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!

You’re Paw Some [Chocolates] (M&S) by @cinabar

These You’re Paw Some chocolates caught my eye in M&S. From the box, I would guess these are meant as a gift, either for thanking someone or as a birthday treat, but you should know I bought these for myself to snack on. In my defence, there are only four in the box. They were just too cute to walk away from.

When I opened the pack, I found the chocolates beautifully moulded into the shape of sausage dogs, with lots of detail and looking fab. They actually look slightly better in real life than they do on the box, which never normally happens.

The chocolates are pure milk chocolate and are solid. The chocolate is decent, sweet with plenty of cocoa, and generally quite nice. I thought they could have used Belgian chocolate to make them a bit more special, or perhaps a caramel filling, as the chocolate doesn’t quite do all the work on its own.

The super-cute design is doing the heavy lifting here. I just wish they had backed it up with a little something extra in the taste.

Pistachio Big Daddy Bites (M&S) By @cinabar

I spotted these Pistachio Big Daddy Bites chocolates in a service station branch of M&S, which always cheers me up during a long journey. We didn’t eat them in the car though, we saved them for when we got home. I just love browsing M&S, especially since our town centre branch closed. We also managed to find some crisps that a recent blog commenter recommended, so it was a double win.

These bites are based on the big version of the Pistachio bar, which I thought was called Big Daddy because it was released around Father’s Day. Or perhaps it was simply because it was, well, big. Either way, these are considerably smaller but have kept the Big Daddy name, so who knows!

More importantly, what are they like?

They are chunky individual chocolates, filled with a pistachio filling and topped with caramel. I gave one a try and what a chocolatey, nutty triumph it is. The pistachio element is lovely and strong, almost like eating a bag of salted pistachios. There is a sweet creaminess from the white chocolate, followed by a layer of rich caramel and sweet milk chocolate.

They have just about perfected that sweet and salty combination, with the strong pistachio flavour making these wonderfully moreish. I genuinely loved them, and now I really want to try the proper Big Daddy bar too!

Outrageously Chocolatey White Chocolate Coated Cookies & Cream (M&S) By @SpectreUK

I love white chocolate and I love biscuits. So, any idea combining the two seems like a great idea to me. These Outrageously Chocolatey White Chocolate Coated Cookies & Cream, does sound like a great idea too.

Apparently there is more than 50% of white chocolate in these Outrageously Chocolatey White Chocolate Coated Cookies & Cream. I didn’t know how much more than 50% of each cookie is white chocolate. Part of my childlike brain was thinking 99% white chocolate, 1% cookie, until Cinabar read the packet and pointed out there was 52% white chocolate.

On opening the packet these Outrageously Chocolatey White Chocolate Coated Cookies & Cream looked like white chocolate snow covered buildings. On first bite, “Holy, sh…” I was having a Hannah Waddington moment when she eats Ted Lasso’s biscuits.

These Outrageously Chocolatey White Chocolate Coated Cookies & Cream really are outrageously chocolatey. They taste like white chocolate cookie creamy heaven.

Once I bite through the thick layer of white chocolate, the cookie inside melted in my mouth and the whole thing ended up tasting like you’d expect a thick white chocolate building cookie cloud would taste like. Yummy. Pass me another.

Information on the packet; Each of the 6 cookies is 171 calories, with 9.5g of fat, 15.3G of sugar, and 0.11g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

St Michael Coconut Grove (M&S) By @Cinabar

A week or so ago, I wrote about Sparks, one of the other M&S re-releases of old bars from the 1980s, in near-identical packaging to when they originally came out. Here we have Coconut Grove, and this one too looks wonderfully retro.

I did a little bit of searching on the internet to try and find what the original packaging looked like for this one, but I couldn’t find a photo, which is weird. There are loads of photos of retro Cadbury and Mars chocolates dating back multiple decades, so for this one we will have to take their word for it that the packaging is similar to the original.

Talking of similarities, this bar consists of a milk chocolate coating around a soft coconut filling. It is similar in concept to another well-known high street bar, and if you were to list the similarities, I’m sure they would be quite bountiful!

Anyway, the milk chocolate is lovely and thick and has a good bite, while the coconut filling is full of flavour. It is firm but not too much, with a sweet and creamy coconut taste. I really enjoyed it.

It has a lovely tropical taste, and I always feel coconut is a bit underused in British confectionery, so it is nice to have more choices on the shelves.

St Michael Sparks Bar (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

This St Michael Sparks Bar came from a multipack bag of mini bars labelled as a treat selection. Reading between the lines, there’s a chance this is an early release for the Halloween season, when mini bars become much more readily available. As we’re still in a heatwave, I really can’t think about autumn yet. I’m still keeping my chocolate in the fridge!

The bar is called Sparks, and I just love the retro 1980s-style packaging. It’s super cute. I did try to investigate whether they were bringing back an old bar, but I think they’re simply going for the retro look.

I bit into the bar and found milk chocolate, soft nougat and a thick layer of caramel. It was surprisingly similar to a Mars, which seems rather curious given Marks and Spencer’s previous complaints about Aldi producing a cake similar to their Colin the Caterpillar. Aldi’s response on social media was hilarious, but it does seem slightly ironic for M&S to launch a new chocolate bar that bears such a resemblance to a Mars. Curious times!

Putting the similarity aside, this bar was lovely. The chocolate was sweet, the caramel soft and thick, and the nougat had a lovely soft texture. It was a delight and a proper treat.

For me, this is the perfect afternoon chocolate to have with my coffee. And, thankfully, without a trick-or-treater in sight.

Marks and Spencer S'mores Ice Cream Sauce (Ocado) By @Cinabar

S'mores are a very American invention. The classic treat consists of a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate sandwiched between two biscuits, traditionally cooked over a campfire. British people tend to keep things a bit simpler, and are generally quite happy just to toast a marshmallow and eat it! This Marks and Spencer S'mores Ice Cream Sauce is inspired by those classic S'mores flavours.

I grabbed a scoop of vanilla ice cream and cracked open the bottle. One slightly random observation: the opening is surprisingly wide, so I assumed the sauce would be quite thick. It isn't. It's actually fairly runny, and I nearly ended up wearing it. Thankfully it all landed in the bowl, but if you're planning on pouring this over an ice cream cone, proceed with caution!

The flavour, though, is absolutely lovely. It's rich, intensely chocolatey and exactly the sort of thing I enjoy. There's a lovely sweetness that I assume is meant to represent the marshmallow, but the real highlight is the crunchy biscuit pieces scattered throughout. I love a bit of texture, so those little crunchy bits really made it for me.

I know it's supposed to capture the flavour of S'mores, but to me it mainly tastes like chocolate biscuits, and that's no bad thing. It may be marketed as an ice cream sauce, but I'm planning to pour it over strawberries next. Just because that's the kind of rebel I am.

M&S Marks And Spencer Rhubarb Gooey Middle Teacakes [@NLi10]

I love teacakes, and while Tunnocks are the default the ones I actually grew up on were the M&S versions because that's what my Grandma Evelyn bought.  We'd have all the varieties, especially those with jam in them, and because they are reviving these and have a whole range of luxury bag/boxes (with only 6 in) they deserved a pick up - even at service station prices. Behold the roof of our lovely blue car. 

And these are huge!  While it's hard to get scale I'd say these are 50% larger than a standard Tunnocks and much more similar to how I remembered them.  In terms of bites they are a par three.

That said - a Tunnocks is 24g so this is only 6g heavier even with the size difference - and I think that's because of the biscuit which here is quite light.

Consequently eating these in the back of a car was a messy affair and I didn't get a picture - and a box of 6 doesn't last long with 4 of us.

The jam didn't hit as much as I'd expected, but I could taste the rhubarb, and the mallow was very floaty and sticky.  The pack mentioned no meaty ingredients but didn't flag them as veggie which is a worrying trend.  Surely grown-ups don't get upset if something is veggie/halal ?

Eitherway these are ace.  And if I am near an M&S I'll be trying the whole range (I'll snap better pictures then - the service station was busy). 

M&S Marks And Spencer's Thing & Crunch T&C Cereal [@NLi10]

My partner brought home three boxes of store brand cereal the other day - oh no! But wait, what's this - M&S Food?  That's surely going to be quite exciting.

 

I've not tried the chocolate one yet - I need to mix that with some cornflakes as honey and chocolate will be great. The others - I'm half way through the boxes.

First I tried Strawberry & Almond

I suspect the crunch will always be the same, but the things are different

6% almond and 2% strawberry - but that still looks fine

I'd not even registered the almonds eating it - but there they are.  Great flavour and light enough to eat every day.

There are very few good apple cereals so this was the exciting one

And while it looks less impressive the flavours are interesting enough to keep me coming back.  I'm adding blueberries and almond milk and loving it.

Premium cereals at stores own prices is definitely something I'm a fan of.  Kudos to Marks & Spencer for this one.

M&S Blends Orange and Passionfruit Drink (Ocado) By @Cinabar

For a company that was very upset with Aldi over selling a cake that was, shall we say, 'similar' to their own Colin the Caterpillar, this is a bit of an odd product. Here we have M&S Blends Orange and Passionfruit, which could also be described as 'similar' to a J2O. Perhaps I'm imagining the similarity... just in case I need to include that for legal reasons! 😄

Anyway, what I do know is that this heat means it's important to stay hydrated, and I'm always up for trying a new drink. I popped these in the fridge to chill before giving one a try.

I was really impressed by just how fruity it is. There's loads of flavour and plenty of juicy fruitiness. The mango comes through nicely, while the passion fruit adds a pleasant sharpness that makes it especially refreshing towards the end. If I were to compare it to the market leader, I'd say it's 'similar', but perhaps a little richer in flavour and slightly thinner in texture. I'd probably need to try them side by side to be certain, though.

Either way, it made for a lovely, refreshing drink on a hot summer's day.

Marks & Spencer Rhubarb Tea Cakes (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Is there anything that says British summer more than watching a bit of Wimbledon with some Marks & Spencer snacks? Of course, the weather has now cooled down and everyone is already moaning that the sunshine has disappeared, which somehow makes it feel even more like a British summer!

We opted for these Rhubarb Tea Cakes from Marks & Spencer. They are similar to the regular tea cakes but with a generous dollop of rhubarb curd hidden inside.

There are six tea cakes in the box, each coated in milk chocolate. I cut one in half and you could clearly see the layers, with the big fluffy bubble of marshmallow and the rhubarb curd sitting in the middle. They certainly looked the part.

I gave one a try and have to say it was a more muted experience than I'd been hoping for. The rhubarb was pleasant, but it was quite a soft, sweet flavour. I had hoped it would be much zingier and really pop, but instead it was a gentle fruity curd. The chocolate and marshmallow were lovely and sweet, and the rhubarb worked well with them, but I couldn't help feeling it could have been bolder and really stolen the show.

These were still lovely to eat while watching the tennis, but next time I think I'd probably reach for the more traditional strawberries and cream instead.

Colin The Caterpillar Mini Roll (M&S) By @SpectreUK

I like a chocolatey snack after lunch. Stopping off at Rugby service station on the way back from Kettering comic con the other day, I picked up this Colin The Caterpillar Mini Roll in Marks & Spencer. I also enjoyed a good healthy dinner at Pret a Manger.

I remember there was some controversy around Colin The Caterpillar and Aldi making their own version. I don’t believe Aldi have made their own mini version though. I guess time will tell.

On opening this Colin The Caterpillar Mini Roll there was a lovely chocolatey aroma. As you can see from the photographs, this chocolate sponge mini roll had a white chocolate Colin face, and was filled with chocolate buttercream, covered in milk chocolate, with a few sugar coated milk chocolate beans on top.

On taste this Colin The Caterpillar Mini Roll had a soft sponge texture with a light crunch from the milk chocolate coating, and more crunchiness from the sugar coated chocolate beans. It tasted divine melt in the mouth creamy chocolate fondant goodness.

I left Colin’s white chocolate face until last to build up the horror. Then I popped his creamy white chocolate face into my mouth screaming all the way. Yum.

Information on the box; The 52g caterpillar had 468 calories per 100g, with 22.8g of fat, 47.8g of sugar, and 0.20g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Strawberry Flavour Meringue Bar (M&S) By @Cinabar

I have a sweet tooth, so when we stopped at a service station on the way home from an event for fuel, both for us and the car, I couldn't resist a wander around the M&S Food store. I picked up a few bits, and this looked like the perfect pick-me-up. It was sweet, but at only 100 calories it wasn't going to spoil my appetite for dinner later.

Inside the wrapper was a pink meringue bar coated in a thin layer of white chocolate. When I broke it in half, it snapped nicely, revealing an appealing pink centre. The flavour was sweet and pleasantly strawberry, but not overly strong or artificial like some strawberry sweets can be.

The texture was definitely the highlight. It combined a satisfying crunch with a soft, gooey centre, while the white chocolate held everything together nicely. I absolutely loved it. It was just the right treat after a long day on the road, giving me a little boost without putting me off the takeaway that was waiting for me once I got home.

Choc Cone Ends (M&S) By @Cinabar

When this product says Choc Cone Ends, it means exactly that: the chocolate-filled ends of waffle cones, like the bit at the bottom of a Cornetto. The cynical part of my brain wondered if a waffle cone manufacturer had simply found a clever use for broken cones. However, I can confirm they're all neatly shaped and uniform, so probably not... although it would have been a genius idea!

I opened the bag and was pleased to see that the Choc Cone Ends contain a generous amount of chocolate filling. The packaging suggests enjoying them straight from the bag, using them to decorate an ice cream sundae, or even dipping them into sauces. I'm quite simple at times, so I opted for eating them straight from the pack. The bag is also resealable, which is always a bonus.

The texture was really enjoyable, with a crunchy waffle cone shell surrounding a sizeable chunk of smooth chocolate. They were satisfyingly crisp and packed with good-quality chocolate, making them very easy to snack on.

That said, my favourite part of a Cornetto is probably the ice cream itself, so I'm not sure I'd choose these over the real thing. Still, they're a fun novelty and I think they'd look particularly cute scattered over an ice cream sundae.

Shandy Shack: M&S Raspberry Shandy (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

It’s a hot sunny day and I’ve been doing chores instead of being out enjoying the sun. I have a cheese and cold meats meal tonight, and fancy something light and fruity to wash it down with.

This Raspberry Shandy made for Marks & Spencer by Shandy Shack, sounds just the thing to go with all that cheese and pickles. At 2.8% in volume it won’t blow my head off, as I have a comic con tomorrow, unless, of course, I run out of shandy and move onto my favourite ruby port.

On opening the 330ml can there was a a light crisp herbal hop aroma just underneath all that raspberry. On pouring there was the slightest pink colour to this golden lager beer. Sort of like a raspberry blonde, I suppose.

On taste this not too bubbly lager had a sweetness from the lemonade, and a mild fruitiness from the added raspberries. Subtle in raspberry fruit, and yet very refreshing after a long day of chores. Yum.

M&S Ultimate Cappuccino Teacakes (Ocado) By @Cinabar

We quite often buy chocolate teacakes as a sweet treat to have with a cuppa or as an afternoon snack. Marks and Spencer have recently added some new flavours to their teacakes range, and this packet of M&S Ultimate Cappuccino Teacakes is the first I’m going to try.

I love coffee and chocolate together and often think there aren’t enough coffee chocolate bars around, so seeing these cappuccino and chocolate teacakes made me very happy.

There are six in the packet, and they are a decent size. I chopped one in half and you can see the chocolate biscuit base, the generous layer of cappuccino marshmallow, and the chocolate coating.

The flavour was really good. There is a sweet, creamy coffee taste throughout and the chocolate works really well with it. The marshmallow is fluffy and slightly sticky, the biscuit is firm, and the chocolate has a nice snap. These M&S Ultimate Cappuccino Teacakes are all about the texture too.

The coffee flavour is such a treat, and I hope these stick around as I will definitely be buying them again. They are like a giant chocolate coffee cream sweet.

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

When you think of milk chocolate malt balls, let’s be honest, Maltesers are the first thing that come to mind. I struggle to think of another major brand doing quite the same thing. This Marks and Spencer version feels a little more upmarket, which is exactly what you would expect.

These Milk Chocolate Malt Balls come in a dark pink bag and are part of the classic chocolate treats range called Pick N Marks, which is clearly a playful take on Pick n Mix.

As soon as I opened the bag, the first thing I noticed was the size. These are properly big, a real treat rather than something you just mindlessly snack on. I took a bite and immediately loved them. The larger size makes them feel really satisfying and nicely chunky. The chocolate is Belgian, and you can tell. It is creamy, smooth and generous, coating a crisp, crunchy malt centre. The malt itself has a slight salty note, which works beautifully with the sweetness of the chocolate and gives them a bit of an edge.

I genuinely loved these and can see them becoming a regular treat. They take that classic malt and chocolate combination and push it up a level.

Honey Barbecue Waves (Marks & Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

I haven't seen any adverts for M&S food for a while, but picked these Honey Barbecue Waves up from a service station recently. They are not just any Honey Barbecue Waves, they are M&S Honey Barbecue Waves. Sorry, I had to do it.

On opening this multigrain snack smelt of salty sweet barbecue sauce. Ultra crunchy it's vertically impossible not to make a noise eating these M&S Honey Barbecue Waves. They had a very moreish flavour of sweet honey barbecue, with a good saltiness, and a touch of smokiness. Once I started eating them I couldn't stop. The rest of the bag disappeared pretty quickly. Not for sharing.

Information on the bag: The 60g bag contains two portions of 30g, with 143 calories, 7g of fat, 2.5g of sugar, and 0.62g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

M&S Mini Eggs are bigger than Cadbury’s [@NLi10]

 This appears to be review 6,500 on this blog - that’s mad!

We’ve spent the weekend visiting relatives in Saltaire near Bradford, so consequently have done a bit of driving and a few cafe visits.

For the trip from the services I picked up a decent sized bag of Marks & Spencer’s Mini Eggs - £3 for 150g. Even radio 1 are saying it’s too early for mini eggs, but these aren’t Cadbury so I’m saying it’s fine.

And turns out they are chunkier too - must be a different breed. In fact, these are big enough that you could believe they are the size of small bird eggs.  We saw some luxury (chocolate) kingfisher eggs in one of the shops by the Brontë church but it was £15 for 12 which is a bit much just to eat in the car. 

I also declined the crisps that are literally just bacon, in a car with vegetarians it felt mean.

Sound nice though- more of a with olives kind of snack.

Also had a Polish blueberry thing in Saltaire itself

Great stuff. It has a lot of arty cafes, and lots of actual David Hockney art

Like this bigger wonkier chair.

Even the Costa services on the way back were happy to give me some kind of pistachio slice which was sold as Dubai style but can’t have been as it wasn’t double the price of the other cakes. Like a shredded wheat nest slice. - which was good

And I had a Spanish coffee which had some kind of custard at the bottom

A bit sweet, and quite nice but I don’t think I’d need to have another of the hot ones - maybe I’ll try the iced one 

A fun night away, but a lot of sugar and snacks.