£20 Waitrose Easter Egg - The Cracking Pistachio [@NLi10]

 I saw this online way before Easter and thought - well we are having that one!  And we happened to be in Waitrose that same week and picked it up.  Then I saw it in the Motorway services Waitrose for £20 - I think we paid £15 which is frankly still a lot.  But people do like the reviews - so we went ahead with it - but unfortunately we decided to eat all the cheap eggs first so have only just cracked this open.

So - what is it?

Stealthy white chocolate outer, but with caramel in it - and the inner claims to just be pistachio chocolate.

It comes in a safety sphere, and looks like something from the film Alien

The chocolate is thick - and it costs as much as two eggs because it really is just two eggs.

The outer layer is like a light Caramac.  Not too sickly like standard white chocolate, and very sophisticated.

The inner is the main event - bright green and full of nuts.  This isn’t hopping on the Dubai trend so much as showing why most of those bars are a bit naff.  This is the quality stuff.

I’ve not looked online to see if these ended up in the sales like we’d usually risk for the Christmas range (they always over order locally - what a shame) but even if they are only reduced to £10 this feels like a steal.  Perfect for parents and partners alike - especially as both are likely to be generous and give you a bite.

Carrot Cake Hot Chocolate (Whittard) By @Cinabar

This is a new limited edition from Whittard, presumably released for the Easter season. Easter means bunnies, bunnies eat carrots, carrots become carrot cake… I might be overthinking that one. Either way, it is a new hot chocolate and I am always up for trying one.

The drink has a white chocolate base, and the powder itself is pale in colour. When I tried the blueberry version from Whittard, it looked white but turned lilac once hot milk was added. Sadly, no such magic here. The colour stayed the same when mixed, but the aroma more than made up for it, with plenty of warm, inviting spices.

It mixed easily into hot milk, and the first sip was a winner. The flavour genuinely captures carrot cake, with a smooth, comforting sweetness. The cinnamon really stands out, which I personally love, blending nicely with the white chocolate base.

I will admit to a strong cinnamon bias, as mentioned before, but this really was lovely. Rich, cosy, and exactly what you want in a mug at this time of year.

Absolutely delicious. Happy Easter.

Oreo Cadbury Crème Egg biscuits (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I have to admit that I hadn't tried Oreo biscuits until a year or so ago. I've always preferred Jam and Creams myself. I have, however, liked most of the Oreo biscuit flavours I have tried.

These new limited edition Oreo Cadbury Crème Egg biscuits smelt amazing on opening the packet. They smelt of sweet gooey Cadbury Creme Egg fondant and chocolate Oreo biscuit.

As you can see from the photographs, these Oreo Cadbury Crème Egg biscuits twisted off with the yolk on one side, and the white on the other. Both have slightly different flavours of sweetness, with the yolk being sweeter. Both are backed up by the traditional chocolate Oreo biscuit base. These were fantastic, it seems a shame they are limited edition.

Gooey Spread (Crème Egg Filling) (Aldi) By @Cinabar

“Gooey spread” might not sound all that appealing at first, but when that goo is essentially the filling of a Creme Egg, it suddenly becomes a lot more interesting. With Easter on the horizon, this feels like exactly the sort of over-the-top breakfast treat you didn’t know you needed.

This is an own-brand product from Aldi, and inside the jar you’ll find two distinct sections. One is bright orange, the other white, mimicking the fondant centre of a Creme Egg. Notably, there’s no chocolate element here at all. The white side is described as “milk flavoured”, while the orange is labelled as fondant.

I managed to spread my toast half and half to try both at once, although the swirl in the jar means there’s always a bit of crossover. Not a bad thing, to be fair.

The white side is incredibly sweet and creamy. It reminded me a lot of white chocolate and was easily my favourite of the two. The orange side is still very sweet, but less creamy, more like cake icing in both flavour and texture.

Let’s be honest, this is not a healthy breakfast. Not even slightly. But it is a very tasty one. My sweet tooth was absolutely in heaven with this. The only real dilemma now is what to do next time. Do I go all in and add a layer of chocolate spread underneath to create the full Creme Egg experience? It feels excessive… but also completely necessary.

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?

Lindt Gold Bunny with Crispy Biscuit (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Lindt bunnies really are a sure sign that Easter is on its way. We are lucky enough to have a Lindt store not too far away, and the pick and mix is dangerously tempting. However, this bunny was actually spotted in a Tesco Express, sitting alongside the regular milk chocolate Lindt Gold Bunny and the dark chocolate version.

This new Lindt Gold Bunny with Crispy Biscuit is easy to distinguish thanks to its orange ribbon and bow, a handy visual cue that you are getting something a bit different.

Inside the wrapper, the bunny looks very similar to the classic milk chocolate version. The shell is made from thick milk chocolate and takes a bit of effort to break into, which always feels oddly satisfying.

Taste wise, it is that signature super creamy Lindt milk chocolate you would expect, but with crunchy biscuit pieces running through it. The biscuit adds a pleasant texture contrast and a touch of extra sweetness that works well with the smooth chocolate.

All in, this is a lovely twist on the classic Lindt bunny. Realistically I probably should have waited until Easter to open it, but there was no chance I was leaving it sitting there unopened.

Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I love Galaxy Minstrels. I usually have them with ice cream, especially vanilla. Boring flavour you may think, but with Galaxy Minstrels or some mini chocolate biscuits or other, a good vanilla ice cream tastes like chocolate and cream. There aren't many better combinations.

I haven't seen these Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs before. They are crispy shelled Galaxy chocolate eggs for Easter. I haven't even thought about Easter yet. I'm still reminiscing over mince pie season, and munching my way through Hot Cross Bun season.

On opening the packet I was expecting the unmistakable aroma of Galaxy Minstrels. Instead I received a waft of Minstrels and a lot of coco. Sadly these little hardened shelled chocolate eggs must have had a rough time of it in the packet.

These Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs were more bits and bobs than full crispy shelled eggs. On tasting one whole egg, they tasted like a large Galaxy Minstrel, but I thought they were made of tougher shelled stuff, unfortunately they'd definitely been in the wars.

Information on the packet; The 80g bag contained 460 calories per 100g, with 19g of fat, 65g of sugar, and 0.18g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Dairy Milk Dessert With Mini Eggs (Tesco) By @Cinabar

It really must be Easter creeping up, because the eggs are already out in the shops. Never mind that it’s still January. Alongside the usual chocolate aisles, Easter themed desserts are starting to appear too, including this Dairy Milk Dessert With Mini Eggs from Tesco. I spotted it and, obviously, had to give it a try.

The dessert is split into two sections. One half is pure chocolate, more like a thick chocolate sauce than a mousse, as there’s no airiness or bubbles to it. The other half contains five Mini Eggs. I peeled back the corner and tipped the eggs into the chocolate, which instantly made it look much more appealing. Five eggs actually fill the surface nicely, so first impressions were good.

The Mini Eggs themselves are fairly chunky for a dessert topping. Each one gives you that familiar crisp shell and a solid hit of chocolate, which works really well against the smooth chocolate base. When you get a spoonful with a Mini Egg, it’s a genuinely satisfying mouthful and very sweet in a comforting, Easter chocolate kind of way.

That said, there are only five eggs. Once they’re gone, you’re left with several spoonfuls of just the chocolate sauce. It’s nice enough, but it’s nowhere near as enjoyable as getting a Mini Egg in the mix. I know they’re already called Mini Eggs, but honestly, this would have been even better with more of them. Smaller eggs, more frequent crunch. Fifteen tiny ones instead of five big ones would have been perfect. Mini mini eggs, if you like.

So yes, it’s a tasty dessert and very on brand for Cadbury, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Less restraint, more eggs. Now, where do I start the campaign?

Reese’s Peanut Butter Filled Bunnies (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I found another new Reese’s chocolate product, this time with an Easter twist. These are Reese’s Peanut Butter Filled Bunnies. The pack also has a competition to win a trip to Easter Island, which is related to Easter in name only, but it is still a pretty great prize.

Inside the bag are seven foil wrapped chocolate bunnies. They come in different coloured wrappers but all have the same filling. They would be ideal for an Easter hunt, or in my case, snacking straight from the bag. I unwrapped the first one and the bunny design is actually quite cute in the chocolate moulding. The chocolate is labelled as milk chocolate but it looks fairly dark.

I gave one a try and the chocolate is quite sweet, which suits me as I have a sweet tooth. When it combines with the nutty, salty peanut butter, it really works. I love that mix of sweet and savoury and I have always been a big fan of chocolate with nuts.

Spoiler alert, the bunnies did not survive until Easter. I swear I only meant to eat a couple.

Rowntree’s Randoms Egg-Venture (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

These new Randoms Egg-Venture sweets are the Easter edition of Rowntree’s Randoms. The bag promises new shapes and a few new flavours, with the usual mix of jelly and foam sweets.

I have always liked Randoms. The variety is the whole point, and the shapes are part of the fun. Pouring these out, I was pleased to see the Easter theme come through straight away. There are the expected seasonal shapes like chicks, eggs, and bunnies, alongside more spring inspired ones such as umbrellas and pigs, including an actual “oink” sign. True to Randoms form, there are also some properly odd choices, including a mermaid and a house.

Flavour wise, most of these are familiar fruity notes and they work well. The orange stands out in particular. It is sharp, citrusy, and very moreish, easily my favourite of the mix. One of the new flavours appears in the foam sweets and is biscuit. It sounds interesting, but in reality it is just sweet and creamy and gets a bit lost compared to the fruit flavours. It is not unpleasant, just forgettable. Overall, this is a cute and easy pack of Easter themed sweets. Nothing revolutionary, but a solid seasonal twist on a range that already works well.

Reese’s Big Cup: Easter Spring Sprinkles (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, so I usually have some Reese’s in the house. We often pick up one of the big imported bags of individually wrapped cups to have as a snack or a pick me up with coffee.

In previous years, Reese’s have released what is essentially the standard peanut butter cup in seasonal shapes for Christmas or Easter. Think soft tree or egg shapes, but with no real change to the formula.

These Easter Spring Sprinkles Reese’s Big Cups are clearly aimed at the Easter market, although I am not entirely sure how coloured sugar sprinkles fit the theme. When I opened the pack, the Big Cup looked fairly standard, just larger than usual. Once I bit into it, the coloured sprinkles revealed themselves and added a lot of visual appeal, with plenty of colour inside.

The chocolate to peanut butter ratio was heavier on the peanut butter, which I really liked. The sprinkles added some texture and an extra hit of sweetness that worked well for me. I really enjoyed these. They could have done with a few sprinkles on top as well to make them look prettier, but overall I think they are a success.

After Eight Mini Eggs [@NLi10]

 We still have the odd few Easter choc left over and it’s been nice to have a few in the evening while watching tv.

One I’d not seen before is these Easter versions of After Eight eggs

Here is the technical info!

They are quite small, but perfectly formed.

All individually wrapped and neatly sealed together

And inside it’s a neat mix of layers and flavours and surprisingly works well. I didn’t expect to like these, but I’m a fan - but you only want one at a time. Great with a tea or coffee and an episode of pointless.

Hoppy Easter Krispy Kreme Marshmallow Bunny Doughnuts [@NLi10]

 We were in the supermarket looking for toddler snacks with friends when I spotted these exciting easter variations on Krispy Kreme's.  The one on the right is just a chocolate bunny but the one on the left is excitingly bowling ball themed!

Ah no - that's a bunny, and its filled with Mallow - perfect!

They seem quite innocent and happy on the plate

until they notice the knife anyway

Look at all that lovely fluffy mallow.  It's not as thick as I expected but does stick to the doughnut.  It's kind of like a tea-cake mixed with a doughnut though which works well.  As long as you like sugar.

We visited the Bear cafe in Evesham a few days later and they put a bear in my coffee - what is it with food and putting animals in it?!

Happy Easter to all.

Crème Imperial Stout (Vault City Brewing) By @SpectreUK

It's Easter tomorrow and I'm looking forward to tucking into some chocolate eggs. My favourite snack this time of year is the Cadbury Crème Egg. This Crème Imperial Stout should wash down my Cadbury Crème Egg pudding a treat.

Produced by Vault City Brewing, at 14% in volume, this Crème Imperial Stout will certainly pack a punch. Served in a 330ml can there were malted barley, wheat and hops in the ingredients, as well as brown sugar, cholaca (liquid cocoa), and vanilla.

The back of the can stated this Crème Imperial Stout has a velvet texture, with flavours of chocolate and vanilla, and with the gooey flavour of a Cadbury Crème Egg, mixed with the caramelised sweetness of an Imperial Dessert Stout.

On opening the can there was the familiar aroma of Cadbury Crème Egg, sugar sweetness, creamy vanilla, and malted chocolate. This black Imperial Stout oozed into my glass. On taste Crème Imperial Stout certainly had the wow factor.

There was thick heady chocolatey goodness to begin with, cushioned with creaminess of vanilla, the mildest touch of herbal hops, followed by luscious malted chocolate into the aftertaste. Gorgeous. Happy Easter.

Rowntree’s Jelly-Tastic Mini Egg Bar (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I don’t really understand this bar of chocolate. I broke a piece off a moment ago and I’m still chewing. You shouldn’t have to chew the contents of a milk chocolate bar, right?

Let’s rewind. Here we have the Rowntree’s Jelly-Tastic Mini Egg Bar. The “mini egg” part is presumably an Easter nod, but these aren’t chocolate mini eggs, they’re jelly sweets. As we’re in the Easter holidays, with the big day fast approaching, it seemed appropriate to try some seasonal chocolate.

On opening the wrapper, the bar looked appealing, each segment neatly embossed with a design. I couldn’t see the jelly bits at first, so I broke off a piece to investigate. The chocolate is crammed with jelly sweets, which meant it didn’t snap cleanly along the segments. It’s messy to share, but credit where it’s due: there’s plenty of content.

Taste-wise, the chocolate is sweet and enjoyable. The jelly pieces (presumably egg-shaped) are fruity and pack a nice flavour hit, but they’re very chewy. Too chewy. The combination of smooth milk chocolate and rubbery jelly just didn’t work for me.

I like fruity jelly sweets. I like chocolate. But not necessarily together in the same mouthful. It’s great to see Rowntree’s pushing boundaries, but the texture clash lets this bar down. Softer sweets inside might have made all the difference.

Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour (WHSmiths) By @SpectreUK

Easter is fast approaching, and asides all the usual chocolate eggs, I fancy something squashy. These Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour seem to hit the squishy spot. I love orange and pineapple as a flavour combination. Unfortunately, I don't see it so much in sweets.

 

These Swizzels Squashies Drumchick Orange & Pineapple Flavour come in a very cute two-tone coloured gummy chick shape. On taste they were very fruity, with a decent sweet mix of orange and pineapple. I like the squishy texture too. I can certainly say they were very moreish indeed.

Have a happy Easter.

Information on the packet; The 120g bag contains 357 calories per 100g, with 0.2g of fat, 85g of sugar, and 0.07g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Kinder Milky Caramel Bunny (Ocado) By @Cinabar

It is nearly Easter, and I hope everyone is looking forward to the long bank holiday weekend. I also hope the weather brightens up a bit. We had some lovely sunshine recently, but as soon as there is a holiday, Britain has a habit of making sure the rain arrives.

In the meantime, I thought I should try out an Easter product. I spotted this Kinder Milky Caramel Bunny online and decided to see what the chocolate was like.

I opened up the foil, and the aroma was next level. It was very sweet and creamy, and it reminded me of Caramac in scent. I broke a piece off and could see that the chocolate had a decent thickness and was lined with white chocolate too, as you would expect from most Kinder products. What was missing was a toy. I think there would have been room to sneak in a traditional Kinder Egg toy somewhere, but the bunny was hollow.

I tasted the chocolate and was taken aback a little. It really is incredibly sweet. Don’t worry, I could handle it. It was as if someone said Caramac was not sweet enough and decided to add even more white chocolate. The flavour was lovely. I really enjoyed the mix of caramel and white chocolate, with an almost icing sugar-like taste.

After eating a couple of ears, I did need a sip of coffee to bring some balance, but I still absolutely loved this sweet Easter treat.