curls too making the whole thing look extremely luxurious...I couldn't wait to get stuck in!

It tasted as fantastic as it looked. The cherry sauce was sweet yet slightly tart and zingy, and made the cream taste even more luxurious. The chocolate curls added a nice crunch. When I got to the hot chocolate I started to think "Okay the best part is over now...", but I was wrong! The hot chocolate tasted just as brilliant; the blackberry syrup went with it perfectly and provided an authentic black forest flavour.


Overall, I reckon Costa have perfected Black Forest Gateaux in hot chocolate form with this drink, and as you can see from the empty glass it was deemed a huge success by Kev's Snack Reviews! :)

If you haven't tried one of these yet then you simply have to ASAP; it's by far the best drink on Costa's Christmas Menu and I hope they stick around for the rest of January!

RATING: 9 out of 10. 

This is my first post for 2014 - a belated Happy New Year to my followers and fellow bloggers, hope you all had a good one!!!:)

Milka Erdbeer/Strawberry Chocolate Bar Review

$
0
0

Whilst out doing some post-xmas bargain hunting recently I chanced upon this huge slab of Milka Erdbeer or "Strawberry" in a local discount store. They were being sold for £1.50 per 300g bar so I really couldn't resist...especially since it looked suspiciously similar to a certain Dairy Milk Strawberries and Creme from last Summer!


There was no English writing on the wrapper but it was pretty obvious it was a strawberry cream filled bar. Opening the wrapper, the chocolate had a slightly dusty "bloomed" look to it - perhaps due to being close to the best before date. Splitting it in half, the filling looked very similar to the Dairy Milk Strawberries & Creme:


And it tasted like it too, albeit a bit sweeter and creamier. The filling was smooth and creamy with a slight yoghurty tang, whilst the Milka chocolate was rich and milky. The best before date was for the end of January but despite this the bar still tasted pretty good!

Overall, this was a fantastic bargain for the price and if you happen to spot one in a discount store I would definitely recommend giving it a try. It's pretty much exactly the same as Dairy Milk Strawberries and Creme so if you were a fan of that bar then chances are you'll enjoy this!

RATING: 8 out of 10. 

New! Cadbury Dairy Milk D'aim Eggs Review

$
0
0

Being a big fan of the Dairy Milk with D'aim bar I reviewed last year I was rather excited to see these new Dairy Milk with D'aim mini eggs in WH Smiths recently. I'll ignore the fact that it's too early for Easter yet - January is just about acceptable in my book considering they've started to bring Easter eggs out in December now (see my "Easter Eggs in December?!" rant).


For £1 the bag contained a mere 8 mini eggs which came to 86g, which is a bit of a ripoff considering a 120g block of Dairy Milk with D'aim is £1 in Poundland and other shops, and contains a considerably greater amount of both chocolate and D'aim!


What I found odd about these eggs is that instead of being solid chocolate eggs with bits of D'aim, they appeared to contain a seperate chocolate centre with the D'aim pieces in it. Since both the filling and the shell are pure chocolate I don't understand the point of this at all; perhaps they used the same egg moulds as Cadbury Creme Egg? Anyway it made the texture rather odd as the eggs crumble apart awkwardly when you bite into them.


Taste-wise there's the usual creamy Dairy Milk chocolate which is as good as ever, but unfortunately it was a bit lacking in actual D'aim pieces. The few that were there (9% of each egg in total) were tiny in size and barely perceptible in taste; they just offered a minor bit of crunch.

Overall, I felt these D'aim Mini Eggs were a disappointment - the lack of D'aim pieces, small quantity of eggs per pack and general lack of imagination just makes them a bit "meh". I'd rather have the fantastic Cadbury Egg 'N' Spoons for Easter instead!

RATING: 6.5 out of 10. 

Price: £1 in most shops.
Allergy Information: Contains milk and almonds. May contain other nuts.
Nutrition (per 11.3g egg): 60 Calories, 3.4g Fat, 6.4g Carbs.
Not suitable for vegetarians. 

Magnum Marc De Champagne Ice Cream Bars with a silver coating! - Review

$
0
0
celebrating 25 years of pleasure, the new silver coated marc de champagne flavour Magnum ice cream

Imagine my surprise when I spotted this box of silver-coated "Marc De Champagne" Magnum ice creams in Tesco recently...I wasn't expecting it at all! Magnum have already done a gold version before of course (see The Impulsive Buy's review) so I guess silver was just the next logical step. This one is to celebrate "25 Years of Pleasure", so what better way to do it than with a champagne-flavoured silver Magnum!

For £2.99 you get three Magnums which are described as "Marc de Champagne ice cream with Marc de Champagne sauce (7%), coated in milk chocolate (24%) and an outer silver colour coating (5%)". The total alcohol content is only 0.5% so don't expect to get tipsy on these!

celebrating 25 years of pleasure with a marc de champagne flavoured silver coated Magnum ice cream

Opening one revealed a silver Magnum with a pale, almost metallic look, which was slightly unnerving. I felt like I was about to bite into space food or something!

celebrating 25 years of pleasure, the new champagne flavoured silver coated magnum ice cream

Taking a bite, I was met with a delicious champagne flavour. It tasted subtle and didn't overpower the creaminess of the ice cream, which is good since I don't like strongly flavoured alcohol products. The champagne sauce was nice and there were several streaks of it running through the ice cream, although I would have liked more. The chocolate coating topped everything off nicely and although the silver part didn't add any flavour, it looked really cool and made me imagine I was eating weird futuristic food...

Overall I think these silver Magnums are a definite success - they taste great and look really cool, and are a nice way to celebrate 25 Years of Magnum. I hope Unilever continue with this line of innovation - maybe we'll get a rainbow-coloured Magnum next!

RATING: 9 out of 10. 

Price: £2.99 at Tesco.
Allergy Information: Contains milk, whey & soya. May contain nuts.
Nutrition (per Magnum): 260 Calories, 23g Carbs, 18g Fat.
Doesn't state if suitable for vegetarians. 

Tesco Chocolate Popcorn And Salted Caramel Dessert Review

$
0
0

Whilst in Tesco recently I needed a quick snack and instead of going for chocolate or a bag of nuts I decided to try this Chocolate Popcorn and Salted Caramel Dessert pot instead. It comes with a little plastic spoon to eat it with so I knew I was safe in the knowledge I could nom on it as soon as I'd left the store! (hence only the one photo!)

It's described on the sleeve as "Layers of chocolate dessert, salted caramel sauce, chocolate coated popcorn pieces and caramel pieces". As salted caramel is usually fantastic no matter what it's combined with I had high expectations from the start, but alas, this dessert was a bit of a disappointment really. Whilst it tasted nice enough, it wasn't quite as luxurious as I'd hoped and the caramel portion had an odd, almost "bitter" edge to it, which I've also experienced with toffee yogurts before. My guess is that the caramel sauce had some kind of stabilizer added to it since it was chilled, as I've never experienced this from non-chilled caramel desserts before. The popcorn and caramel pieces added a nice bit of crunch but there weren't many of them and they were a bit too hard and annoying.

Overall, I found this dessert a bit of a disappointment - it promised so much and I think Tesco can do a lot better!

RATING: 6 out of 10. 

Contains milk and soya, may contain nuts.
Not suitable for vegetarians. 

Cloetta Popsy Original - Swedish Chocolate Dragees Review

$
0
0

Over the festive period I spotted these Cloetta Popsy in 99p Stores and thought "Ooh that looks a bit different!" Cloetta is a Swedish brand; I've tried their "Center" bar before and really enjoyed it so was looking forward to trying these!


They're described as "soft foam dragees with a taste of chocolate, arrack, buttertoffee and vanilla". I had no idea what flavour "arrack" is so did a quick google to reveal that it is in fact "a distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in South Asia and Southeast Asia, made from either the fermented sap of coconut flowers, sugarcane, grain (e.g. red rice) or fruit, depending upon the country of origin" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrack).


I wasn't sure what to expect but they turned out to be a mixture of chewy caramels (the "buttertoffee" variety) and chewy marshmallow style dragees with vanilla and alcohol flavouring. Some were coated in milk chocolate and some in dark chocolate, all of which tasted rather cheap, but despite this they were weirdly addictive and I couldn't stop reaching for more! They reminded me of "Princess Chocolate Coated Mallows" but were much chewier. The arrack flavour gave a slight alcoholic edge which was rather pleasant as it wasn't too strong or overpowering.


Overall, these Cloetta Popsy are a curious novelty and once you get past their hard chewy texture they're really rather moreish. If you happen to spot these in 99p Stores or their sister company Family Bargains you can't go wrong trying a pack!

RATING: 7 out of 10. 

Price: 99p at 99p Stores or Family Bargains.

Not suitable for vegetarians. 
Made in Sweden.

Nestlé Orion Banány White Chocolate - Quick Review

$
0
0

I've always been curious about "Banány" chocolates, even after reading Grocery Gems post on their regular version, which sounded a bit disappointing. I'm a fan of foam bananas, especially milk chocolate-coated ones such as the Donkers Choco Bananas I reviewed last year, so couldn't wait to try this white chocolate version!


Unfortunately it tasted pretty bad. It had an unpleasant texture that was kind of "crunchy", almost as though all the sugar in it had crystallized. The banana flavour was rather mild and just left the sugary jelly centre to give flavour. The white chocolate was also very mild and added little to the taste except for an extra hit of sweetness.


Overall, Nestlé Banány is an interesting idea but ultimately fails as a product. If they could get the basic taste and texture right (like the Donkers Choco Bananas) and coat it in decent quality chocolate, this would be a winner!

RATING: 4 out of 10.

Lindt Excellence Blueberry Intense Dark Review

$
0
0

Being a huge fan of Lindt chocolates I had to pick this up when I saw it in Sainsbury's recently. I bought it along with the Lindt Strawberry Intense I've reviewed previously, for the same price of £1.99. I was pleased to find it because it's so rare to see such an exotic flavour from a mainstream chocolate producer in the UK. Bravo to Lindt for trying something a bit different!

Like the Strawberry Intense it contains 47% cocoa solids, and is described as "Fine dark chocolate with almonds and blueberries".


I think the amount of cocoa solids is just about right - not too rich and not too sweet, which for a bar like this is what you want really. The flavour of the blueberries was nice and complemented the almond pieces perfectly. They tasted realistic and avoided the trap of tasting too artificial, as blueberry flavoured chocolates often do. My only gripe is that there wasn't nearly enough of them - they make up only 2% of the bar in total. There's actually more almonds (6% of the total bar) which are nice and crunchy, but this bar is supposed to be about the blueberries, not the almonds! Minor complaints aside, it's still very tasty regardless and there's enough bursts of fruity blueberry to justify the name.

Overall, this bar felt like a special "treat" as does most of Lindt's Intense range. The Strawberry Intense is the better one out of the two in my opinion but this is still good in it's own right.

Apparently Lindt also do Blackberry, Passion Fruit and Cranberry Intense bars in Europe which all sound potentially amazing - please consider bringing them to the UK, Lindt!

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Other Lindt reviews:
Lindt Excellence Strawberry Intense
Lindt Hello My Name Is Strawberry Cheesecake and Caramel Brownie
Lindt Lindor My Melting Moment Chocolate Snowflake
Lindt Blueberry and Lavender Mousse Bar

Price: £1.99 at Sainsbury's
Suitable for vegetarians?: Not stated.
Allergy Information: Contains milk, nuts.
Nutrition Information (40g serving): 200 Calories, 12.4g Fat.

Frey Chocobloc White Chocolate - Quick Review

$
0
0

Being a huge fan of Swiss Frey's chocolate range I was very excited when I spotted bars of this White Chocobloc on special offer at a market stall recently. I paid only 40p which is an absolute baragin for such high quality chocolate!


It's basically the same thing as white chocolate Toblerone, but in my opinion much nicer as it's less sweet and sugary and more milky and melt-in-the mouth. For a cheap chocolate the quality was excellent. The flavour of the honey made it a little bit too sweet after a few pieces but I still enjoyed it a lot, and the chopped almonds added a lovely nutty crunch. Unlike Toblerone the blocks come in unique shaped blocks:


Overall, if youre a fan of Toblerone I would definitely check this out if you see it on the cheap. Luckily, Frey seem to produce private-label chocolates for Marks and Spencer under their Swiss chocolate range so you can actually buy these in M&S. Their Swiss White Mountain Bar is identical!

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Other Frey Reviews:
Frey Chocobloc Air Milk Chocolate
Frey Dark Chocolate Raspberry Panna Cotta Bar

Lacta Toffee Nut Bar (Greek chocolate) Review

$
0
0

"Lacta" is a brand owned by Kraft, and from what I can gather it is the Greek equivalent of the Milka brand. I've tried Lacta Popcorn before (see my Pick & Mix Review here) and considering how tasty it was I couldn't resist buying one of these Toffee Nut bars from a discount store recently. They were 4 for £1 but I decided to go for just the one in case it tasted bad. In hindsight I wish I'd bought more!

They look very similar to the Milka Toffee Hazelnut bar already available in Germany (and from Monster Sweets HERE). The wrapper comes with a section meant to be ripped off at the end, so I happily obliged!


Opening it up fully I was impressed by the shape of the bar. The blocks had a sleek and curved appearance:


Taste-wise it was very nice indeed. It contained some sort of cream filling, topped with crunchy hazelnuts and caramel. The cream seemed to have a caramel flavour and was extremely smooth. The toffee and hazelnuts on top completed the bar perfectly and made for a very indulgent bar. It was a bit on the sweet side overall, but still very tasty!


Overall, this is a very tasty and unique bar which I would happily buy again. Luckily there's also a Milka version available from Monster Sweets HERE. I would highly recommend giving it a try!

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Have you tried this bar? If so please let me know in the comments! :)

Cadbury Wispa Ice Cream Bars Review

$
0
0

Wispa is such an iconic chocolate bar that I had very high hopes for this icecream version when I bought it recently. I enjoyed the Double Decker ice cream bars in this range so assumed the Wispa variety would be just as tasty.


Unfortunately they were very boring. The ice creams contain small pieces of Wispa which could be any chocolate quite frankly, because they add very little to the taste or texture of the ice cream. The icecream itself is a basic chocolate ice cream and quite unremarkable. It all meshes together into a generic milky sweetness that is rather boring. I think a better idea would have been a Wispa Gold ice cream, with a full layer of Wispa chocolate, icecream and a layer of caramel. It would fit the name of Wispa much better than simply adding tiny bits of Wispa to substandard chocolate ice cream!


Overall, these ice cream bars were a big disappointment and in my opinion don't do justice to the iconic chocolate bar that is the Wispa.

RATING: 5 out of 10. 

Price: £1.25.
Allergy Information: Contains milk, soya, may contain nuts.
Suitable for vegetarians?: Yes.

Milka Amavel Mousse a la Creme Caramel - Quick Review

$
0
0

My apologies for yet another old review...I bought this bar months ago and it has remained in my snacks archives for quite a while! My camera is currently broken so I can't review any of the cool new snacks on shelves at the moment - boo-hoo! :(

I picked up this bar from a discount store for 50p. It reminded me of the Milka Amavel Nuss Torte bar I reviewed here but instead of a sponge filling it contained a caramel-flavoured chocolate mousse filling. The bar came in 2 seperate plastic-wrapped sections:


Each section contained 4 uniquely shaped triangular, curved blocks:


Cutting one open revealed quite a firm truffle filling with a strong caramel aroma - it smelled absolutely delicious!


Taking a bite I wasn't let down - the chocolate was extremely rich and with a strong caramel/butterscotch-like flavour that was very delicious. It was a little bit too rich actually, and I could only handle a few blocks at once. It reminded me somewhat of the filling in Lindor truffles. The milka chocolate coating was as nice as ever; creamy and with a distinctive alpine milk flavour.

Overall, this was a very tasty bar and one I would recommend trying if you see it. It's very rich, but very tasty!

RATING: 7 out of 10.

Tesco Bank of Chocolate - Money-themed Belgian Chocolate Bar Review

$
0
0

A big thankyou to the lovely Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar who kindly sent me this Tesco chocolate bar over the Christmas period. Please do check out her petition to bring back the iconic Banjo Wafer Bar (it was around in the 80's) which is sorely missed by many. Please also sign the petition and Like the Bring Back Banjo Facebook page! If Wispa can come back then so can Banjo!


Onto the Tesco bar then, the packaging looks like a £50 note, which must surely mean it's one of the most expensive chocolate bars around?! Unfortunately it's not, but it turned out to be a surprisingly tasty bar of Belgian milk chocolate.


To cut to the chase, it tasted very delicious. It had a typical Belgian chocolate flavour - very silky and luxurious, as well as being creamy and melt-in-the mouth. I'm not sure if this is the same as the milk chocolate in Tesco's finest range but it was pretty fine indeed. It didn't take me long to scoff half of the bar!


Overall, this is a cool novelty that would make a nice gift for any chocolate lover. The quality is excellent for a novelty bar!

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Once again a big thankyou to Bring Back Banjo for sending me this bar - remember to sign her petition and support the return of the Banjo wafer! Wispa made a comeback thanks to people power so Banjo can too - please support the cause! :)

Bring Back Banjo Petition.
Bring Back Banjo Facebook.

Post-xmas bargains! Thorntons Mint Classics, Giant Quality Street Fudge & More...

$
0
0
This is a late post, but since I bought a lot of reduced chocolates in the post-xmas sales I thought I'd compile them all into one superpost. There's been so many I've been pigging out on it'd take ages to review them all individually!

Thorntons Classics Marvellous Mint Favourites:


First up is the Thorntons Classics Mint Collection. I've always been curious about this box and for £1.98 at Morrisons I really couldn't say no! Unfortunately it wasn't as great as I anticipated. It was nice enough, don't get me wrong, but it lacked a "wow" factor for a supposedly fancy box of chocolates. The varieties were a little unimaginative and tasted overly sweet. The box comprised of several different varieties:


Mint Fudge: This was a nice mint flavoured fudge, although not quite up to Thorntons usual standards when it comes to fudge. 7 out of 10.


Peppermint Creme: This had a hard mint fondant centre and was thus extremely sweet, too sweet for me in fact. I much prefer soft fondants like those in After Eights or Fry's Peppermint Creme. 6 out of 10.


Mint Truffle Dome: This had some kind of white chocolate and mint cream mousse centre, and was one of the better chocolates in the box. The creamy flavours worked well with the mint. 8 out of 10.


Crunchy Mint Truffle: This one had crunchy mint pieces embedded within and was rather moreish, my favourite chocolate in the box. 8 out of 10. 

Overall - I feel that this is a tasty box of chocolates from Thorntons but the varieties are all a bit samey and unimaginative. I suppose mint chocolates will always be limited due to their strong flavour, but I still expected better. 

Nestle Quality Street Simply Fabulous Fudges:


Next up is the Giant Quality Street Fudge (or "simply fabulous fudges") which was reduced to just £1.25 in Asda! The RRP was £5 which is a bit steep but at £1.25 it was a pretty great bargain.


Unfortunately it wasn't actually one massive fudge (that would have been overkill!), it was a plastic container containing lots of regular-sized Quality Street fudges. They tasted nice, although after eating a few of them in a row it was a sugar overload. I think it's a great idea from Nestle to do individual flavours like this though because as we all know there's always the one that people love or hate...this way you get to have your favourites all to yourself! For the fruit creme lovers there was also the Fruit Cremes Carton (which I personally wasn't a fan of), and for Purple One lovers there were Giant Purple ones as well as a Giant Toffee Finger version. 7 out of 10.

Morrisons The Chocolate Collection:

For £1.50 I couldn't resist giving this a try as I always love a nice selection box of chocolates - even if it's a cheap supermarket version! I kind of knew what to expect from these and I was right - the chocolate was cheap and they weren't the best quality,  but nevertheless for the price they offered a nice variety to nibble on. The varieties were: Raspberry & White Chocolate Truffle, Milk Chocolate Toffee Apple, Salted Caramel Whirl, Dulce De leche Caramel Truffle, Dark Chocolate Orange Creme, Milk Chocolate Cherry Truffle, Strawberry Creme, Chocolate Toffee and Chocolate Fudge. All sounds rather nice doesn't it?


Taste-wise they were all pretty nice for cheap chocolates, but what I enjoyed most were the different varieties. The toffee apple chocolates were quite unique and the raspberry and white chocolate truffle was very tasty indeed. The rest were pretty much standard fare but all of them offered a nice selection of tastes and textures.

Overall, I feel this was a good box of chocolates for those on a budget, but I would never pay more than a couple of quid for one. It offers probably more variety than most chocolate boxes from mainstream companies like Cadbury and Nestle. 8 out of 10.

Morrisons Sticky Toffee Mix Ups:

These were reduced to 99p and became quite a favourite of mine during the post-xmas period. The chocolate is standard cheap milk chocolate but the centres had a delicious buttery toffee flavour and were nice and gooey, with the mini fudge pieces on top adding a lovely chewiness. The tastes and textures worked perfectly together and made these quite indulgent. 8 out of 10.

Morrisons White Chocolate & Cranberry Bites:

I was glad to see these reduced as I had been curious about them before Christmas but unwilling to fork out the regular price. They're basically discs of white chocolate with dried cranberries embedded in them, and tasted extremely sweet and milky and a little on the cheap side, but despite this they were pretty tasty. 7 out of 10.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading about my post-xmas chocolate bargains even if these are no longer available in shops!

Did you try any of these chocolates over Christmas? If so please let me know in the comments!

New! Cadbury Creme Egg Pots of Joy Review

$
0
0
cadbury creme egg pots of joy

I was really surprised to spot these new Cadbury Creme Egg Pots of Joy in Sainsbury's recently as I wasn't expecting them at all - there's been no press-release whatsoever. I've heard plenty about the new Cadbury Creme Egg Biscuits, though; do check out Foodstuff Finds review of those!

cadbury creme egg pots of joy

These are a bit of a different prospect - they're described as "2 x smooth and creamy desserts made with melted Cadbury milk chocolate with a fondant layer". Of course they wouldn't be creme egg without the famous white and yellow fondant, and here it is in all its gooey glory!:

cadbury creme egg pots of joy

Taste-wise they were kind of as you would expect - smooth and chocolatey with an added hit of sweet fondant from the creme egg layer. It was creamy and of course very sweet, but that's not such a bad thing when it comes to creme egg - half of the "joy" is in the sugar rush!

Overall, if you're a fan of Cadbury creme eggs then these are a nice Easter novelty. I imagine they'd be particularly great with a real Cadbury's Creme Egg chopped up and mixed in!

RATING: 8 out of 10. 

Price: £1 per twin-pack at Sainsbury's (also on offer at the CO-OP).
Suitable for vegetarians?: No.
Allergy Information: Contains milk, soya. May contain nuts.
Nutrition (per pot): 6.7g Fat, 23g Sugar, 165 Calories.

Lindt Lindor Strawberries & Cream (Limited Edition) Review

$
0
0
lindt lindor strawberries and cream

I've been itching to try these new Limited Edition Lindor Strawberries and Cream since they first appeared in shops a few weeks ago, and luckily thanks to a slew of recent discounts I couldn't say no - I picked them up for £3 at Sainsbury's, and they're around the £3 mark in other stores too.

lindt lindor strawberries and cream

They're described as "White chocolate truffles with strawberries and cream and a smooth melting filling", and are basically white chocolate Lindor with added flecks of strawberry and a strawberry truffle centre. The ingredients list both cream and strawberry powder, so these are genuinely made of both strawberries and cream!

Unwrapping one I was met with what can only be described as the smell of strawberry milkshake. This was a good sign!

lindt lindor strawberries and cream

Cutting it open revealed the slightly pink coloured centre which was quite firm at this point:

lindt lindor strawberries and cream

Popping a whole one in my mouth I was first met with the creamy white chocolate - it was excellent quality and the cream powder was very evident. As the filling began to melt it released a strawberry milkshake-like flavour - it tasted absolutely delicious, and it wasn't long before I was reaching for another! These were insanely addictive and surprisingly not too sickly for white chocolates.

Overall, these Lindor strawberries and cream are a triumph - the perfect gift for Valentines Day...or scoffing all to yourself! I'll definitely be stocking up on them before they disappear from shelves.

RATING: 9 out of 10.

Price: £3 at Sainsbury's (along with rest of the Lindor range). Also available at Wilkinsons, Morrisons, Tesco.
Suitable for vegetarians?: Doesn't state on packaging.
Allergy Information: Contains milk, soya. May contain nuts.
Viewing all 1263 articles
Browse latest View live


<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>