Mikybar & Rowntree’s Jelly & Ice Cream (Asda) By @SpectreUK

Personally I believe there are two types of people, those that mix sauces in a main meal, such as curry's, or mix puddings, such as jelly and ice cream, and those that don't mix and would prefer separate plates or bowls. The same applies in sweets, I guess. There are a few yoghurt coated sweets on the market. So, when I saw these Milkybar & Rowntree's Jelly & Ice Cream that's what I figured I'd be getting when I opened the packet.

In fact they aren't quite Jelly and Ice Cream, the back of the packet described them as "A delicious mix of giant white chocolate pieces and juicy sweets made with real juice", and they are just Milkybar large white chocolate buttons and also small jelly sweets like midget gems.

The Rowntree's midget gem type gummy flavours were; strawberry, blackcurrant, orange, lime, and lemon. Of course, being from Rowntree's, they had good fruity flavours, however, being of a certain age, they were quite chewy, and really got stuck in my old teeth. The Milkybar large white chocolate buttons - were very nice indeed, but for some reason were not so exciting.

This collaboration between Rowntree's and Nestle Milkybar sounds like it should have been an interesting idea, and even though there was a "Love To Share" icon on the packet, I did scoff the lot in one sitting. I just wish I'd left enough calories to have these Milkybar & Rowntree's Jelly & Ice Cream with a pot of ice cream too.

Information on the packet; The 95g bag has 102 calories per 15 sweets, 3.6g of fat, 11.5g of sugar, and 0.07g of salt. Suitable for vegetarians, please see photograph for the ingredients.

Nestle Shreddies - Limited Raspberry & White Choc Flavour (not pink) [@NLi10]

 Shreddies do all kinds of limited editions these days, at least a couple a year it seems.  Here we found the latest in Sainsbury's - Raspberry & White Chocolate Flavour - in a lovely red box.

We used to get a strawberry shreddie along with the chocolate one and I swear it was a little pink, and turned the milk pink - but alas here they look basically the same

The layer on top is the new ones - the layer below are the regular Shreddies - us older people don't need a full bowl of sugar in the morning!

And - they are basically as advertised - Shreddies that taste of this year's flavour.  I think I'd rather have the normal Frosted Shreddies, but as a little change these were pretty good.  Ours were on special offer - so the same price as normal Shreddies and decent value.

I think the cereals that add a little freeze-dried raspberry/strawberry to the mix are much more my style - it adds variety and texture too.  Here though it's certainly a cereal for people who don't want a surprise in the morning - fibre and sugar and your choice of milk.

Nestle Milky Bar Coconut (Candy Mail) By @SpectreUK

It's getting into more of a hot chocolate season for me, where I like a white hot chocolate with my pudding after dinner. This Nestle Milky Bar Coconut should go down a treat tonight. I don't mind a bit of coconut and I love white chocolate. The first white chocolate bar I tried when I was very young was Nestle's Milky Bar, and Nestle's Milky Bar is still my favourite white chocolate bar.

On opening this Nestle Milky Bar Coconut there was a pleasing smell of coconut and white chocolate. It strictly says "know your serving - 4 pieces = 1 serving" on the front of the wrapper. I've never been all that great at following instructions, so I decided to eat the whole bar.

I could see there were light white coconut flecks all the way through this Nestle Milky Bar Coconut. On taste these coconut flecks came to the fore. It was pretty much like what you would expect eating a solid white chocolate coconut bar would be like. The coconut flecks really complemented the creamy white chocolate, which in turn complemented my white hot chocolate drink. A perfectly indulgent pudding indeed.

Information on the wrapper; Each serving contained 535KJ, 12.6g of sugar, 7.9g of fat, and 21mg of sodium.

Quality Street Collisions Hazelnut & Caramel Chocolate Sharing Bar (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

The Quality Street tins are back in the shops as it is autumn and the run-up to, dare I say it, Christmas. This also means we are getting the new chocolate bars, yay. Now when we do have a Quality Street tin, my favourites are the nutty ones, and I pick out the ‘big purple’ hazelnut in caramel and the ‘green triangle’ praline. Clearly, I’m not the only person who has these two as their favourites; they have merged them together on a chocolate bar, and now we have Quality Street Collisions Hazelnut & Caramel Chocolate Sharing Bar. Oh my, this is so up my street.

I opened up the bar, and first things first. The wrapper was really irritating; it shredded and had no way to re-seal as it was coming away in strands. I managed to fold it around, but thought I’d mention it. The bar, though, is just dreamy. There is caramel, hazelnuts, and praline all in one bar. This makes it a little soft to break off, but absolutely delicious to eat. It has a full-on nutty flavour and rich, sweet chocolate. Did I mention the textures too? I swear they made this bar with me in mind. It is an absolute chocolate-nut heaven.

Kit Kat Cereal - Tesco - surprisingly decent! [@NLi10]

We like chocolate bars, we like novelty cereals - and here we have them both together!

11 servings of the child portion, 7 and a bit servings of the adult portion, for me - this box is a par 5.  What i'll probably do is blend this with regular cornflakes for texture mix up and saving money - although I think this was only £2.50 due to introductory offers.

KitKat is one of those chocolate bars that just keeps going - it's about the only EuroWafer that has ever got traction in the UK because (like Bounty & Twix) it can pretend to be a chocolate bar so Brits buy it.  The Chunky ones are great as they can add stuff, and the flavours they make in the Japanese factories are exotic.

These are just the usual cereal with three lines on it. Maybe they could add frosting in the lines and sell it as Adidas cereal too.  Smells chocolaty though so it's at least appealing (unlike the terrible Oreo cereal)

Hey look - adding almond milk fills in the lines too!

Joking aside it's about as KitKat a cereal in both look and flavour as you can get - and it's nice.  I'm not sure it's filling enough as an everyday cereal, but as a luxury topper on a base cereal like shreddies or corn flakes then this works well.  As long as it stays on the cheap intro price I have no problems encouraging people to grab a box.  I suspect this will be a long term cereal that we will still see for years to come.

 

Munchies Chocolate Bar (Asda) By @Cinabar

Munchies chocolates have been going for a very long time, since the 1950s, in fact. Part of me thinks if you have a recipe and combination that works so well it is still popular over six decades later, you probably shouldn’t mess with it. It clearly works right. One of the popular things at the moment is sharing bars, so they have tried to turn the formula into a flat bar.

I opened it up, and the pieces are flatter but larger than Munchies. Couldn’t they have pushed a load of full-size Munchies into a block held together with melted chocolate? I think thats how I would have done it. Looking at them like this, it feels like the caramel to biscuit ratio can only be wrong. However, when I tried a piece, I was pleasantly surprised. The biscuit is in the form of bits set into the chocolate, and the caramel is actually fairly generously layered on top. The main ratio change is the extra chocolate, but that was fine. They had the feel of Munchies, and the caramel, the star of the show, shone through, so this bar worked surprisingly well. I wouldn’t want to lose the originals, but these are a decent addition to the range. 

Milky Bar Krackle (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

It has been too long since I last had a Milky Bar. Spectre normally eats up all the white chocolate in the house, but I bought two of these bars; he isn’t good at sharing white chocolate. This bar is an imported one from South Africa, but I found it in a UK based import shop. The bar is called Milky Bar Krackle and is white chocolate filled with rice crispy pieces.

I opened up the pack, and the bar looks like a regular bar from the front, but turn it over, and you can see all the crispy pieces in the bar, and there seems to be quite a lot.

I haven’t had white chocolate for a while and I think I had forgotten that Milky Bar is rather sweet and creamy. I can imagine it is a bit much for some, but for me, it worked. It was nice to revisit the chocolate and remember how nice it was. This might not be the poshest chocolate on the market, but it is sweet and soothing, and as someone who likes texture, the rice crispy pieces really added to the texture. I ate more of the Milky Bar Krackle than I meant - so much for portion control! In fact, I wonder where Spectre put the other bar...

Festive EuroFinds Barcelona (@NLi10)

 Ho Ho Ho! It's time to look at the overpriced novelty stuff from the top brands again - but this time in Spain!  They have all kinds of Euro stuff, but it's not quite the overload that you'd find in Germany or England - maybe I just didn't go into big enough stores.

A quick rearrange of the shelves for photo purposes and we have Nestle Bestial Mix - which despite the odd name (for English people) looks like a lot of fun.  A bit expensive and we can't buy them all - but something I'd be looking to try.  Oddly it looks like the idea is to take the fun shaped biscuits then mash them up.  Surely that can't be great.  Maybe the mix means some dinosaurs survive too.

Santa is provided by KitKat (also Nestle) but these were a bit odd - almost all of them had been crushed!  I think the idea is that there are KitKat bites inside, but no one buys Nestle branded stuff for the chocolate so the santa part is a bit of a novelty waste - especially if these are near the Lindt animals!

Kinder (and Farero Roche in the back left) have the right idea.  All the child suppression (Kinder Sorpresa) is Christmas related - and as big as they dare!  Comparatively this would have been the affordable option - Christmas eggs from Spain would have been about £1 each for the normal versions and as they came in boxes might have survived the RyanAir flight.

The wisemen looked ace too - but I resisted these as I thought I'd get kinder brand Churro sauce at some point.  I did not. :(

The airport had an amazing deal on Toblerones - if you bought two then they were the same price as they would be in Tesco back home. Awesome work!!  I'm not sure when the airports figured out they only had to pretend to be cheaper than the normal shops - but it seemed to be working on a lot of people.  Maybe it's just the exchange rate - or you are supposed to buy these with the refunds you get for delayed flights...

As a bonus (with a pic that shows the lovely hotel and weather - it was a t-shirt day!) I allowed myself this Bollycao Dip Dip which isn't Christmassy

But it does remind me of my childhood - where the regulations hadn't dictated that the chocolate must be hard in the UK versions of these things (probably due to cocoa content reasons) and not like a pretend Churro dip like this is. 

If only I were in a country that had the real things on tap...

Nestle Quality Street Orange Crunch (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I only ever seem to have Nestles Quality Streets around Christmas time. This new Nestle Quality Street Orange Crunch chocolate bar might change my mind. I do love the Orange Crunch flavour, but I especially love the Strawberry favour, so hopefully they'll make a bar of that too. I know the only other flavour they've made is the Purple one, which Cinabar is welcome too, because I can't eat nuts in my diet.

I decided to eat this Nestle Quality Street Orange Crunch with a tub of chocolate drizzle ice cream. On opening the bar there was a tangy Orange Crunch smell from the chocolate bar inside. On taste this Nestle Quality Street Orange Crunch did exactly what it said on the wrapper, but the best thing was that it just kept on giving. I didn't have to unwrap another foil Quality Street Orange Crunch after another, I just sat back and enjoyed the milk chocolate and orange crunchy flavour of the whole chocolate bar with my tub of chocolate drizzle ice cream. Gorgeous. I must have these in regularly. Please make the strawberry flavour next Nestle.

Information on the wrapper; The 84g bar had 558 calories per 100g, with 22,7g of fat, 51.4g of sugar, and 0.15g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Kit Kat Chunky Aero Mint (Candy Mail) By @Cinabar

There aren’t many crossover chocolate bars around, I mean specifically where one which is flavoured with another. It should happen more as big brands like Cadbury, Mars and Nestle each makes lots of chocolates and I think there is some fun in combining them. This sort of bar is hard to find. I got this online, via an import shop, from Australia. Nestle make both Kit Kat Chunky and Aero and have combined the two into this spectacular bar, Kit Kat Aero Mint. I love chocolate mint so was just so excited to see this.

Once opened the bar does not disappoint. The Aero Mint section of the Kit Kat is green and looks amazing. There is all the usual wafers too of a normal Kit Kat Chunky but with the added fun of green bubbles. Once you bite in the bar is a pleasure to munch on. There is solid chocolate, aerated bubbles and crispy wafers all making it so satisfying to eat. If you like texture in a chocolate bar this will be right up your street. The flavour from the mint is well balanced and refreshing, and mixed with the Kit Kat perfectly. It is fun look at and fun to eat, I wish they made them in this country because I’b be stocking up right now. What next? Aero Mint Munchies need to be a thing.

Kit Kat - A Taste Of Delicious Coconut (B&M) By @Cinabar

I was cutting through our branch of B&M to avoid walking around the shops when I noticed a strange bit of commotion on one of the end aisles in the confectionary section. People were taking pictures of these Kit Kats. They are pretty and there is something a bit special about a ten finger bar but the odd thing was I didn’t see anyone buying them, which is weird. They took a photo and left. IS there a completion I don’t know about? I dodged between mobile phone snappers and picked up one of each of the three new flavours. First up I’m starting with this; Kit Kat - A Taste Of Delicious Coconut.

I know taking photos of the packet is fun, but look what I found inside the wrapper an absolutely adorable marbled bar, it is quite something. It is impressive in size but also in look. I thought it was a delight, the aroma of chocolate coconut was also filling my nostrils.
The bar consists of 10 fingers all with a marker in the middle so perfect for sharing, or portion control if you are keeping it for yourself. The inside consist of the usual layers of wafer, but breaking the first piece increases the coconut scent. The flavour is amazing. I know coconut can be a Marmite flavour but I love the stuff and can’t work out how anyone could dislike this bar. It is sweet creamy, has lots of milk chocolate flavour and this wonderful sweet coconut running through it. There is no texture from the coconut just the creamy flavour. It was well balanced and so very tasty. I will have to go back for more. If you are in B&M taking a photo, go to the next step and try one - you won’t be disappointed.

Nestle Snack Erdnuss (B&M) By @Cinabar

These intriguing bars were spotted in B&M, in the confectionary isle. I picked them up because I hadn’t seen them before and the packaging was a pleasing bright yellow. They are from a big make too from Nestle, but not one I’ve seen in the UK before. They also seemed to be a combination of some of my favourite ingredients; chocolate and peanut (which is erdnuss in German). These are a multipack of import bars of chocolate from Germany, which is why the wafer content too shouldn’t have come as a surprise, it is popular in Europe.

Inside the multipack are three individually wrapped bars and they looked rather chunky in proportions. They were light though in weight. Got to love the wafer. The bars look fab out of the wrapper, large and appetising and you can see plenty of nuts under the layer of chocolate. I love texture and the layers of wafer gave these a crispy light feel but the nuts and chocolate gave it a stronger crunch too. The were enjoyable to munch on. There were lots of nuts and the flavour was lovely and rich and worked well with the chocolate. The combination of nuts and chocolate was spot on, and I would have the Nestle Snack Erdnuss bars as a got to bar if it was more widely available. For now I’m just happy that these are around as an import bar proving chocolate peanut goodness.

Yorkie Chunks (Sainsburys) By @SpectreUK

No, Yorkie Chunks aren't a tragic accident that happened to a small overly hairy dog! These Yorkie Chunks are supposed to be itsy bitsy versions of the normal sized Nestle Yorkie milk chocolate bars. I must admit that I haven't had a Yorkie bar for so long that I can't even remember when my last one was. I used to eat them all the time, and then I met Cinabar and was reminded that the "men only" ad campaign at the time could be considered more than a little sexist…

… Besides other (dairy) milk chocolate bars are available. I don't eat chocolate during the day now and haven't for some time. I usually have something small and chocolatey for an after dinner treat washed down with my white hot chocolate drink. So these Yorkie Chunks could fit the bill, but then again…

On opening the packet (as you can see from the photograph) these little Yorkie Chunks look a little "rustic", as they may have banged into each other in the packet over time. They taste pretty good though. Solid milk chocolate usually does. I'd pretty much forgotten the taste of Yorkie Bars and can see why I prefer the more favoured (dairy) milk chocolate available. To me Yorkie milk chocolate doesn't have the wow factor and probably tastes a little stronger on the cocoa rather than the dairy milk I've always preferred. However, each to their own…

Information on the packet;
The 100g bag contains 129 calories per 4 chunk serving, with 7.3g of fat, 13.6g of sugar, and 0.06g of salt. Please see photograph for ingredients.

Whip Divine Mocha (Poundland) By @spectreUK

"It isn't often that Walnut Whip bring out new flavours!" So Cinabar exclaimed excitedly.
"I can't eat walnuts!" I said with an unreserved lack of enthusiasm.
"These are are Walnut Whips without the walnuts!" she said, "That's why they're called 'Whips'!"
Makes sense, I suppose. I'm still not over enthusiastic though, but I do like the cute beige / brown almost golden packet they are individually wrapped in when you tear open the box full of three Whip Divine Mochas.

These new Whip Divine Mochas have the same whipped milk chocolate tower as usual, but they are full of mocha flavoured mallow. They don't have walnuts on top either, unless you buy your own, I guess, and stick it on top with superglue (don't try this at home folks). I haven't been able to eat nuts for some years now, but funnily enough Walnut Whips weren't the first things I initially missed. Coated Salted Peanuts, Balti Peanuts, Lion Bars and Waldorf Salad ("Pretentious, Moi?" As Cybil Fawlty would say) were high on the list though… Well, they still are in fact!

I popped open the top of my packet of Whip Divine Mocha. There was a decent Nestle Milk Chocolate smell on opening the packet, and a hint of creamy coffee. Cinabar informed me that a Mocha is coffee and chocolate combined. She regularly makes her mom them in the coffee machine. The closest I've been to making one was when I've been a bit drunk and mixed the coffee and hot chocolate jars together in one mug.

On taste there was an instant (get it?) creamy coffee taste mixed with the milk chocolate. The mocha flavoured mallow inside the Whip was slightly beige in colour from the mixed in coffee. On taste this Whip Divine Mocha tastes pretty fantastic. I can usually take or leave the coffee creams in boxes of chocolates in favour of the soft orange and or strawberry centres, but I did like this Whip Divine Mocha, and it did go well with the Latte Cinabar convinced me to drink with it. One of these Whip Divine Mocha is a decent size for a non-greedy person's after dinner desert. The whole box full may be pushing it though. It's probably lucky for my waistline that there were three of us!

Information on the box;
3 Whip Divine Mocha at 27.8g have 139 calories each, with 3.9g of fat, 16.8g of sugar, and 0.05g of salt. Please see photograph for ingredients.

Nestle Les Recettes De L’Atelier - Blueberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts (Sainsbury's) @NLi10

In the interests of subterfuge and confusion Nestle have a new range of chocolates called Nestle Les Recettes De L’Atelier which Cinabar spotted and reviewed the milk chocolate version of and remarks that they are 'From The Workshop'.  There are a whole bunch of big and little bars for us to work through but I chose the smaller ones as we still have a lot of Christmas Chocolate to eat.

Cinabar reviewed the left-hand one and so we will look at the dark one.

As Dark Chocolate, Blueberries and Almonds are amongst my favourite snack things this should be good.  It does suggest sharing, but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad.

It's smelly enough to get the cats interested!

The flavours are pretty intense which I like, and it's not as subtle and creamy as the other flavour.  Its still got a decent quality chocolate and the bits in it are intact and not just powder which I like. The sharing pack makes it pretty easy to eat while out and about which is great and encourages portion control.  Some of my work friends did break the segments in half which defeats the object though.

Overall, a hit - and I'll happily try some of the more adventurous and larger bars in the future as opportunities allow.

Nestle Les Recettes De L’Atelier - Cranberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts Chocolate (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

I find it is difficult to not be excited when I find a new chocolate bar in the supermarket. That is probably where this blog comes from. When I spotted this new chocolate bar in Morrisons I did think for a minute that it was an imported bar, as the title of the bar is in French; Les Recettes De L’Atelier. Having using google translate, because my French GCSE was more than a few years ago, I discovered that this meant “Recipes from the Workshop”, which does make it sound like a selection of fun experimental flavours. Indeed this particular mix is of Cranberries, Almonds and Hazelnuts in milk chocolate and it sounded very appealing. As for the foreign connection, the address on the back of the bar is for York, but perhaps the concept still came from abroad.

The chocolate is shaped into long pieces all packed with fruit and nuts, so much so they deliberately peep through on the centre of each piece.As someone who loves a mix of textures, this bar worked very well for me. The almonds and hazelnuts are firm and crunchy, and the cranberries sticky and soft. The milk chocolate that surrounds them is very lush, it is very creamy, and the chocolate has a lovely thick melt. The taste is sweet and it is very rich. The cranberries add a little tartness to the taste, and nuts add their woody goodness. I loved this chocolate, it was like a very posh fruit and nut, but it was the sumptuously sweet chocolate that held it all together. I can’t wait to see what other bars get released under Nestle’s new Les Recettes De L’Atelier range.

Nestle Butterfinger Cup Peanut Butter (@Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I saw these new Nestle Butterfinger Cups at the end of an aisle in Morrisons, and noticed that there were two flavours available, peanut butter and coconut. I picked up both packets, and thought I’d start with the peanut butter version. I’m such a big fan of peanut butter. If truth be told I was absolutely convinced these were biscuits when they entered my basket, and it was only when I took a closer look at home I realised there was nothing biscuity about them.
Inside the packet are four peanut butter “cups” an American term for a shallow chocolate case I think. The chocolate is filled with peanut butter, but also some crunchy toffee pieces. I gave one a try and found the texture to be soft, but firm enough to hold together. The chocolate is thick enough to do the job. The milk chocolate is sweet, and the cocoa works wonderfully well with the peanut butter, but this is a favourite combination of mine. I was pleased with the generosity of the filling too. I liked the extra sweetness from the crispy toffee pieces inside, and there was a hint of salt all of which made this a gorgeous moreish mix of sweet and savoury. There may not be anything biscuity about these Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups, but with all that lovely mix of flavours, they are spot on as they are.