Snowflake Design Curiously Cinnamon [@NLi10]

 Now this is how you do a spicy breakfast cereal! A little cinnamon, and a lot of flavour and crunch.

We've had a bunch of very similar cinnamon breakfasts over the years, all of which work really well as a layer on top of Weetabix or porridge.

Even if they do look a little demonic.

And you can't see the design that easily

But some are clearer than others

The flavours are sharp but not too oppressive, the only problem is how the texture is just a bit flat - but mixing with cornflakes solves that.  A nice change and much better than the hot honey cereal from the other week!

Alpro Barista Cinnamon Roll (Ocado) By @cinabar

American style coffee creamers are a thing. You can buy liquid ones, powders or even foam versions that add proper flavour to your coffee. Here we can buy Coffee Mate, but nothing that really brings a flavour with it. That is why I picked up this carton of Alpro Barista Cinnamon Roll. I have no issues with dairy, I just wanted to flavour my coffee with cinnamon, my favourite spice.

I made myself a big mug of coffee and added a generous slug of Alpro Barista Cinnamon Roll. It mixed easily and the colour lightened just as it would if you added a similar amount of regular milk.

I took a sip and it was lovely. It was creamy with a gentle cake and cinnamon taste. It was not very sweet and as I do not add sugar to coffee it felt as if a teaspoon of sugar might make this pop even more, but I am not going down that route. My sweet tooth already gets enough attention.

The drink was soothing and tasty and I am looking forward to finishing the rest of the carton. I am just hoping I do not accidentally add it to a cup of English Breakfast.

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.

All Things Butter: Cinnamon Bun Butter (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I love cinnamon, so when I was checking the new products on Ocado and spotted this, I immediately added it to my basket. Then a thought occurred to me, was this meant as a baking product, something you’d only buy if you were making cinnamon buns? I added some bagels to my order and decided I’d just use it as a spread, whatever its intended purpose. The packet clearly shows a cinnamon bun on the front, but cinnamon is my favourite spice, and I wanted to try it as a spread.

When my order arrived, the bagels were missing, and they hadn’t replaced them with anything, so I had to resort to toast. I also noticed the block of butter was quite small, not the usual 200g size but just 115g, which isn’t much for £2.85.

I unwrapped the butter and found it was brown in colour, a little sticky, and didn’t have a strong aroma. I toasted some bread and tried spreading it; it was a bit firm, though I probably should have let it soften first. The taste was quite sweet, with a gentle hint of cinnamon, which was pleasant enough.

I love cinnamon and had hoped to be more impressed by this, but I found myself just liking it rather than loving it. I don’t think I’d buy this All Things Butter: Cinnamon Bun Butter again, not for spreading on toast, anyway.

Cinnamon Bun Flipz (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I love the combination of sweet and salty snacks, so Flipz pretzels have always been a favourite of mine. When I spotted this Cinnamon Bun variety online, I knew I had to give them a try, cinnamon is my favourite spice, after all!

These are small, crunchy pretzel knots coated in a cinnamon-flavoured icing. The icing has a beige tint, giving them a tempting, bakery-style look. The flavour is absolutely gorgeous. The sweet, sugary cinnamon hits first, and then the salt from the pretzel cuts through, balancing everything perfectly.

They’re dangerously moreish. I kept reaching for just one more until I had to force myself to put the bag away. The mix of sweet icing, warm cinnamon spice, and that salty pretzel crunch is utterly addictive. If you have a sweet tooth like me, these are definitely worth picking up!

Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

Visiting the Marks and Spencer food hall this close to Christmas might not be the best idea, but here we are, hunting for last-minute treats. I have a real soft spot for cinnamon; it’s my go-to flavour, especially during this time of year when it seems to truly shine.

Among the festive offerings, I discovered these Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers. Not being overly refined, I initially assumed they were biscuits. They certainly look like biscuits, and I fully intended to eat them as such! However, once I got home and inspected them properly, I realised they’re actually made from pastry. Essentially, they’re puff pastry sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, rolled from both ends into a charming heart shape, adorably cute!

I couldn’t resist trying one immediately. They start off wonderfully crunchy and are delightfully buttery, an absolute treat. The sweetness is perfectly balanced, with plenty of cinnamon to satisfy any fan of the spice. The texture is melt-in-the-mouth indulgence, and, as often happens with the best snacks, they’re highly moreish. Let’s just say I ate more than I’d planned!

Curious, I tested whether these would work as a dunker for tea. Despite not being actual biscuits, they held up well, softening slightly but staying intact with no crumbs left behind in the mug. A success in my book!

While the box makes no mention of Christmas, I have a sinking feeling these Palmiers might only be available during the winter months. That means I’ll need to stock up before they vanish!

Butterkist Caramelised Biscuit Flavour Toffee Popcorn (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Yesterday we had film night and watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and so we decided to open a nice big bag of popcorn to share while watching. I was looking forward to trying the new Butterkist Caramelised Biscuit Flavour Toffee Popcorn and it sounds perfect for a wet autumn evening in.

We poured a big bowl full of popcorn and tucked in. The first very positive note is that this popcorn has some serious toffee coating. They have a nice shell of crunchy toffee around each piece, and it is wonderfully sweet. I bought this bag for the Caramelised Biscuit Flavour and this part was the negative part; there wasn’t very much at all. Those biscuits are wonderfully warming and full of my favourite spice; this popcorn was toffee with a whisper of that flavour, which was such a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, we happily munched and enjoyed the bag of popcorn because popcorn covered in toffee is a brilliant thing, but judging it on trying to be a biscuit flavour, for me, I just don’t think it was there. Cinnamon is my favourite spice, and I wanted more, not a hint, but a rich warmth from the spice; this is after all supposed to be Butterkist Caramelised Biscuit Flavour Toffee Popcorn.

Swiss Miss Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Amazon) By @Cinabar

I’m not sure what I’m drinking. I’m also sure it wasn’t what I thought it was when I bought it. I love Swiss Miss hot chocolate; it is sweet and flavoursome despite being made with hot water and not milk. I have a sweet tooth; their drinks are sweet; they are my thing. I decided to google what interesting flavours they make, and I stumbled across one called Cinnamon Toast, and I was in. My favourite spice is cinnamon. I ordered it without paying much more attention.

 

I was expecting a hot chocolate-based drink with cinnamon flavour. I thought that right up until the moment I opened the first sachet and poured a white powder into my mug. It looked a bit disappointing. 

I added the water; it didn’t have a particularly strong aroma; it was just sweet and milky. I was still a bit disappointed. I opened up the second sachet of marshmallows, and I got a massive hit of cinnamon powder mixed in with the marshmallows. I added it, and it changed the milk base to a cinnamon speckled drink.

I gave it a try, and oh my word, this drink is amazing, not at all what I thought I’d bought pure heaven in a mug. I have since googled and found that cinnamon toast is an American breakfast cereal, and this drink is supposed to be a hot version of the milk the cereal leaves. I had no idea, but the taste is sweet, milky, and has lots of spice from the cinnamon, so I thought it was heaven. All the disappointment was gone, and now I’m just hoping I can get another box. 

Collaborate Cinnamon Bun Brown (The Wee Beer Shop) By @SpectreUK

Cinabar may have just gone too far this time. She's taken my love of spicy beer to a whole new level with this Collaborate Cinnamon Bun Brown. I really don't like cinnamon all that much, so to put it in a beer seems sacrilege to me. Simple Things Fermentations have collaborated (hence the name of the beer) with Deanston Bakery to produce this 4.8% in volume brown beer.

Deanston Bakery's famous Cinnamon Buns' ingredients of cinnamon and nutmeg were used in the brewing. I guess I don't mind cinnamon and nutmeg in small doses, and besides it's cold and damp outside, so I could do with something spicy and warming to heat me up a bit after a brisk walk earlier.

I quickly found that small doses were not the order on the menu upon opening the can. There was a fiery strong spicy aroma on pouring this deep brown ale. Collaboration poured with a nice frothy head though, which is always a pleasure to see. There's nothing quite so depressing looking as a flat beer.

On taste Collaborate Cinnamon Bun Brown tasted just like I'd expect a sticky Cinnamon Bunn would taste, well, washed down with a good brown ale that is. I actually found I quite liked this beer from first taste. Powerful on cinnamon and nutmeg spices, this fiery combination seemed to complement the herbal hop bitterness and sweet brown malts underneath perfectly. In flavour the Cinnamon Bun came first, then washed down by a good hearty brown ale. In that order. Lovely.

Kit Kat Churro Edition (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

Churros are doughnuts shaped into a finger or loop and then coated in cinnamon sugar. They are often served with a dip of liquid chocolate. It should come as no surprise, with my love of cinnamon, that churros are one of my favourite desserts. This Kit Kat, sadly, isn’t a UK edition; it was from an import shop, and it was made in America. Apparently they have a national Churros Day in America too, which sounds awesome.

I opened up the Kit Kat and found that the bar was a caramel colour, not milk chocolate. I gave it a test and found it to be far creamier and sweeter than I thought it would be. The flavour had more of a a fudge like taste than that of a doughnut, and the cinnamon sweetness was gentle. I still liked it because I love the spice, but really, I would have been very happy if they had added twice as much spice! Cinnamon for the win. Still a lovely Kit Kat, but perhaps not quite enough of the cinnamon magic as I had hoped for. I would very much like a UK Kit Kat Christmas edition that is cinnamon flavoured, that would be my thing.

Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I am still trying out various interesting coffees that can be made at home. This one is from the Starbucks line, but it can be found at the supermarket. Here we have Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte; there are five sachets in the box.

So, here's my usual disclaimer: cinnamon is my favourite spice, so this was obviously a must-have for me.

I boiled the kettle, and this drink mixed up nice and easily with the hot water; there were no lumps, and it developed a nice-looking froth on the surface too.

I gave the drink a sip and absolutely loved the flavour. The combination of coffee, milk, and the sweet and warm taste of cinnamon creates a delicious and satisfying drink. It is sweet, but not overly so. This Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte is a warm and comforting drink that is perfect for cold weather or a cosy night in. The cinnamon flavour is well balanced, not overpowering the other ingredients and adding a nice aroma to the drink. It's a perfect drink to enjoy in the morning or as a pick-me-up during the day. Overall, a yummy spiced coffee that is a must-try for any coffee/cinnamon lover.

Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

I was so excited about the idea of cinnamon Pop Tarts, I ordered them the second I saw them and couldn't ’t wait for them to arrive. I think this flavour of Pop Tart is available all year in America, but it is an import and I think available because people think cinnamon is the Christmas spice. I think it is my all-year round favourite spice, but will gladly take all the cinnamon products I can find at this time of year.

When they did arrive, I could tell they were a little bit broken. Well, they have had a long trip to get here. Both Pop Tarts were missing corners. I toasted them on the lightest setting and delicately removed them from the toaster. They were a little cracked and not very brown. I have to admit to being a bit worried at this point.

Then I gave them the taste test and all was forgiven. The hit of spicy warming sweet cinnamon and sugary goodness was an absolute joy. The texture is light and not too crispy, with that soft sweet cinnamon dream filling in the middle. These are my favourite flavours and I loved every bit. I wish they had transported a bit better, and I wish they made this variety in the UK but for now I’ll savour the couple of packets I have.

Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I’m still loving cinnamon season, or autumn as some of you may call it. My favourite spice comes to life at this time of year. I wish it was around all year, but it gives me a reason to look forward to the colder weather. Ritter Sport has a whole new bar dedicated to the spice and I couldn’t wait to give it a try. This Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp is made with white chocolate rather than milk chocolate, so it should be an interesting combo. I unwrapped the bar and found the usual Ritter Sport square pieces, on a white base but packed with a darker speckle. There were more dark bits than the picture on the front of the bar, which is fine by me because I do love cinnamon.

I gave it a try and found the bar to be sweet and spicy. Now, as someone who loves cinnamon, I was always going to like this bar, accept I’m biased on that front. There is plenty of cinnamon and it seems to be in a sort of brown sugary crystal texture to the bar. There is also rice crispy bits mixed in. This makes the bar fun to eat as it has an interesting texture. Two things struck me though, firstly that the white chocolate was fairly solid and usually white chocolate is soft. I was okay with this, it just distracted from the fun texture a small amount. The second thing was as I was eating it, I was thinking how much nicer it would be in milk chocolate, as overall the flavour was a bit sweet. I have a high sweet tolerance, so I think it might be a bit much for some. So yeah, I came a way liking this Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp bar but trying to work out why I didn’t love it. It was close but somehow missed the mark.

Hostess Coffee Cakes - Cinnamon Streusel (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

I actually searched the online import shop for cinnamon, that is how committed I am to my favourite flavour and this Hostess Coffee Cakes Cinnamon Streusel appeared, so I bought a pack. It says that the cake has a ‘new look’ which I can’t comment on as I didn’t see the original. Was it more crumbly? Hostess cakes are best known for their Twinkies and although you can find those in the UK, you don’t see much else from the brand, so I was very happy to find these. I unwrapped the cake and the topping was crumbly, as a streusel should be. There was a lovely aroma of cinnamon. The cake was quite moist, almost sticky and the crumble, well crumbled. There were also two cakes in the pack and so pretty generous as each one was a nice chunk of cake.

I gave one a try and there was plenty of spice. This is a proper cinnamon hit, which was wonderful. The flavour was a lot stronger than I had expected, it was sweet though, which gave balance. These cakes are designed to be had with coffee, so that is what I did and the sweet heady flavours of cinnamon did go very well with a nice cup of hot coffee. This is the perfect autumnal afternoon treat. I love these flavours and can’t wait to tuck into the other cake tomorrow. I am biased, I do believe cinnamon is the greatest of all the spices and these Hostess Coffee Cakes Cinnamon Streusel will be a repurchase on my next order. Gosh, I hope they are not just seasonal.

Chiquito Churros (Iceland) By @Cinabar

It is time for dessert. This is all about having the restaurant treat of Chiquito’s Churros at home, not from some delivery service but straight from the freezer and ready to go. I have a thing for cinnamon, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m a fan of Churros. I couldn’t resist picking up this box of goodies.

Inside the box of Chiquito Churros we have the Churros themselves, some cinnamon sugar and a pot of chocolate sauce. The sauce is warmed through by putting it into some hot water to defrost. The Churros are baked in the oven for 10mins and then dusted with sugar. I checked on the Churros after 8mins and they looked okay to last a couple more but they were sizzling when they came out at 10 mins.

I let them cool a little, then we are ready to dip them into the sauce. I gave the first Chiquito Churro and a generous plunge into the chocolate sauce and the sauce was all I could taste. Unfortunately, it turns out the sauce isn’t the best thing in this kit, it was syrupy, overly concentrated, and reminiscent of a 1990s milkshake mix. It almost took on the flavour of liquorice. The next bite I had was the Chiquito Churro just on its own, and it was a lovely, warm, sweet, sugary, spicey dough taste, and an absolute delight. I tried the dip again, less is more and once I got used to the flavour a bit I could handle it. Sadly though for me the sauce is the reason I wouldn’t buy them again, as good as the doughnut part actually are they needed a better dip.

Kit Kat Chunky - Cinnabon (GB Gifts) By @Cinabar

When I wrote about the Winter Edition Caramelised Biscuit KitKat, which is a UK product, we had a comment left by a regular reader. Zeddy suggested I should try a “real cinnamon Kit Kat”, like the Canadian version. I am a cinnamon fan girl. I hunt down cinnamon products, so I took up this challenge. Sadly, I couldn’t find the exact one that was mentioned, but here I present Kit Kat Chunky Cinnabon all the way from Dubai, or to be completely honest, via a UK import shop. This was the closest I could find, but it sounds like a good mix of chocolate and cinnamon, so it is all good. Cinnabon is a brand of bakers who specialise in cinnamon swirls, which, as you may have predicted, is my favourite pastry treat.

I ripped open the packet and the aroma of cinnamon was warm and heady and entwined with sweet chocolate. Heck, I’d buy a candle that smells like that. I bit in and my senses were all focused on the cinnamon, followed by sweetness and chocolate. What an utter delight. I love the texture of a Kit Kat and it has the same wafers as a regular Chunky so it is packed with all those crispy layers. I think this bar was pretty spot on for me; the texture, cinnamon and chocolate. It was worth the little bit extra in price for an import bar and I’m rather pleased I bought more than one. However, I’m still hunting for a pure Cinnamon Kit Kat from any country that makes them, but honestly I’m not sure how this Kit Kat Chunky Cinnabon could be topped?

Oykos Apple Cinnamon Greek Yoghurt (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Happy Cinnamon season everyone, the Christmas lights are up and seasonal spiced foods are in the shops. Gosh I love cinnamon, I hate that it isn’t around all year, so when we do get the limited edition cinnamon goodies at Christmas I do go out of my way to try everything. These new Oykos Apple Cinnamon Greek Yoghurts are my latest purchase. The yoghurts are layered and there is a fruity apple and cinnamon compote at the bottom topped with ‘Greek Style’ yoghurt. Does that mean it is or it isn’t Greek yoghurt? Greek Style sounds a bit of an odd choice of words, but I guess it doesn’t matter.

I tried the yoghurt and I was expecting apple to be dominant flavour with a hint of cinnamon but much to my surprise there was lots of sweet spice from the cinnamon in the flavour, the apple sweetened it but the cinnamon shone through. The yoghurt on top was thick and creamy and also a delight. It paired well with the fruit compote and it felt like a proper treat to eat. Oh my these Oykos Apple Cinnamon Greek Yoghurts were a good purchase, if you are a cinnamon fan you need to put these on your list, they are cinnamon heaven!

Nescafe Gold Cinnamon Bun Latte (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I was so excited to see this new coffee in the shop, not just because it is Christmas related edition but mostly because it is cinnamon flavoured. I absolutely adore cinnamon and coffee, so count me in on this new product; Nescafe Gold Cinnamon Bun Latte.

This is an instant coffee, you put the powder in a mug, add boiling water and stir. Then you wait twenty seconds and stir again. The next instruction seems odd but then you tap the mug on the surface, presumably to get any bubbles out but I’m not sure to be honest! I still did it.

As there is no milk added to the drink (it already contains milk product) I had to wait a few mins for it too cool to a better drinking temperature. I really am not one of these people who orders their hot drinks ‘extra hot’. Once I got there though the flavour was lovely, there was plenty of cinnamon and a touch of sweetness. These blended really well with the coffee taste and was such a lovely warming spiced flavour. I know I’m biased when it comes to cinnamon but oh my this is good. I’m not sure I would have been able to tell you that this tasted like the pastry cinnamon bun, but in terms of cinnamon coffee it was still a delight.

Joe & Seph’s Toffee Apple and Cinnamon Popcorn (Ocado) By @cinabar

There is no greater autumn and winter spice than cinnamon, it makes everything taste better. I think this Joe & Seph’s Toffee Apple and Cinnamon Popcorn was an obvious purchase as it contains all the flavours that are great for this time of year and yes, they mentioned cinnamon.

So the popcorn is quite expensive I know we don’t spend a lot of time on this blog talking about costs but this was £3 for a small bag so it is more stocking filler than self indulgence but I admit I went for the latter. The popcorn are nice big fluffy pieces all with plenty of coating. The flavour is superb, there is toffee and apple but impressively it isn’t too sweet, and the apple gives a nice sharper edge. The aftertaste is where the cinnamon hits and it leaves each bite with a warming feeling, and brings balance to the toffee apple. I know Joe & Seph’s Toffee Apple and Cinnamon Popcorn isn’t a cheap bag of popcorn but it was rather good and one I’ll pick up again, not to gift though, I’m too greedy so it would be just as a bit of treat. I’m totally onboard with cinnamon season, if you see any new products using the wonder spice let me know!

Churros (M&S Food) By @Cinabar

I was a in a restaurant for Spectre’s birthdays and I missed out on my favourite dessert of Churros with a chocolate dip. I say missed out, that isn’t completely true, it was a choice. It was so very very hot (unusual for British weather) and all I could fancy for dessert was an ice cream. There was no air con and I needed something cooling! I still felt like I’d missed out, so when I saw these Churros in M&S Food Hall I couldn’t resist picking them up to have at home.

 

They are stored in the fridge and I took them out to snack on while watching binge watching Black Books on Netflix (I’m catching up on classics I missed first time round and have already worked my way through the IT Crowd). I was surprised to see you are supposed to eat these hot and that I should have been putting the oven on to pre-heat. I caught up, arranged these on a baking tray and cooked them for 8 minutes. Then I microwaved the chocolate dip (it was solid) but went pleasingly running. I sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on the Churros generously and they smelt amazing, oh my I do love cinnamon.

I gave one a try and was thoroughly impressed, the doughnut taste was spot on it felt fresh, the churros was so nice with the cinnamon sugar, flavoursome and warm and they were a proper treat. They were soft but lightly crispy on the outside. The chocolate dip was good too but I’m biased towards cinnamon and found myself preferring them plain, the chocolate dip wasn’t bad I’d have preferred a darker sauce but honestly all I needed was the cinnamon on those hot Churros, pure yum. PS Happy to take any comedy recommendation on Netflix, do leave a comment if you have any ideas?