Pick N Marks Blond Chocolate Malt Balls (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

These new Blond Chocolate Malt Balls are part of the Pick N Marks range, which sounds like Pick N Mix, but isn’t mixed, just grab bags. Totally confusing, but there’s lots of chocolate in the range, so I’m still in.

Blond chocolate has been very popular, following on from the salted caramel trend, and as I have a sweet tooth, it definitely works for me. I opened the bag and the malt balls are a decent size. I bit into one and found a lovely layer of thick blond chocolate, followed by a really nice crispy crunch. The flavour was pure caramel, white chocolate and malty goodness. There was plenty of sweetness, with a bit of contrast from the malt and even a touch of salt. They’ve really maximised that sweet and salty balance, and it just works.

These are very moreish and tasty, and I can see this bag disappearing rather quickly.

There was a time a few years back when every ‘grab bag’ like this would have a resealable sticker, so you could have a few and seal them up for another day. That stopped being a thing for quite a few brands, and these don’t have one either. So, yeah, we’re just going to have to finish the bag tonight while watching a movie. What a shame!

MOMA Oat - Raspberry and Blonde Chocolate Drink (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I bought the MOMA Oat Raspberry and Blonde Chocolate Drink because I liked the sound of the flavour, rather than because I needed an oat-based alternative to regular milk. Basically, I'm all for a new milkshake flavour, and I don't mind what dairy or alternative milk it uses, as long as it sounds interesting. This is a summer limited edition.

I chilled the drink before pouring some into a glass. It isn't the pretty pink colour shown on the carton, but more of a beige colour, which made me check the use-by date (it was fine). The drink smelled okay too, but when the colour and smell don't quite match what you're expecting, you do start to worry.

I gave the drink a sip and found the flavour was good. It isn't too sweet, but there is a nice combination of berry and caramel, and mixed with the oat flavour, it tasted a bit like pink wafer biscuits, which is really nice.

I found it very easy to drink, and most of my tasting sips seemed to almost finish the glass, so I almost immediately needed a top-up, which is always a good sign. Definitely one I would buy again.

Golden Blond Chocolate Spread (M&S) By @Cinabar

A few days ago I was talking about Caramac making a temporary comeback and how it had lost its market share as everyone was doing golden caramel chocolate-like products. Well, Marks and Spencer has brought out Golden Blond Chocolate Spread, so they are taking the golden caramel chocolate to the next level. I picked up a jar because one of my favourite treats is chocolate spread on toast. And I have a sweet tooth. 

Once home, I put the toaster on, ready to give this the taste test. I opened the jar, and the first thing I noticed was that there were bits in the spread. The texture was light and fluffy and easy to spread, but I couldn’t work out what the bits were. I checked the jar again, and it turns out they were waffle pieces. I have no idea why they are there. I have this on toast, so I don’t think it adds anything for me. The flavour though was sweet, rich caramel tastes, and was absolutely delicious. Maybe they do a smooth version without the bits too. I really enjoyed the taste; it was the perfect sweet treat for an afternoon snack or a naughty breakfast at the weekend. 

Belgian Milk Chocolate Office Bunnies (Aldi) By @Cinabar

It is coming up to Easter, and that mean chocolate bunnies! These super smart Office Bunnies are from Aldi and made by Moser Roth who makes a lot of chocolate for them. There are two varieties available, Dark chocolate with Salted Caramel and Blonde Chocolate with Milk Chocolate Salted Ganache. Both sets of chocolate office bunnies look smart in the box and even have their office ties on, presumably to do the administration work for Easter. The two different types are almost mirrored images of each other, one with caramel inside and one on the outside.

Dark chocolate and Salted Caramel

I bit into one of these, and most importantly, the crack of the chocolate was perfect; it had a lovely bite to it, but it still gave nicely to the lush caramel within. Inside there was smooth runny caramel, with a hint of salt, and loads of rich brown sugar and toffee like flavours. The coating was very good quality dark chocolate.

Blonde Chocolate with Milk Chocolate Salted Ganache

The chocolate has a lovely rich sweetness to it, almost candy-like. Again, the bite was really good in terms of texture. The chocolate filling contrasts well with the blonde toffee-flavoured coating, and I liked the touch of salt.

They taste as good as they look.

M&S Golden Blond Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hot Cross Buns (Ocado) By @Cinabar

The toaster just about survived these M&S Golden Blond Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hot Cross Buns. We have one of those toasters which is wide enough to take things like bagels and it even has a lift lever to cope with smaller items etc. Basically, I like toasting bread-based products. I regularly toast normal hot cross buns, despite the risk from rogue raisins dropping into the bottom of the toaster. It works pretty well, that is why I didn’t think twice about cooking these new ones in there too. I should have thought twice. It sounds obvious now, but Golden Blond Chocolate melts in the toaster, it drips and then it burns. It makes the hot cross bun impossible to pick up as the chocolate bubbles and burns your fingers. I had to wait for the toaster to cool to get them out, and then they were stuck as the caramel and chocolate had re-set. I know this is on me, but yeah it wasn’t the best start.

So let's pretend that I put them under a grill and they toasted up lovely, no hassle, and I’ll just move on. Lesson learned. They smelled amazing while they were cooking lots of rich caramel tones. I added some butter for the ultimate indulgence. The flavour of these buns is sweet. I was pleased that they still had all the spice of a hot cross bun, but the chocolate and caramel added a lovely sweet layer to the taste. These M&S Golden Blond Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hot Cross Buns are indulgent and lovely, and I’d buy them again. They keep enough of the proper seasonal hot cross bun flavour but manage to lightly wrap around it the blonde chocolate and sweetness.

No toasters were harmed during the making of this blog post (well after some substantial cleaning).

Nestle Lion Caramel Blond (GB Gifts) By @SpectreUK

I do like a Nestle Lion bar every now and then. Their crunchy chocolatey goodness always goes well with a tub of low calorie ice cream for a tasty pudding. These new limited edition Nestle Lion Caramel Blond bars are double the caramel.

There are five bars in the packet and interestingly been as though these Nestle Lion Caramel Blond bars are made in Poland, the ingredients seemed to be in anything but English. Presumably these Caramel Blond bars have the usual Lion bar wafer, crisp cereal, and gooey caramel inside, but they will be coated with caramel blonde chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

As you can see from the photograph the Nestle Lion Caramel Blond bar is a creamy caramel colour, as it's coated with a sweet mix of creamy caramel and white chocolate. The crunchy cereal and wafer inside complemented the outer coating and also the gooey caramel provided a second sumptuous hit of sweetness.

This Nestle Lion Caramel Blond bar is a gorgeous bar of crunchy chocolate. I managed my calories pretty well throughout the day and had two bars with my low calorie tub of salted caramel ice cream from Jude's. All very creamy, sweet and feel good after a long day of working out and procrastination from work.

Information on the packet;
Each of the 5 bars has 148 calories, with 3.9g of fat, 15.8g of sugar, and 0.16g of salt. Unfortunately the ingredients were not in English.

Galaxy Fusions Blonde Chocolate with Sea Salt (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

For a person who counts their calories having a sweet tooth can be a pain sometimes. I do have a love of chocolate, especially washed down with a mug of my favourite hot white chocolate drink, and often a small pot of low calorie vanilla ice cream. This fairly low in calories Galaxy Fusions Blonde Chocolate with Sea Salt sounds like something that would go rather well with my usual accomplishments. Although sometimes there can be a little too much sea salt in a chocolate bar for my liking. So I'll have to see…

As you can see from the photograph the solid caramel coloured bar looks rather smart. On taste there was a white creamy and sweet caramel chocolate taste to start with. This creaminess just keeps on giving and then there was quite a sharp saltiness into the aftertaste. I found this Galaxy Fusions Blonde Chocolate with Sea Salt very tasty indeed. Although it was pretty strong on the sea salt in the aftertaste, which didn't complement my white hot chocolate drink or vanilla ice cream so well.

Information on the outer card; This 35g bar has 193 calories, with 12g of fat, 18g of sugar, and 0.23g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.