Galaxy Caramel Flavour Frappe (Ocado) By @Cinabar

The weather is warming up again, which means it won't be long before we're all moaning that it's too hot, as is the British way. I always enjoy looking out for the range of summer drinks though, especially iced coffees and milkshakes, so expect to see a few over the next week or so.

First up is Galaxy Caramel Flavour Frappe. This is essentially a milkshake mix rather than a coffee drink, as it contains no coffee and is designed to be mixed with milk. The tub suggests shaking it with milk or blending it with ice. I added four heaped teaspoons to a jug of milk and stirred it with a spoon, but it wasn't dissolving very well. Spectre rescued the situation by grabbing a fork from the drawer and giving it a proper mix, which worked much better, although it was a surprising amount of effort. To be fair, it does recommend using a blender, and I own a NutriBullet, so perhaps I should have used that with a couple of ice cubes. I'll give it a go next time.

We poured the finished drink into my new adorable teddy bear-shaped cup, which was purchased specifically for milkshake and iced coffee season, or summer as some people prefer to call it. It looked fantastic, although I suspect that's more down to the cup than the drink itself. I'm getting distracted.

The drink is genuinely tasty. It's sweet, creamy and packed with caramel flavour. I also loved the amount of chocolate coming through. It feels more like a chocolate milkshake with added caramel rather than the other way around, which suited me perfectly. Next time I'll definitely blend in some ice for the full frappé experience.

Galaxy Croissants (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I started Friday by upgrading my breakfast. I was looking for some croissants and spotted these new Galaxy ones on Ocado, so thought I would give them a try. I would normally have croissants with butter, but these come pre filled with Galaxy chocolate. Well, a Galaxy chocolate cream at least.

There are four croissants in the bag and each is individually wrapped. Good for the lunchbox, not so great for the environment. I opened the wrapper and found a fairly chunky Galaxy croissant inside. It was notably missing the classic crescent shape, but it still looked appealing enough.

I bit in and the pastry was softer than expected. This is not one of those crisp, flaky, buttery pastries. It is almost more cake like in texture, probably because these are fairly long life. The best before date was April 2026. The flavour was still nicely buttery though. The filling was impressive, as they were not at all stingy. Almost every bite had Galaxy cream inside and it was thick, creamy and sweet, adding plenty of chocolate flavour. There was a big dollop in the centre too, so it definitely felt like a proper breakfast treat. I would definitely buy these again.

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.

Galaxy Green Hot Chocolate (Home Bargains) By @Cinabar

When I grabbed this, I was convinced it was a Halloween special. The reality? It’s not flavoured, no mint, no pistachio, just plain white hot chocolate coloured green. Look closely at the packet and you’ll see… nothing spooky, nothing pumpkin-y, nothing hinting at a witch’s brew. So why green? Who knows. I’m rolling with it as a Halloween drink, even if I’m clearly stretching the theme.

This is instant hot chocolate, so it’s easy to make. I put four heaped teaspoons into my mug. The powder looked pale and a little boring, but the moment it hit the hot water, it transformed into a vibrant green drink. No lumps, easy to mix, very Instagram-ready… if only the tub itself matched the colour drama.

Taste-wise? Meh. The colour is fantastic, but the flavour is mild, white chocolatey, with a hint of… something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Flat? Slightly cardboard-ish? Honestly, just a little underwhelming. I suspect a bigger mug might need an extra spoon of powder, or a splash of syrup to save it. On its own, it’s green and cheerful, but it’s not exactly thrilling. Still, it’s a fun little Halloween experiment, if nothing else.

Galaxy Popcorn Hot Chocolate (Sainsbury's) By @Cinabar

As we are officially in hot chocolate season, I had a bit of a browse in the supermarket. Here I found an interestingly flavoured instant hot chocolate. Galaxy Popcorn Hot Chocolate is the new autumn flavour for us to savour on cold evenings. Normally, I prefer the hot milk hot chocolates as they always seem creamier, but I can't resist a new flavour.

I opened up the tub, and I have to say there was a surprising amount of air gap. It looked like someone had already made themselves a drink or two, but this is what it looked like brand new.

I put the kettle on and found that the drink mixed well with the water. A few stirs, and there weren't too many lumps. I gave it a try and found it a bit disappointing to be honest. The chocolate drink was smooth, but the popcron was just a mild background flavour. I was hoping for something stronger, but it was a bit lost against the chocolate. It was nice enough to drink because of the chocolate flavour, but if, like me, you were hoping for a wonderful, strong popcorn flavour, then you might find it a bit mild.

Galaxy Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits (Morrisons) By @cinabar

There are new Digestive biscuits on the shelf, not a new limited edition flavour as such, but a new chocolate covering! These are Galaxy Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits. Galaxy is fab chocolate, it isn’t my go-to chocolate, but whenever I do have it, I always think how silky it is. You can’t really beat a Ripple.

These biscuits are in a standard tube pack that was a pain to open and had no way of re-sealing if you just wanted a couple with a coffee. I so need a biscuit tin. The biscuits themselves have the word Galaxy on one side of them a coating of Galaxy chocolate on the other. I gave one of the biscuits a try, and they were a nice flavour of wheat and a tasty biscuit. The chocolate coating was smooth Galaxy chocolate, and the combination worked well, they were super tasty. I would happily have these again, perhaps not the most adventurous new release (chocolate digestive biscuits have been around a while), but nice to see Galaxy trying out something new. I look forward to anything else they might bring out, and I have made a mental note to buy a Galaxy Ripple next time I fancy a chocolate bar. 

Galaxy Hazelnut Creamy Truffle Mini Eggs (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

This is the time of year when I snack on mini eggs. I can’t help it, think of it as pre-Easter celebrations. I wouldn’t buy myself a full-size Easter egg to snack on, but something about the grab bags just makes them an easy go-to. My latest pack are these Galaxy Hazelnut Creamy Truffle Mini Eggs, as I do love the combination of nuts and chocolate.

 I opened up the bag and found seven eggs, all individually wrapped in fiddly green foil, but I managed to unpack them. I bit in and found that the shell of the egg was impressively thick, and underneath it was a hazelnut flavour paste. It has a nice nutty taste, and the chocolate was super smooth with no bits. Interestingly, I knew there wouldn’t be bits, not because it is Galaxy and it is expected to be smooth, but because I read the ingredients and I couldn’t see hazelnut listed, which is a bit weird. There is an allergy warning that it "may" contain nuts, but no actual nuts, unless I misunderstand. Also, the recipe says "natural flavourings," which is more confusing: natural from nuts? As much as I liked these Galaxy Hazelnut Creamy Truffle Mini Eggs I was a little bit confused over the ingredients.

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.

Galaxy Buttons – Caramel Crunch (Tesco) By @Cinabar

This is a product that Spectre somewhat reluctantly said I could write about, even though he had ear marked the chocolate for himself. He loves caramel, and anything I buy with caramel or salted caramel I have to remember to buy one for him too, otherwise mine goes missing. So these Galaxy Buttons Caramel Crunch were at the back of the Foodstuff Finds cupboard but originally purchased at Tesco. Buttons seem to be quite in at the minute with quite a few varieties coming out, they are easy to eat and good for portion control and sharing (when we are allowed to).
These Galaxy Buttons Caramel Crunch are a reasonable size and do have bits of caramel pressed into them, but it didn’t show particularly well on the photo. The chocolate is the usual sweet silky chocolate, but the caramel bits add a bit of texture and a little sweetness to the flavour, but not that much. I don’t buy Galaxy that often but whenever I do I remember how much I like the creaminess of the chocolate, and I had that feeling again eating these. I’m not sure the Caramel Crunch added that much to the buttons, but I certainly enjoyed them anyway. In other news, I need to buy myself a Galaxy Ripple.

Galaxy Enchanted Eggs (B&M) By @Cinabar

We put our Christmas tree away yesterday, this makes me sad. I’m not a fan of the colder months but Christmas makes it worth while, the decorative lights brighten up the dark nights. Now what do we have to look forward to… well Easter of course! I’m not really ready to start thinking about Easter really, but the shops have started stocking products so I picked up these Galaxy Enchanted Eggs to munch on and cheer myself up. They looked so pretty.

These mini eggs are covered in an edible rose gold coating and contain crunchy caramel mixed into Galaxy chocolate. I was impressed by their sparkling coating, they did look very impressive. As a fan of texture I liked the feel of these too. The chocolate is solid but the crunchy bit of caramel break it up nicely. The flavour is Galaxy chocolate, so sweet creamy and smooth but the caramel adds a nice extra burnt toffee taste that I really liked. These were nice to munch on and worth a purchase just to see the rose gold coating.
So these are a bit of a novelty with there shimmering coating but the chocolate is tasty and they were nice to eat. It may be a little earlier for Easter chocolates, but I think it is nice to see a few new items appearing on the shelf. I’m quite hoping there might be a few things on their way for Valentines too.

Galaxy Truffles (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

As it is coming up towards Christmas there are some new chocolate products coming out. These Galaxy Truffles are clearly meant for the gifting market, but I bought them to eat while watching the Sunday episode of Strictly. A bit of an indulgence at the weekend but it was after a busy day of getting the Christmas tree and decorations set up.
These chocolates are from the Galaxy brand, and are described as the “truffly side of Galaxy”. All the chocolates in the box are the same and it felt a shame not to have a mixed box of flavours.

The packaging is smart though with a nice box and the chocolate are brightly packaged in blue and pink wrappers. These were remarkably easy to open, just untwist the top and the chocolate is inside. The chocolates inside are dome shaped and have the Galaxy G on them. The coating is Galaxy milk chocolate but the filling is a dark coloured truffle.

These chocolates are very rich, and have lots of cocoa in them. I liked the smoothness of the Galaxy milk chocolate on the outside, it complements the darker centre. The texture is smooth too, with the filling being thick but still silky. There is a lot of chocolate flavour packed into these Galaxy Truffles. They do have the taste of Galaxy, but as they are quite strong I didn’t eat as many as I thought I would. I had a couple with a hot drink and that was the perfect number, which means I can pick at these through the week which is a bonus. Is it Friday yet?

Galaxy White Chocolate Chunk Cookies (By @SpectreUK)

I do enjoy a white hot chocolate drink every night after dinner. I used to have a black coffee, but found for some reason the caffeine at that time can give me nightmares. I like to eat some sort of chocolate bar or biscuits for desert, rather than a cake or something fairly healthy. I save the fruit for the daytime, pudding is supposed to be a treat. Having said that, I am quite partial to melons for breakfast, but enough said about that!

These Galaxy White Chocolate Chunk Cookies have recently been brought out by Mars Wrigley Confectionery. I've never seen Galaxy white chocolate before, so I'm intrigued as to what it will taste like, especially in cookies, which are usually a favourite biscuit of mine… well most biscuits are favourites of mine to be honest.

On opening the packet the smell of baked cookies and white chocolate filled my nostrils with a tantalising aroma. As you can see from the photograph, I was kind of hoping that for 114 calories these Galaxy White Chocolate Chunk Cookies would be a little bigger. There are eight cookies in the packet and I realised that as I'm trying to keep weight off my slowly decreasing tummy I'd have to share these. I don't want them to go soft, but I was hoping for maybe four so I could have two each day. Call me "selfish" (because I am, oh, and greedy… which doesn't help with the weight loss!), but I don't like sharing good food!

On taste these Galaxy White Chocolate Chunk Cookies are sublime. It's going to be very difficult to let some of these go to Cinabar and her mom. I am going to the gym tomorrow, so I can at least have more of them for pudding tomorrow night. These cookies have a decent crunch, melt in the mouth texture and the creamy white chocolate is just begging to be made into a chocolate bar. Go on Mars Wrigley, you know you want to make me one!

Information on the packet;
The 180g packet contains 114 calories per 22.5g cookie, with 5.9g of fat, 7.3g of sugar and 0.1g of salt. Please see photograph for ingredients.

Galaxy Darker Collection - Darker Milk Chocolate (Asda) By @Cinabar

Galaxy isn’t my go to bar of chocolate. I don’t have it that often and whenever I do I’m always impressed by how rich it is and always mean to buy it more often. I had a Galaxy Ripple recently and was in awe of it. Luckily for me I do buy a lot of new products (who’d have figured) so when I spotted this Galaxy Darker Collection - Darker Milk chocolate bar I popped it in the basket.
The bar is fairly dark to look out, and the pieces marked on it are a little small for me. As much as I was looking forward to this bar I have to admit my first taste brought mixed feelings. The bar was sweet, and the initial kick of cocoa was nice, as was the thick melt. The remaining flavour in my mouth was weird though, slightly metallic and bitter, only mildly so but it was difficult to ignore. At the end of every piece I had this disappointing hint of flavour in my mouth which stopped me savouring the chocolate.
The more I ate the more that taste went away, but it appeared again when I stopped munching. This Galaxy Darker Collection - Darker Milk chocolate was so nearly a good bar, but I didn’t gel with it. I did still eat quite a few squares, it wasn’t all bad. It just isn’t something I’ll be buying again. I think Galaxy make an amazing milk chocolate bar, and I think that is clearly where their expertise lie. Has anyone else tried this Galaxy Darker Collection - Darker Milk chocolate? Is it just me who didn’t get on with it?

Galaxy Chocolate Rounds (Asda) By @Cinabar

There are a lot of fancy new products trickling on to the shelves for Christmas, and I have managed to pick up a few items for future review. In amongst the new adventurous items I spotted these new biscuits called Galaxy Chocolate Rounds. They don’t have any fancy weird flavour combinations but sometimes simple works, and Galaxy chocolate is always silky smooth so I thought I would give them a go.
Inside the packet the biscuits are stacked in piles of two, so there were notables less than I had hoped for in the box. I think this type of plastic tray covered in an outer wrap always seems to make you think there will be more than there actually are.

I broke one of the biscuits in half and could see small golden yellow bits inside the biscuit, but I couldn’t quite work out what they were. I checked the packet again and it says the biscuits are just shortcake, no mention of an additional ingredient. I decided to give them a try. The biscuit part is lovely and buttery, so again I thought maybe the yellow bits were butter, but I’ve not seen that in a biscuit before. The chocolate was quite generous and the Galaxy flavour was spot on, sweet and very smooth, it worked with the buttery biscuit too. As I said sometime simple just works, and these were spot on. I just wish there were more in the pack.

Galaxy Chocolate Creme Wafer Curls (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

The latest addition to the grab bag market are some new chocolates from Galaxy, called Chocolate Creme Wafer Curls. I can’t remember seeing any Galaxy chocolate products in this format before, and I was pleased to see that this is a whole new product too, not just something repackaged.
Galaxy Chocolate Creme Wafer Curls consist of a twist of wafer, dipped in Galaxy milk chocolate and filled with a smooth chocolate filling. There are some filled with hazelnut creme also available, and I will be looking to pick these up too.

There are quite a few Galaxy Chocolate Creme Wafer Curls in the bag and the coating of chocolate on them looked quite thick. I tried one and loved the mix of textures, they are light and crispy, and very easy to munch on. The smoothness of the Galaxy chocolate shines through, and these are sweet and very creamy. The filling adds an extra hit of chocolate, and each one of these are divine. Galaxy chocolate is so smooth, these are a lovely burst of rich chocolate flavours. As someone who loves interesting texture I found myself enjoying the wafer crunch and how it melts down to nothing. The biggest problem with these chocolate is the idea you are supposed to share them, they are so easy to eat I was just watching the bag disappear. Sweet, creamy, crispy, chocolatey goodness.

Galaxy Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Sainsbury’s) By @Cinabar

Well I love cookies and I love Galaxy chocolate so I was pretty confident nothing could go wrong with this new biscuit combination. These are Galaxy Chocolate Chunk Cookies, what more could you ask for in principle. I opened up the bag and found eight thick cookies in the box, all dotted with an acceptable amount of Galaxy chocolate drops. So I bit in, or to be more honest I tried. This is one tough cookie. I don’t mean that in a metaphorical way, I mean it completely literally! My first bite failed and I ended up removing the biscuit from my attempted grip with my teeth and staring at it. Seriously. I tried again this time knowing to apply more pressure and did manage to get into the thing. Yes the flavour was sweet and pleasing, and had a good biscuity base flavour. Yes the addition of the Galaxy chocolate was nice, rich and smooth and the taste worked well. But no, I could not get passed the overly hard texture. I found them too tough, and not fun to eat. I put the kettle on and made my self a coffee so I could relax and dunk the rest and this made them easier to munch on, but diluted the chocolate flavour from the Galaxy which is the whole point. I have had biscotti that are softer. I usually like texture in my foods, but can’t help thinking a cookie should be a bit lighter to than this.

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New Galaxy Swirlers - Shortbread Crunch (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

This bar of Galaxy is designed to be swirled in a hot drink. When I saw that it was Shortbread Crunch I assumed that the main part of the chocolate was biscuit, and that this was ultimately for dunking.

What I actually had was a fairly regular bar of Galaxy, with a few shortbread bits mixed in, all in a new layout. The design inside shows that that each piece is meant to broken off and swirled in coffee or hot chocolate, hence the name Swirlers. I went to break one Swirler off, and two came away, I tried to break these in half and they split, but into several parts. I tried to break one off the other side, and it came away neatly. Not the best start though. I made myself a nice big mug of coffee.

Next I swirled it in my drink, but it made the chocolate melt and slippery. I ended up with a finger imprint on the end I was holding and sticky fingers. There wasn’t enough biscuit to soften like a proper biscuit, which is the best part of dunking. The drink gained nothing from the traces of added chocolate, and the chocolate gained nothing from the hot liquid.
Conclusion, I just ate the rest of the bar like regular chocolate, and it was divine. I’d forgotten how good Galaxy can be.

Galaxy Duet Toffee & Popcorn (Sainsburys) [By @Cinabar]

I have been very much enjoying the Duet range from Galaxy, where they have caramel ones side of the bar and another ingredient the other. The new kid on the block is this Galaxy Duet Toffee and Popcorn bar, and as a fan of popcorn I thought this was a nice addition to the range.

I hadn’t completely thought through how you’d squeeze popcorn into a thinnish bar, but when I broke it in half I had been expecting something that looked like popcorn squeezed into one side. I saw nothing. I broke it again, and again, in varying different place and all I could see were the odd tiny speck of crystallised sugar, or the tiniest bit of white, which may or may not have been actual popcorn bits. Obviously the side with the toffee caramel was fine, and was by now oozing everywhere! I decided to give the bar the taste test and move one.
Okay the chocolate is superb, I always forget just how good Galaxy is, I tend to only buy it if there is something new in the range and whenever I have it I am impressed by the flavour and that silky texture.
The toffee caramel was good, it was mainly very caramel like in flavour, but there was a pleasing hint of the promised toffee. The second side of the bar had the solid toffee shard which although I couldn’t see much of it I could feel it when I bit in and it gave a light crunch, this tasted more like a rich toffee flavour, and there was a pleasing popcorn taste too. It was well balanced and worked well with the chocolate. Again just because you couldn’t see the popcorn didn’t mean the chocolate wasn’t infused with the flavour. The only thing I missed in the bar was bigger bits of popcorn, but that is mainly because of my love of varied textures. Flavour wise it hit the mark completely.

By Cinabar

Galaxy Golden Eggs (Sainsburys) [By @Cinabar]

First can I start with wishing you all a very Happy New Year. :-) Last year was a busy one for us, and we continued to review something new every single day and we very much intend to keep this up in 2016 too!
I thought I’d kick off the new year with an Easter product… I kid you not. I know most of you are probably still getting over the festivities of Christmas and New Year, but the shops are starting to stock up on items for the next big season. Oh well, eggs represent new beginnings, so lets think of 2016 in that way.
I like the theming of Golden Eggs for this product, they do look very pretty. I was initially worried that these eggs might look like they are covered in edible foil, but the decoration is spot on. Shiny and metallic, but still looks like an edible coating.

The egg is mostly solid Galaxy chocolate but there are also crunchy caramel pieces inside too. I like Galaxy chocolate, it has a thick melt and tastes so very creamy, I think I would have it as my soothing chocolate, one to appreciate. The caramel bits add a lovely crunch, and golden flavour, sweet and sugary. These egg are very easy to eat, and the novelty of the gold covering makes me smile, so it is definitely something I’ll be picking up again on the run up to Easter.
For now though; HAPPY 2016 EVERYONE!!!!

By Cinabar

New Galaxy Duet Chocolate Bar (Sainsburys) [By SpectreUK]

This new Galaxy Duet chocolate bar seems to have a foot in two worlds, caramel and shortcake. Whereas one bar has gooey caramel inside waiting to ooze out on biting, the other side that sits right next to it in the packet has chunks of shortcake set within the chocolate. On opening the packet for some reason I was surprised to see the two halves of the chocolate bar joined. They sounded so different in my head that I kind of expected them to be separate. Although when I thought about it would probably be impractical with them bagging into each other in transit in someone’s pocket. I cracked them apart during a break in writing my dissertation, whilst trying not to think of any other chocolate bars that breaktime reminded me of. The two halves gave no indication, to which was which so I took a punt and bit into the one in my right hand, which was filled with soft and sweet gooey caramel. Moving to my left hand was the crunchier shortcake chunks in the Galaxy trademark chocolate. Both pieces tasted great and I have to admit taking it in turns with my bites rather than eating each side separately. It seemed the right thing to do for some reason and I really enjoyed the mixture flavours and textures of crunching one moment and gooey sweet caramel the next. A great treat if you fancy a bit more of a luxury break from whatever mischief you’re up to!

Information on the packet

37g bar has 192 calories with 10.7g of fat and 19.6g of sugar. The ingredients include vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter, and are suitable for vegetarians.

By Spectre