Wotsits Bag of Bones (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Can I start by saying Happy Halloween! I hope you are enjoying spooky season, whether you are going trick or treating for snacks or staying in to watch a seasonal film. We are staying in and snacking, and one of our choices is this great sharing crisp bag, Wotsits Bag of Bones.

The pieces are essentially cheese Wotsits, but this time they are shaped to look like various skeleton parts. There are skulls, bones and rib cages, and yes, the photo does show my attempt to make a little skeleton. Because although I look like a grown-up, I clearly am not!

The flavour and texture of these are interesting because they are cheese Wotsits, but they are somehow better. I can't explain why. They have the same cheesy flavour powder, but they just taste better! I think the different shapes add more crunch, and perhaps the unusual shapes trap the flavouring powder, making them a little more intense.

They are Wotsits with the volume turned up! It might all be in my head, but I'm convinced they are better. I would totally recommend these if you are looking for a last-minute sharing snack to enjoy during a Halloween film.

Wishing you a fab Halloween!

M&S Halloween Bag of Bones (Marks and Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is just around the corner waiting to pounce. Be it scary skeletons or spooky spectres, or maybe even a bag of creepy bones. Haunted snacks may be for Trick or Treaters demanding grub, or just something for you to nibble on whilst watching a scary movie.

I do like a packet of mini biscuits, especially with a mug of tea, or with rum and lemonade and a mince pie or two. These M&S Halloween Bag of Bones are all butter mini cookies with dark chocolate chips. There are three different spooky shapes; skulls, bones and boney hands.

M&S Halloween Bag of Bones smell mouthwateringly of shortbread, and melted in my mouth. The dark chocolate chips were distributed all the way through the biscuits, however, their flavour didn’t dominate over the luscious flavour of shortbread. Yum.

Information on the packet; The 100g bag contained 516 calories, with 27g of fat, 21.3g of sugar, and 0.48g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

10 Haunted Head Milk Chocolate Lollies (M&S) By @Cinabar

I found these cute lollies in the Halloween section of an M&S Food Hall. I was thinking they would be great for trick or treaters, but couldn’t help sampling one, you know, for quality assurance. I hope our neighbours realise how thorough I am and how seriously I take Halloween snacking!

Inside the pack was a good range of cute lollies, with different coloured foils and some lovely designs. I particularly liked the cute bat, although there was only one of those. They are all milk chocolate, so the different wrappers don’t signify different flavours. Once I removed the wrapper, I noticed the lolly itself had a simple line design rather than a haunted head, as suggested by the product name.

The chocolate was nice, sweet and creamy. It wasn’t quite up to the standard of M&S’s Belgian chocolate, but it was certainly very nice. I enjoyed my sample, and I do hope any trick or treaters appreciate the rigorous testing I’ve put these through. Honestly, I really am a star!

Nightmare Before Christmas Chocolate (Home Bargains) By @Cinabar

This Nightmare Before Christmas novelty chocolate was a complete impulse buy, spotted in a display box at the end of an aisle. I bought a couple, as they looked rather nice, although they seemed a little too good to give to Trick or Treaters. Don't worry, I do have a mixed bag of treat-size chocolates for them, but these Nightmare Before Christmas choccies are all for me!

I opened the packet to find Jack quite nicely moulded in chocolate. He looks a little small compared to the size of the packet, but what you can't see so well from the photo is how chunky he is. In fact, he fills the packet quite well.

I broke Jack in half and found a good amount of filling inside, too. The chocolate had a lovely sweet flavour. It wasn't as creamy as some chocolate, but it had plenty of cocoa flavour, which I enjoyed. The filling was good, too, thick and truffle-like, with crispy bits running through it. I always like a bit of crunch, and the mix of textures worked really well.

These Nightmare Before Christmas chocolates are cute, tasty and a fun little Halloween treat. They were never going to last until Halloween, let alone make it into the Trick or Treat bowl!

OREO Spooky - giving Reese's competition for blandest special [@NLi10]

 It's spooky season - just look at the wrapper!

Guess what flavour the orange Oreos are?

Orange?

Pumpkin?

Pumpkin Spice (which is nutmeg and cinnamon usually)?

Nope - spooky white vanilla!

Same as the normal ones but with a colour added.

Even Reeses who release a peanut butter blob that vaguely looks like the shape of the season are impressed by the lack of thought and effort on this one.

And yes - the biscuits like the K-Pop ones (which are much more fun) have cool unique designs printed on the dark biscuits where it's hard to see.

I'm not sure which of the flavours they focus tested before giving up, but feel free to make other orange looking suggestions in the comments.  At least these might be on special offer after the haunting is over.

Maynards Spooky Gums (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Here we have Maynards Spooky Gums, a Halloween twist on the more usual Wine Gums. These sweets come in Halloween shapes and darker colours, making them look suitably spooky. I could spot worms, a coffin and a gravestone, but there was also something rectangular that I couldn't quite identify. Feel free to leave a comment if you know what it is! The sweets look cool, though, and the packaging is lovely and perfectly themed for Halloween.

I gave them a try and was pleased to find that the flavours are lovely and fruity, with plenty of flavour. Raspberry and blackcurrant are my favourites, both having that lovely full-on fruity taste that makes Wine Gums such a good sweet. The texture is just like regular Wine Gums, with a firm, satisfying chew that thankfully isn't sticky.

These are a fun Halloween twist on a classic sweet, with the same fruity flavours and chewy texture that make Wine Gums so popular. They're perfect for sharing during a Halloween movie, although I might have to solve the mystery of that rectangular sweet before the credits roll!

Halloween Fizzy Pumpkin Mallows (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

Marks and Spencer have excelled themselves with their Halloween goodies this year, and it’s hard to pick what to write about next after our good shop in their foodhall. I went for these Halloween Fizzy Pumpkin Mallows because they look so cute! They have little pumpkin faces on them, which look even better in real life than the camera managed to capture. They really are adorable.

The marshmallows are vanilla flavoured but coated in a sour fizz. I gave one a try and was impressed by the zing when I first bit into it. The sour coating delivers a proper sharp, tangy taste, but as it’s only on the outside, it quickly melts away to reveal the sweet vanilla mallow underneath. I liked the contrast between the sharp fizz and the soft, sweet marshmallow.

I’m looking forward to trying these on top of a hot chocolate in my new Halloween mug. They’ll look super cute floating on top, and I suspect they’ll make my hot chocolate even more of a treat!

Soreen Scream Cookies & Cream (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is creeping ever closer. Soreen have come up with these Scream Cookies & Cream flavoured Mini Loaves. I love Soreen of any flavour with my lunch. To me, these sound perfect for any scary lunchbox over Spooky Season.

On opening the first packet there was an aroma of cookies to the brown mini loaf inside. There were chocolate chips all throughout this Soreen Scream Cookies & Cream. There was also a creaminess at the end of every mouthful. Delicious.

Information on the packet: There are 5 mini loaves, each having 98 calories, with 1.6g of fat, 4.8g of sugar, and 0.15g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Marks & Spencer’s have brought out a lot of different snacks for Halloween this year. These Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms are potato snacks with pink pickled onion flavour seasoning.

I do like pickled onion crisps with a cheese and cold meats meal, so that’s what I’ll have with these. I will eat my dinner whilst watching Bake Off. It’s not very scary, but a cheese and cold meats dinner is very tasty especially with a glass of port, or rum and lemonade.

On opening the bag it was full of pink dusted wiggly worm shaped potato crisps. Very crunchy to the taste, there was a saltiness begin with, quickly followed by a tangy pickled onion flavour, which was also quite heavy on the vinegar, seemingly to make these Halloween Wicked Pickled Worms more sour. 

I certainly liked these wiggly worms and would have them again, especially with a cheese and cold meats meal. Yum.

No real worms were harmed during the writing of this blog.

Information on the packet; The 125g packet contained 469 calories per 100g, with 21.8g of fat, 2.8g of sugar, and 1.8g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Sinister Sour Sweets (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is fast approaching. We need to stock up on sweets to give out to Trick or Treaters. There are ten mini-bags of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets in a multipack. If they’re really good, they may not make it to those pesky kid’s sticky fingers.

In each mini-bag of these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets there are sour sugar coated gummies of different spooky shapes. There are ghosts that taste of sour lemon. There are pumpkins that taste of sour orange. There was a bat that tasted of sour blackcurrant. There was a spider that tasted of sour cola.

Not too face-twisty on the sour sugar, these M&S Sinister Sour Sweets were very flavoursome though, and very moreish. They’re certainly a Treat for anyone who likes their scary Halloween snacks. Boo!

Information on the bag; Each 30g bag contained 110 calories, with 0.5g of fat, 17.4g of sugar, and 0.08g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Jaffaween Cake Bars Cherry (Tesco) By @Cinabar

As we are in spooky month, I feel like I can properly start tucking into the Halloween goodies we have lined up to tell you about. First up is these Jaffaween Cake Bars Cherry. The spell check does not like the name, but I don’t mind it!

Jaffaween Cake Bars are available in Orange, but I don’t think I’ve tried the Cherry ones before, so I went with those. Plus, red for Halloween seems a bit more themed than just changing the standard packaging on the orange ones. I opened up the wrapper and have to say, they have done a lovely job with the packaging. Each cake bar is made to look like a monster or mummy wrapped up in orange peel bandages, which is very cool.

Underneath that, we have a nice cake bar with a layer of cherry and dark chocolate. The flavour is sweet and tasty, with enough chocolate and vanilla from the sponge to contrast nicely with the cherry. These are tasty, and they fit perfectly into a lunch box for Halloween, or as a snack for Trick or Treaters.

The best part is the cute wrapper, though. I just loved that!

Chupa Chups Stranger Things Lollipops (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

I’m loving this Stranger Things and Chupa Chups crossover. Even the logo on the bag looks like it’s from the Upside Down. The packaging features a Demogorgon front and centre, and I picked these up specially to hand out to Trick or Treaters.

The flavours are presented as a mystery, with themed names to match. There’s a blue one called Mind Flayer, a red one called Code Red, a black one called Vecna’s Layer, and a purple one called Demogorgon. I went for the black lolly first and was pleased to find it was cola flavoured, a nice surprise. A look at the back of the pack reveals the flavours are actually the usual mix of things like cherry and raspberry, so it’s the names and packaging doing the heavy lifting on the theme.

They’re not particularly spooky once you start eating them, but the branding is great fun and perfect for Halloween. I’ll be keeping most of them for the Trick or Treaters, but if there are any left over, I’ll happily finish them off myself.

Hope you’ve got your seasonal sweets ready - have a fantastic Halloween! 🎃

Booom Vampire (Pound Stretcher) By @SpectreUK

Halloween is just a couple of days away and I found some weird looking Vampire themed sweets. Apparently they are extra sour gum by Fini. What's more is that once they have twisted your face from their sourness, they make your mouth go blue.

There is a Fini sour Booom Challenge on the back of the packet, which encourages you to try six sweets at a time. I decided to try just one to begin with, in case I didn't like them.

On first taste there was a super sour blueberry flavour that made my face twist and turn. I sucked the sweet like a wanton vampire before chewing the rest. There was a little gum flavour, but it certainly didn't feel like chewing gum when I swallowed the brittle fragments down. The sourness was pretty scary for the first few seconds though, and my tongue is still blue three hours later.

Information on the packet; The 65g packet had 344 calories per 100g, with 0g of fat, 73g of sugar, and 0.2g 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.

Wicked Butterkist Fizzafying Lemonade Popcorn (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I spotted this Wicked Butterkist Fizzafying Lemonade Popcorn in Tesco and couldn’t resist the packaging. It’s themed around Wicked, complete with Galinda the witch on the front, and has a lovely Halloween vibe. It seemed the perfect snack for a spooky film night, not a Scary Movie, but Aliens (close enough).

I’m not entirely sure what lemonade has to do with the Wicked films, though to be fair we haven’t seen the second one yet, so maybe there’s a reference hidden in there somewhere.

Normally I stick to the regular Butterkist Sweet popcorn because it reminds me of proper cinema popcorn, so this flavour felt like quite a departure. There wasn’t much aroma when I opened the bag and no visible coating, but the taste really surprised me, sweet, zingy and properly lemony. It’s fruity and fun without being too sharp.

The popcorn pieces were big, fluffy and crunchy, and there weren’t any of those annoying unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag either. Overall, it’s a bright, cheerful twist on classic popcorn and a fun seasonal treat. Perfect for a Halloween movie night, or just an excuse to make any film feel a bit more magical.

Cadbury Pumpkin Patch Cakes [@NLi10]

 Happy Halloween! My office has put up their Halloween decorations already so I can review these.

Cadbury make a lot of nonsense products, but here is the festive classic, sliced Swiss roll covered in chocolate with a sticker on it!

Spooky cakes!

Scariest part is the calories 

Safely in the cellophane 

They do look fantastic though - a little orange glitter and these are party ready.

And full of oranges!

Lovely cake, lovely chocolate, lovely time.

Covent Garden soup co - Pumpkin Spice [@NLi10]

 Spooky season is over - but autumn is still in vogue. Harvests have been harvested and pumpkins carved and discarded. But wait - what if we actually ate some?

The Covent Garden soup company seem to agree and have these lovely long dated special edition pumpkin soups - and they have lots of lovely bits in them.

Lightly spiced with warming chilli - perfect

Well with a dash of balsamic and a handful of chilli pumpkin seeds to add some more crunch.

More please! 🎃