M&S Extremely Lemony Hot Cross Buns (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Hot Cross Bun season has been good this year and I cannot help buying all the interesting flavours I find. I am not a big fan of the savoury ones. It is not that they are not nice, it is just that I think Hot Cross Buns should be a sweet treat. If I turn a cheese hot cross bun into a ham sandwich it is really just a cheesy bread roll.

Thankfully these ones from M&S are sweet. They are the new Extremely Lemony version and I love the bright yellow cross on top of each one.

Like the Red Velvet Hot Cross Buns I wrote about earlier, these are not meant for toasting. In this case the filling is a large dollop of lemon curd in the middle. The bread itself also contains candied lemon peel throughout. I added a tiny amount of butter, although I was not sure if I was meant to. It did help smearing the lemon curd a little and spread the flavour more evenly inside the bun.

I gave one of them a try and it was like having a slice of lemon drizzle cake. It was lovely. There was plenty of lemon flavour, a little zingy but still sweet. The bread was soft and fluffy and the whole thing was a delight.

Have you spotted any other interesting flavours I should be trying?

Walkers Worcester Sauce Crisps in Brecon Beacons [@NLi10]

 We are on holiday in Wales again, and I spotted a multibag of nostalgic crisps to take with us

Walkers brought out the Worcester Sauce alongside the Heinz ketchup flavour when I was an impressionable youth.  They came in combo multibags so I had these while my sister ate the sauce ones.  I swear they were much bigger than 25g...

They also used to taste a lot stronger, but that might be my tastebuds

Or my lovely home-brewed Exhale coffee in it's travel canister

We picked a good day for the walk, got to see Alpacas and the sun, although it was very windy

And the rain earlier in the week meant the ponds and puddles were big

Got to hang out in the local rainforests too!

Today however it's absolutely torrential so we went to the shops instead!

Honey Barbecue Waves (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

I haven't seen any adverts for M&S food for a while, but picked these Honey Barbecue Waves up from a service station recently. They are not just any Honey Barbecue Waves, they are M&S Honey Barbecue Waves. Sorry, I had to do it.

On opening this multigrain snack smelt of salty sweet barbecue sauce. Ultra crunchy it's vertically impossible not to make a noise eating these M&S Honey Barbecue Waves. They had a very moreish flavour of sweet honey barbecue, with a good saltiness, and a touch of smokiness. Once I started eating them I couldn't stop. The rest of the bag disappeared pretty quickly. Not for sharing.

Information on the bag: The 60g bag contains two portions of 30g, with 143 calories, 7g of fat, 2.5g of sugar, and 0.62g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

M&S Red Velvet Hot Cross Buns (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I have been loving hot cross buns this year, especially all the new varieties, and I have some great ones to write about. Starting off we have these Red Velvet Hot Cross Buns from Marks & Spencer.

To say these hot cross buns are a bit different is an understatement. For a start they are burgundy in colour. They do still have the traditional cross on top though. They are flavoured like red velvet cake, complete with chocolate chips throughout and a dollop of white chocolate icing in the middle.

I split one in half and could immediately tell these were not meant for toasting. I sometimes risk chocolate chips in the toaster, but the gooey filling felt like pushing my luck a bit too far. I was not even sure whether to add butter, but in the end I spread on the tiniest amount.

When I tried one the flavour was incredibly indulgent. The bun itself is sweet and soft, with the chocolate really coming through. Because I had added a little butter I also ended up spreading the icing throughout, which made it more evenly distributed. That added a sweet, creamy flavour that made the whole thing feel more like a cake than a traditional hot cross bun. It is definitely a proper treat. Even if they are not suitable for toasting, I am seriously impressed.

Walkers Sensations Chilli and Cocoa (Ocado) By @Cinabar

These new Sensations Chilli and Cocoa crisps are the latest limited edition Easter flavour from Walkers. I have no idea how they relate to Easter. Perhaps it is the cocoa, since Easter eggs are made of chocolate. The chilli addition is a bit more confusing. That said, chilli and cocoa is actually a very old flavour combination, dating back to some of the earliest uses of cocoa.

I do have to say I am impressed that Walkers have brought out such an interesting flavour. We decided to share these at lunchtime, which raised the question of whether they were crisps to have with sandwiches or more of a dessert crisp to eat afterwards. In the end we went with the sandwiches.

The aroma from the bag is very cocoa forward and quite chocolatey. I took a bite and they have the usual Walkers texture and crunch. The flavour is slightly sweet with a noticeable cocoa taste. At first the chilli is very mild, but as you eat a few more a gentle warmth builds, followed by a bit of heat.

My first reaction was curiosity, but a handful of crisps in and I was hooked. They are not too sweet and the balance of cocoa and chilli works surprisingly well. I also love that there is a brave new flavour on the shelves.