Breakfast time is great - there are loads of options. Here we see another new limited edition for Asda - tickled pink Shreddies!
31 March 2024
Pink Shreddies - Raspberry & White Chocolate Ltd Ed [@NLi10]
30 March 2024
Dippy Egg Mini Whips (Marks and Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK
On first sight of these "milk chocolate filled with mallow and an orange flavoured sauce" Dippy Egg Mini Whips, they were dusty milk chocolate coated whips with a chocolate orange aroma. As you can see from the photograph, on biting into one, there was a lot of mallow and a little orange sauce. Having said that, the orange sauce was pretty strong in flavour.
Popping them one at a time into my mouth, and washed them down with a mug of Jaffa Orange Chocolate tea* all went rather well together for a lovely dessert after my meatballs and pasta dinner. Yum.
Have a great Easter :-)
Information on the packet; The 120g bag contained 496 calories per 100g, with 24.5g of fat, 53.8g of sugar, 0.13gof salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.
29 March 2024
Choccy Hot Cross Bun Bites (M&S) By @Cinabar
We recently popped into M&S as I had some birthday vouchers to spend, and along with a nice new top, I got us a few treats from the food hall. I picked up this bag of Choccy Hot Cross Bun Bites and thought today seemed like the perfect day to give them a try.
In the bag, the chocolates are a little plain-looking. I was hoping they would be round like a hot cross bun and have an iced or decorated cross, but there are just small rectangles. The taste was good, though; the milk chocolate coating was a decent thickness; the filling was sweet, buttery, and sugary; and it had a really good blast of spice. The flavour was stronger than I thought it would be; there was quite a punch of nutmeg and ginger, which was lovely. There were also raisins dotted around, giving it a nice bit of texture and sweetness. The flavour was good of these Choccy Hot Cross Bun Bites, but I do think they were missing a treat by decorating them with a cross.
28 March 2024
Easter in Miniature - Mini eggs Orange & M&M's eggs [@NLi10]
There are an increasing number of competitors for the Cadbury Mini Eggs crown, including new bags of just the Orange ones. I know we've covered these before, but it's a nice excuse to buy a couple of (tiny - 80g!) bags and have a sample.
27 March 2024
Wasted Degrees Amber Rye ale (The Wee Beer Shop) By @SpectreUK
On opening the can there was a glorious spicy rye aroma, with a touch of orange from the Manadrina hops. This red amber coloured ale tasted of sweet and spicy biscuits from the rye and malts, a touch of herbal bitterness and a hint of orange flavour, with even a slight smokiness. Wheat and a full body of oats sat neatly in the background as all those glorious spices of rye and sweet amber malts, as well as herbal zesty hoppy bitterness took centre stage. I'm so glad I insisted on having a second can in the order from The Wee Beer Shop.
26 March 2024
3 Hot Honey Hatchlings (Waitrose) By @Cinabar
I found these Hot Honey Hatchlings and they sounded a little bit different. They are made with a 65% dark chocolate filled with Mexican honey caramel and a touch of chilli powder, so a very traditional recipe for chilli chocolate. The chicks look lovely and nicely moulded. The chocolate is nice and thick, and there is a lot of filling. I bit in and tried not to let the honey-flavoured liquid inside run down my chin. The first flavour is from the chocolate; it is rich, dark, and full of flavour. Then there is the sweetness of honey, and then a gentle tingle from the chilli, which grew into a bit of a burn and some serious warmth.
These Hot Honey Hatchlings are very well balanced; they have a complex flavour, but all elements have their moment, and I found that really impressive. They are also a super cute-looking Easter treat, which is rather nice.
25 March 2024
Hot Cross Buns White Chocolate and Lemon (Waitrose) By @cinabar
I opened up the pack and could smell the lemon, which is a good sign. I split them in half, and I could see a small amount of white chocolate, but there weren’t a lot of chocolate drops that were visible. As always, I popped the two halves in the toaster on a low setting, and after a very short while, I could hear a drip and sizzle. Perhaps toasting these wasn’t my best idea! Still, once they popped, they looked okay, but they were a little sticky to get out of the toaster. On the bright side, this meant that the white chocolate was more prominent than I thought they were.
I buttered the sticky buns and gave them a try, and the flavour was lovely. There was a good balance of sweet and creamy white chocolate and a nice, sharp edge from the lemon. The buns were fluffy too and had a good texture. If I found myself doing another Waitrose order, they are definitely something I would pick up again, as they are a lovely edition.
24 March 2024
Percy Pig & Colin Catepillar - eat their faces! [@NLi10]
Marks & Spencer have had a lot of fun with their character brands in recent years - to the extent that virtually everything is themed to Percy the pink pig or Colin the Catterpillar if it can. Here we see a prime example - eat the chocolate faces off the cake as a Thorntons style chocolate lollipop! These are very much a part of childhood shopping trips.
23 March 2024
Waffle & Maple Syrup Blueberry Coffee Stout (The Wee Beer Shop) By @SpectreUK
On opening the can there was certainly sweet maple syrup, creamy vanilla and roasted coffee in the aroma. On pouring this jet black Waffle & Maple Syrup Blueberry Coffee Stout, the liquid almost oozed into my waiting beer mug. On taste there was the fruity topping of blueberries straight away, and bitterness of herbal hops, with creaminess of vanilla and a sweetness from the added maple syrup. I could actually taste a little waffle underneath all those flavours, and then the roasted coffee woke up and pounced, taking my tastebuds off into the aftertaste with a good wallop of malts. This is certainly is a waker-upper of a flavoursome stout. I wouldn't mind waking up to this on a lazy day in bed with a good book. Now where are my reading glasses?
22 March 2024
Caramelised Biscuit Hot Cross Buns (Aldi) By @Cinabar
I split them in half and popped them in the toaster. As I was waiting, I looked at the back of the pack, and it suggested adding biscuit spread as a topping. I wish I had noticed that in the shop. I thought the best plan was to just add some butter and try the Caramelised Biscuit Hot Cross Bun without the addition of any jam or other flavours that may affect it.
I gave them a try and could definitely pick up on the biscuit taste, but these were much milder than I thought they would be. They are sweet, but not sweet enough for my tastes. There are patches of biscuit spread in the mix, and these are nice, but not every bite has that flavour hit. The conclusion is that I should have bought a jar of biscuit spread, but these should have been okay without it.
21 March 2024
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fingers - Salted Caramel Flavour [@NLi10]
As a child I got a little tin of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fingers each Christmas - the tins are mostly still around too! Back then - in the mid 80s - these were a big deal, and something to respect and treasure. Now? Cadbury’s really don’t put any effort into them.
20 March 2024
Nestle Lion Brownie (B&M) By @SpectreUK
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but on opening the wrapper the nobly Lion Brownie actually smelt like a Chocolate Brownie. On first usual Lion Bar wrestling bite the Lion Brownie lived up to the original Lion Bar's expectation of chewy and crunchy, but this Brownie had a darker centre flavoured with Chocolate Brownie. I certainly liked the flavour. It was like an original Lion Bar had swallowed a Chocolate Brownie, and then it was being swallowed by something much larger: Me. Yum.
Information on the wrapper; There were 4 bars in the multipack. Each bar had 146 calories, with 6.6g of fat, 14.9g of sugar, and 0.19g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.
19 March 2024
Heinz Beanz Cheesy Cathedral City Edition (Tesco) By @Cinabar
As my jacket potatoes were nearly baked, I opened up the tin and heated the baked beans and cheese mix. The contents looked like regular baked beans, but there was clearly a creaminess to the colours and a slightly thicker sauce. I poured it over the potato and tucked in. Wow, this was a seriously generous portion of cheese mixed into the beans, and they were perfect. The flavour of the Cathedral City cheese shone through; rich and creamy, but flavoursome and the lovely tomato base of the beans was a perfect contrast too. I have no idea why this hasn’t been done before. This Heinz Beanz Cheesy Cathedral City Edition is absolute genius and is even simpler than buying grated cheese, so yeah, this will be my new go-to.
18 March 2024
Sparkle The Melting Unicorn Hot Chocolate (Aldi) By @Cinabar
So once home, I opened up the box, heated some milk in the microwave, and set up the TV, ready to show the latest episode of Dragon's Den. I put the unicorn in the mug, and it nearly filled it! This is a big chunk of chocolate.
I added the hot milk, and it soon melted from underneath and shrank into the mug.
The top melted too, and out popped the chocolate drops, and the marshmallows rose to the surface. The best part of this hot chocolate was that I then added a spoon to the mix and found that the whole thing dissolved and mixed super easily; this was not expected given how much chocolate there was.
The flavour was yummy; it is very sweet and very creamy, as a white hot chocolate should be. The addition of the chocolate drops was brilliant, as it enhanced the cocoa flavour and brought a bit of balance. The marshmallows were lovely too; they looked pretty and added a nice bit of sweetness to the drink.
This Sparkle The Melting Unicorn Hot Chocolate made me happy and was something I would buy again. It would make a lovely gift or treat in an Easter basket, even if it isn’t bunny-shaped.
17 March 2024
Chocolarder 72% Ashaninka Peruvian Rainforest chocolate [@Nli10]
We first found this brand because of the insanely dark 100% variety we found on holiday once, but now it's showing up in a few more places it's worth dipping back in - especially as this version is likely to be a bigger hit with the masses.
16 March 2024
Play Brew Co Minty Breath Beer (The Wee Beer Shop @WeeBeerShop) By @SpectreUK
At 5.7% in volume, Minty Breath was brewed in Middlesbrough, by Play Brew Company. Barley, oats, wheat, milk sugar, cocoa, hops, yeast and natural flavourings (I'm guessing mint) were added in the brewing. The back of the can suggests flavours of hops, mint, and dark chocolate. It being a heavy stout, there may be a crisp flavour of hops with sweetness of chocolate and malts, and a refreshing minty flavour.
On opening the can there was a smell of creamy sweet chocolaty goodness with a minty accompanying aroma. There was an underlying minty freshness to this deep dark stout. The mint tickled the crisp herbal hops to begin with. The mint doffed it's hat to the sweet roasted chocolate malt and slightly wheaty oatiness of the stout. The mint struggled to march through the roasted coffee at the back of the flavour. Yet march through the coffee the mint flavour did, and off merrily into the aftertaste.
I found this a rather flavoursome jovial stout. A pleasing bite, followed by a creamy chocolate sweetness, with a stout body, and that unfamiliar minty taste flowing straight through. Great stuff. I'll have to have another pint of this Minty Breath when I have some After Eight Mints around Christmas time.
15 March 2024
Mini Cheddars Cheesy Specials: Cheddar and Roasted Tomato (Tesco) By @Cinabar
Inside the pack are small bags with decent portions of the biscuits. They are coated generously with a good sprinkle of seasoning. I gave one a try and found them to be tasty but quite mellow. The cheese flavour is good, but that is what Mini Cheddars always do best. The tomato just adds a little bit of mildness; there was a hint of the flavour and it brought with it a touch of sweetness, but as pleasant as they were, I don’t think the addition of the roasted tomato is going to cause a revolution.
I will happily munch my way through the multipack of Mini Cheddars Cheesy Specials: Cheddar and Roasted Tomato, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy another bag. I’ll happily wait to see what the next limited edition is when it comes out.
14 March 2024
Tyrell's black garlic & sour cream crisps from Waitrose [@NLi10]
My partner brought home this big sharing bag of Tyrell's black garlic & sour cream crisps from Waitrose for alongside lunch