Maple Caramel Whips (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

When your local Marks and Spencer closes, and you spot an M&S food hall on a road trip service station, what can you do but make a few impulse buys and stock up? These Maple Caramel Whips were part of my haul from a recent trip. I love a traditional Walnut Whip, but these have a festive twist that I couldn’t resist.

There are four whips in the box, each topped with green icing and sprinkles, giving them a very Christmasy feel. I took one out and bit the top off, it was crunchy, but not too hard, and perfectly sweet. The milk chocolate is thick and rich, with the usual lovely flavour. Inside, the whip is creamy and sweet, with a really nice layer of maple caramel that shines through. The caramel is dark and rich, with a subtle burnt edge that pairs beautifully with the sweet whip.

These are delightful, perfect as a stocking filler or for scoffing in front of the TV, which is exactly what will happen with these.

Cinnamon Knots (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

It is the season when the shelves fill with goodies flavoured with my favourite spice, cinnamon. I spotted these Cinnamon Knots in Morrisons and knew I had to pick them up. I also bought new hot chocolate and giant marshmallows. I may not love the cold weather, but this time of year certainly delivers on comforting treats. These Cinnamon Knots even reminded me of the Staffordshire knot, not sure they would hold together but they look very pretty.

The biscuit itself is not too hard, but the coating of cinnamon and sugar gives it a crunchy exterior, which makes for a fun texture. The flavour is gorgeous. They are buttery, sweet and full of cinnamon. It is a divine combination for a biscuit. They are very easy to snack on, and the sweet and spicy profile fits the season perfectly. The design is attractive enough to serve with a hot drink for guests, and on that note, they dunk well in a cuppa too. They hold their shape while keeping just enough of the crunchy coating.

I am biased because I love cinnamon, so it is no surprise that I absolutely adored these. The real miracle is that I did not finish the whole box in one go.

Jasmine Tea - Luxury Version [@NLi10]

 It seems that my usual Jasmine Teabags are not in the Uk at the moment as everywhere has run out!  I have resorted to buying the loose stuff and seeing what it's like

It comes in a pretty cylinder, very similar to the family-imported teas I have that are not Jasmine.

It's only 2% Jasmine, maybe I could have made this myself! Only 5g, and cover it to brew? Exotic.

All sealed to transport

Doesn't look like dust

And turns into proper leaves! I did wait for it to brew properly too - and it was decent, but not as easy as the teabags.  The hunt continues.

Crumbs Brewing Naan Laager (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Food waste is a problem in the UK. Apparently nearly half the bread produced is wasted. Crumbs Brewing have created this 4.5% in volume Naan Laager in order to combat some of the food waste. Naan Laager is brewed with wonky unsold plain naan bread. This beer takes inspiration from the chef Hari Ghotra.

The Nigella seeds in the naan bread should help to produce a light spice to go well with a curry meal. I have a Lamb Rogan Josh with chips and Shish Kebab on the side tonight, whilst watching a Disney movie, The Three Musketeers.

On opening Naan Laager there was a light spiciness mixed with herbal hops, malted barley and a little malted wheat. Not too fizzy, on taste this beer had a refreshing spice to begin with mixed with herbal hops followed by sweetness from the malts. Very flavoursome indeed Naan Laager washed my favourite curry dinner down a treat. Perfect combination.

Kinder Surprise Father Christmas (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Kinder has gone full festive with these Father Christmas shaped Surprise chocolates, and I couldn’t resist picking one up. The wrapper looks brilliant, with Santa cheerfully holding a present, and the familiar Kinder Surprise branding hinting that there’s still a toy to build inside. I’m an adult on paper, but these things will always pull me in.

Once unwrapped, the chocolate itself was a bit of a let-down in terms of presentation. Under the Santa foil there was no detailed moulding, just a simple shape with the Kinder logo. It’s clearly the packaging doing the heavy lifting here. Still, the important part is the chocolate, and that was exactly as it should be. The classic mix of milk and white chocolate is ridiculously nostalgic, super sweet and creamy, and it instantly took me back to childhood.

Inside was the yellow capsule, and with it a little toy to assemble. Mine turned out to be a skiing reindeer that glows in the dark, and it even doubles as a Christmas tree ornament. Our tree isn’t up yet, but this might be the push I need.

A fun seasonal treat. Even if the chocolate isn’t as decorative as the wrapper suggests, the taste and the toy hit all the right notes for this time of year.

Wagamamas New Choices - Vegan Katsu Udon Noodles (plus chicken) + Sakura Lemonade [@NLi10]

 I'm not a huge fan of Wagamamas - locally in Birmingham there are indy versions with smaller queues right next door - but when out it's a reliable choice for decent food.

And when they add new exciting choices to the menu it's an easy compromise to go in and get well fed.

First up we have their Rose Petal & Cherry Blossom Lemonade (which is basically the Sakura Lemonade) - it's an odd mix of potent botanical flavours, but if you are after an exciting drink to sip then this is great fun.  The way the petals cling to the ice-cubes at the end is quite pretty too!

For main I had this crazy concoction of Katsu Udon.  The stuff on top is actually crispy sweet potato!

The Udon was great as usual, with the katsu in the name presumably actually the kare sauce at the bottom. But - I did add the optional Chicken (default vegan meal here) so I did get a Katsu or Cutlet in my food 

Here the flavours were far too muted, I needed excitement so added a dash of soy sauce, but I think some kind of chilli flake or maybe even fresh ones was needed to make this pop. That said - it's pretty unique and decently filling so maybe I'd just add the chilli oil next time and give it a good mix.

Overall Wagamamas continues to impress me in that they provide a very acessible gateway to fusion Asian food across the UK, but if I'm in town I'm still going to choose Mt Fuji, or The Brummie Noodle Company over them for the authentic experience (even if it does mean missing out on the ace sweet potato noodle things here!)

McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes Yuzu Lemon (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I like McVitie's Jaffa Cakes. I've tried a few different flavours, but the original Jaffa Cakes are my favourites. These new Japanese inspired McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Yuzu Lemon may change my mind. Instead of tangy orange Jaffa Cakes, these should be zingy lemon. I'm not expecting anything super face twistingly sour, but I am expecting a Lemon flavour, not orange and nothing too weird in between.

 

On first opening the packet, there was a lemon aroma from the Jaffa Cakes inside. Good start. On first soft chocolatey jelly cake taste, there was the usual dark chocolate flavour from the coating, with a tart lemon flavour from the jelly inside, and then the usual cake taste. These McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Yuzu Lemon weren't too strong on the lemon flavour, in fact a little more subtle than I preferred. So, I guess my favourite is still the original orange Jaffa Cakes.

Information on the box; There were 10 Jaffa Cakes in the box at 41 calories per cake, with 0.9g of fat, 5.4g of sugar, and 0.03g of salt. Please the ingredients

Doritos Gingerbread Edition (Tesco) By @Cinabar

This is the time of year when the shelves start to fill up with seasonal snacks. Peppermint, cinnamon and gingerbread always make an appearance, and now Doritos have joined in with their own Gingerbread edition. It is an unexpected choice for a tortilla chip and I was curious to see how they would work.

We opened the bag during a film night and tipped some into bowls. Spectre asked if I wanted cream, which made me pause. I had to check whether he meant sour cream dip or sweet spray cream. He admitted he had not thought that through at all and it suddenly raised the question of what these were meant to be. I decided the only way to find out was to taste one. They were sweet. I still turned down the cream as that felt a step too far.

The flavour turned out to be rather nice. They are sweet, but not too much. The ginger is the best part and brings a lovely warmth. They actually worked well as a film snack and filled the role of a shared bowl of popcorn. They are still Doritos though, and the texture feels like the kind that normally ends up under melted cheese or loaded with guacamole, so this sweet version is a novelty. Even so they are very enjoyable and worth picking up if you fancy something a bit different for the festive season.

Chunk Belgian Chocolate with Popping Candy (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

This bar arrived as part of an online grocery order delivered last Friday, the day of the storm. All our groceries were very wet, and this bar, with its paper wrapper, got a bit damp. That’s why it doesn’t look perfect in the picture. Thankfully, apart from the heavy rain, we weren’t too badly affected at home. The chocolate itself is sealed in foil, so the main part stayed completely dry.

The bar doesn’t seem to have much branding, it’s simply called CHUNK. The size and bright, colourful wrapper give off a Tony’s Chocolonely vibe, and it looks like a nice, big chunky bar. The filling is playful: popping candy, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate beans, which sounds really fun. I love popping candy, it always makes me smile. While it doesn’t add flavour, it’s a playful touch.

When I opened the bar, the chocolate had easy-to-share pieces that were still big and chunky. The sprinkles and chocolate beans added pops of colour and texture, making it crunchy and fun to eat. The chocolate itself is good quality Belgian chocolate, with the cocoa flavour shining through. The popping candy was mild, giving just a little tingle, but I’d have added more!

I’m looking forward to seeing what other flavours appear in this new CHUNK range, as this bar is a delightful addition.

Jammie Dodgers Mango & Passionfruit (or UmBongo) [@NLi10]

 It's time for this week's new Jammie Dodgers flavour - and its Mango & Passionfruit!  To anyone my age this means only one thing - Um Bongo - the totally tropical drink of childhood - recreated in biscuit form as drinks aren't allowed to have excess sugar in (unless it's coffee).

I mean - these biscuits aren't the same as they used to be either - but I think that's more cost savings than health concerns.

They do look pretty though - didn't used to get this kind of definition when we were kids!

The biscuits lack the bite of the olden days too.  But - the flavour of the jam is the reason that we are here and it's a good one.  I suspect this one will stay around a while as it works a lot better than most of the non-red versions of these.  A hit!

The Best Apple Crumble Mince Pies (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I do love mince pie season. I remember a year or so back when we reviewed every mince pie on the market and rated them. Ah, good times.

We try to have mince pies every weekend. They go especially well with rum and lemonade, or mead, and after a cheese and cold meats, and French Bread meal.

These Morrisons The Best Apple Crumble Mince Pies are short crust pastry filled with apple, caramel and vine fruit, topped with all butter crumble. On first bite I noticed the crumble on the top falls off quite a lot. There was sweet apple to start with as the pastry melted in my mouth. Then there was a mincemeat vine fruit flavour and sweet caramel to finish. This was a mouthwatering mince pie indeed. Yum.

Information on the box: 4 x Mince Pies at 176 calories per pie, with 5.7g of fat, 16g of sugar, and 0.28g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Margarita Pizza Puffs (Tesco) by @Cinabar

Our Tesco Express does not seem fully committed to the idea of new Christmas snacks yet. They have some lovely seasonal products in stock, but they are hidden right at the top of the shelves rather than being proudly on display. Once Halloween has passed I am quite happy for Christmas goodies to be out, but for now I am having to keep my eyes open.

These Margarita Pizza Puffs do not sound especially festive, but the design on the bags place them firmly in the new Christmas range. We had them on a film night and watched Fantasia on Disney to mark the eighty fifth anniversary of the film yesterday. I poured some into a bowl and could not believe the size. They are enormous. I was expecting something Wotsits sized but these are huge and tower over everything. They do look great in bowls though.

I gave one a try and the first thing that hit me was the crunch. It is spectacular. They are super crisp to start and then soften a little. I love the texture on these giants.

The flavour is spot on. There is plenty of tomato, a good hint of cheese and lots of Italian herbs. Spectre thought there was a touch of pesto too. They are undeniably Italian and wonderfully seasoned. I loved them and we will definitely pick them up again well before Christmas. As for Fantasia, there was not as much Mickey as I expected, but the film is full of imagination and very clearly was ahead of its time.

KFC Stranger Things Burger of Redness [@NLi10]

 All the fast food places are on themed promotions in the UK at the moment.  McDonlds has their terrible international menu, but KFC have the TV show that thinks it's a movie - Stranger Things.

I've never seen the show as we didn't have Netflix when it came out, and now - well there is just so much content out there - We'll get around to it.  I played red-box D&D in the actual 80s so I mean I've basically lived through it.

Here we have the nice KFC chips, and the tea as the drink because the sugar rules are different here.

But - what's in the box?

It's a burger - but red - and at KFC where the burgers are the least exciting menu option.  It's not even upside down, which would have been a fun thing to do.

What's the burger?

Sticky red chicken! The sauce has a really odd consistency like it's all cornflour or something.  The chicken was the normal decent chicken, and the spicy sauce added to it nicely.  It's a faff to eat though and I'd rather have just dipped the chicken into the sauce.  The slaw was fine too.

The red burger is more off-putting than a feature, but it does look fun.

Overall this is a fine meal - but a little pricey at £11 for a large- but I'd consider having this again unlike the McDonalds Canadian burger.  The wrap of the day with the nice chips and the ice-tea is still probably preferable and cheaper too.

Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet (M&S) By @SpectreUK

Some service stations we stop at on the way back from comic cons have some pretty posh nosh. These new gourmet Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies are a fizzy gummy reimagining of the original retro sweet.

Made with real fruit juice, these Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies were produced with a plant based vegan friendly recipe. On opening the packet the Lemon Sherbet gummies had a sugary sweet aroma and more than a hint of lemon rind.

In taste these Candy Kittens Lemon Sherbet gummies had a fizzy natural Lemon flavour, just not sour at all, but sweet and zesty on chewing. I couldn't quite gel with them myself though, I was hoping for something a bit more face twistingly sour.

Information on the bag: The 140g contains 349 calories, with 0.1g of fat, 60g of sugar, and 0.04g of salt. Please see photograph for te ingredients.

American Screwball Dessert (Hickory’s) By @Cinabar

We’ve been going to Hickory’s a little more often than usual recently, as it’s one of our favourite restaurants. They’ve just launched their Autumn/Winter menu, and the Gumbo is back, always a highlight. It’s a hearty stew with sausage, chicken, rice, and beans, and it’s a firm favourite of ours. It returns every year and never disappoints.

We don’t usually order dessert, but today we decided to make an exception when I spotted the American Screwball on the menu. When it arrived, it looked fantastic, ice cream covered in red and blue sauce, with white marshmallows completing the colours of the American flag.

A British ice cream Screwball usually hides a gobstopper at the bottom, but this version didn’t. Instead, it featured plenty of fro-co (frozen custard, or vanilla ice cream) and lots of marshmallows, which made it fun to eat. The red sauce was fruity, while the blue had a more tangy, sour edge. I suspect the blue colour might have come from melted sprinkles, though I can’t be sure. Either way, it was bright, cheerful, and very enjoyable.

By the end of the dessert, I realised my tongue was blue, which made me laugh. It’s nice to be reminded you’re still young at heart sometimes!

Quality Street Green Triangle Chocolate Bar (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I picked up the Quality Street Green Triangle chocolate bar recently, and the first thing I noticed was its shape. The bar itself is rectangular, and so are the individual pieces. Now, if you’re familiar with the original Green Triangle from the Quality Street tins, you’ll know they’re, well, triangles. A little ironic, then, that this bar went for rectangles. It would have been a nice touch if the pieces had diagonal lines to mimic the classic shape, but I suppose you can’t have everything.

Breaking a piece off was an interesting experience. The bar was surprisingly soft, almost bending as I pulled a piece away. Granted, I wasn’t keeping it in the fridge and the heating was on, but still, for a chocolate of this cost, it was impressively tender.

The chocolate itself is a treat. Inside, the classic soft, nutty praline melts beautifully. There are no bits, just smooth, silky chocolate with that satisfying nutty flavour. As a fan of nuts and chocolate, this really hit the mark. The flavour, if not the shape, stays true to the Green Triangle from the tins.

This bar works well as a snack, and it could even double as a festive stocking filler paired with a Christmas card. It’s a lovely format for enjoying this classic flavour, and I would happily buy it again.

Ritter Sport Pistachio - finally a decent 'Dubai Chocolate' [@NLi10]

 We love pistachios.   

We love Baklava - and the bird nest stuff is amazing.  

Dubai Chocolate combines the two, is confusingly expensive, and always disappointing - until now.

You see the one thing they never get right is that the chocolate still has to be the star.  So finally - the big brands are repackaging their Pistachio varieties and getting them into our hands for much cheaper.

I first fell in love with Ritter Sport in the 90s on trips to Germany.  There always seemed to be a new one to try and the variations all made sense.

The packaging is even fun to open properly, and it keeps everything where it belongs.  The ingredients are all here - except the lovely birds nest - but I have a shop that makes that fresh on my high-street so it's all good.

*snap* Luna approves of the smells here.

Like golden-era Cadbury's the chunks are a nice portion, always contain the novelty and the mix is always the same as there is only one size (Snickers - take note).

A lovely fragrant nutty undertone to classic Ritter Sport chocolate.

Lindt have nudged their Pistachio balls (which have been available for 5 years plus) into the limelight too - I wonder who else will join in.  First to make a legitimate chocolate version with the birds nest built in for non-import prices (and actually containing cocoa at decent rates) will win the market for sure!

 

Guinness Smoky Tomato Keychup and Guinness Rich & Spicy Chipotle Sauce (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

I do like a Guinness now and then, but I prefer mine with a good steak. So, what do you do if you like Guinness, but it doesn't go so well with what you're about to eat? Try the new range of Guinness sauces of course.

I decided to do a double blog on these two Guinness Sauces. I have Calamari and Scampi and chips tonight, all oven ready and tasty with some veg on the side, mushrooms and a huge red pepper.

I first splodged Guinness Smoky Tomato Ketchup on my plate next to my chips. There was certainly a smoky flavour with the tomato ketchup sauce, and a hint of Guinness to it. I also thought it would go well in a cocktail, or for a soup flavour. Instead it went very well with my chips. So well in fact, that I also dipped my chip-butty in it a few times before polishing it off.

I finished off the rest of my chips with the almost black coloured Guinness Rich & Spicy Chipotle Sauce. Now this sauce was really tasty too. I preferred this sauce more than the Ketchup, simply because it reminded me of a mix between barbecue and brown Sauce, but with a spicy chipotle flavour and a hint of Guinness. Yum indeed.

Mr Kipling Caramel Tart Ice Cream (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I usually associate new ice creams with the summer season, but we still enjoy them in autumn and winter. This one is from Mr Kipling and is based on one of his classic desserts: the Caramel Tart.

I have to admit, I don’t often buy caramel tarts. It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m just usually swayed by apple pies or mince pies instead. I have had them though, and they are lovely.

This ice cream is mostly caramel, which feels like a recipe for success, it’s one of those flavours that most people enjoy. It also includes caramel sauce and pastry pieces throughout, which give it that proper tart and pastry feel.

The tub isn’t too big, but when we opened it up, it scooped easily after a couple of minutes at room temperature. The ice cream has plenty of goodies mixed in, the sauce and pastry bits, which keep it interesting. The combination of textures works nicely, and the caramel base flavour is sweet, rich and full of that lovely burnt sugar taste.

It was an absolute delight, and I’m now thinking a scoop of this on a hot apple pie might just be the perfect autumn dessert. I really need to give that a try.