Giant Crumpets (Warburtons) [By @cinabar]

There aren't many occasions when an advert on tv takes me so much that I rewind the TV to get Spectre and to watch it again.
After watching the new Warburtons advert for their new Giant Crumpets I did exactly that. The advert features The Muppets and the nostalgia triggered by seeing and Kermit and co hearing the theme song really made me smile. They had change the words of theme music to incorporate giant crumpets! I still ended up getting it stuck in my head for some time!
Warburtons also very kindly sent me a pack to try so I excitedly ripped them open. Ok thats not true, I tried, but I needed scissors in the end! They are quite well sealed. There is something very cool about the crumpets when you see them, they are huge! My first worry was whether they'd fit in the toaster but thankfully they did still fit, albeit only just. I did have to turn up the toasting setting a little to get them hot through and through.

The crumpets are the usual firm fluffy texture you'd expect from Warburtons, and were absolutely heaven with some butter and honey spread on them. As someone who usually has two regular sized crumpets for a portion I think one Giant one is a fair alternative. The size makes them a novelty but the quality is all there.

By Cinabar

Warburtons Shaped Sandwich Thins (Cats and Vans) [By @Cinabar]

I eat a lot of sandwiches, I have one practically every day. They are a quick and easy to eat at my desk, and have become the norm for me. Warburtons new product made me smile, they have brought out sandwich thins, but these ones are shaped like cats and vans. Okay so these will be aimed at the younger market but they still bought out my inner child, so obviously I wanted to try them out.

We started off having a fab salami, sliced mozzarella and salad combo for the cat variety and some air popped crisps on the side. The bread slices peeled apart easily, and there was no awkward trying to cut them in half as they were pre-split.
I have to say the bread is very easy to eat, it is soft and tasty, and I’m sure the no crusts element will again appeal to the youngsters. The flavour is similar to a good white bread, but the texture is soft throughout.

For the Van variety we went for a more traditional ham salad, but the ham had a marmalade glaze just to give it an extra special feel. The bread is a pleasure to eat and again we really enjoyed these. We don’t tend to buy sandwich thins, but these samples sent very kindly by Warburtons have encourage me to buy them again in the future.
The shaped ones would be ideal for kids lunch boxes, and they can be dressed up to keep with the theming too. They are super cute. Just a thought though the bread is so nice, its worth keeping some for yourselves too, and there are no rules saying grown ups can’t enjoy the shaped ones too.

By Cinabar

New Warburtons Bagel Thins [By @Cinabar]

Warburtons got in touch and asked if we wanted to try out their new bagels. They are called Bagel Thins, and have reduced calories. As summer is coming how could I resist. The bagels come in three varieties; Plain, Sesame Seed and Raisin and Cinnamon.
The plain bagels are only 120 calories, and what better way to try them out than with the traditional salmon and cream cheese. It was low fat cream cheese honest, just to keep in with the theme.

This worked an absolute treat. I had one for my lunch along with some salad and other bits. It was very tasty, and the bagel was just the right texture. YEs it was thinner, but I still felt satisfied.

Next up I went for some Sesame Seed ones, and had these with my lunch at work. One thing I did like was the seeds on top were fairly firmly set in and you didn’t loose many when you tucked in. They added a nice flavour, and brightened up what would have been a ham sandwich, while keeping the calories low.

Did I mention that this new size means that these bagels also fit really well into the toaster, as they are thinner than ordinary ones. This makes them a little crispier and they are fab warm with melting butter. Toasting the Raisin and Cinnamon ones is the perfect breakfast food. I know I’m a big cinnamon fan at the best of times, but the hot cross like bun flavour was just heaven sent. Even Spectre, who is not that fussed by bagels or cinnamon said he really enjoyed his (with damson jam).
Of course just because the bagels are low calorie, doesn’t mean the topping has to be…

By Cinabar

Warburtons’ 'Big Red Breakfast Kit’ [By @Cinabar]

Warburtons have teamed up with the British Heart Foundation and their new packs are giving 5p from the sale of every loaf to the BHF. It is part of their pledge to raise £1million to help keep British families heart’s healthy.
They are currently promoting the benefits of a healthy breakfast at the start of the day. They sent us the lovely Big Red Breakfast Kit to inspire us to have a balanced tasty breakfast. We sat down to boiled eggs, toast with our homemade jam; one of the benefits of having several berry plants in the garden. We have blackcurrant, raspberries, gooseberries, rhubarb and various other goodies that get presevred each summer.
I also had a favourite treat of mine, a toasted banana sandwich with a good drizzle of honey. My dad is a beekeeper, so we always eat plenty of honey. It is mostly healthy though, one of your five a day, some starchy carbohydrates from the bread and a little natural sweetness.
If you want to win your own Big Red Breakfast kit, do head over tot the Warburtons Facebook page as they are running a competition. https://www.facebook.com/Warburtons

By Cinabar

Warburton’s Old English White Bread [By @Cinabar]

When it comes to bread you know there is nothing tastier than white bread. I eat a lot of wholemeal and interesting seeded loaves, and I do like them, but when it comes to a proper treat I opt for white bread. Perhaps it is reminiscent of my childhood, but white bread feels like a comfort food. When I heard that Warburton’s had brought out a range of new special loaves the first one I opted to try was this new Old English White. It was inspired by one of their heritage recipes, and designed with indulgence in mind.
The packaging is very smart, and the packet ties at the top, not the side making these stand out. The loaf is smaller than a regular loaf, but it is meant to be extra special, and not just for dunking in your soup or something.
Now there was a temptation to make a chip butty using this bread, as it is an important taste test for bread if ever there was one, but instead we decided on trying it out as bread and butter. Basic maybe, but probably the purest way of going about this.
I have to say I was impressed by the bread. The first thing to note was the flavour, it actually had such a lovely defined taste, there was an almost creaminess to the flavour. The texture was lovely and fluffy too. The crust was a little stronger in taste and had just the right give for texture, slightly more than a regular white, but it gave it a sort of rustic feel.

And who is to say you can’t have a few nice side items with your bread and better? Mix it up with some rich and creamy blue cheese, a selection of cold meats, crisps, a tomato and an egg and lets be honest its simple, but taste wise its food of the gods! I can’t wait to try the other new loaves.

By Cinabar

Many thanks to Warburtons for sending over the bread in return for an honest review.

Warburtons New Baked Pitta Chips – Sour Cream & Chive (Sainsburys) [@Cinabar]

This is a new snacking product from Warburtons who are usually famed for their loaves of bread. It consists of triangles of pitta bread which are baked until crisp, and then seasoned. I say ‘new’ which is justified by the big ‘new’ label top left on the bag, but my Spidey Senses picked something up. These snacks felt really familiar, and after a bit of a search I found that I had reviewed a very similar sounding Warburtons Chippidy DooDaa Pitta Chips last summer.
These chips are triangular in shape, and look rough on one side, and smooth underneath. They are a nice golden baked colour. These pitta chips are loaded with Sour Cream & Chive flavouring, but other flavours available include Salt & Black Pepper and Salt & Vinegar. They had a full on flavour that was impressively intense. It was both slightly creamy, but mainly full of onion tasting chive, and really nice. If you like sour cream and chive crisps, or indeed cheese and onion I would suggest giving these a try.
They had a lovely crunchy too, they were crisp and moreish, and the textured softened very gently as they were chewed. They felt light, but natural and were very easy to eat. I felt that these were a great alternative to crisps, and as they are baked so they are healthier and have less fat. Having said that, they taste so good that you wouldn’t know they were lower fat – which is always a bonus when you realised that you’ve munched your way through the whole bag! :-D
By Cinabar

Warburtons Gluten Free & Wheat Free Breads [by @LoisParker]

I’m pleased to announce we have a guest post today. Lois Parker from ‘Bring Back The Bliss - Gluten Free Cooking’ has been off to London to the Warburtons launch of their new speciality breads.



Warburtons have launched their new range of gluten and wheat free foods. They are making white and brown sliced loaves, crumpets, fruited teacakes and sub-rolls. All of these are made in a dedicated gluten-free factory, so we don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.

The breads are lactose-free as well as gluten and wheat free but don’t advertise this on the packaging. They do have an allergy advice box on the back to make a safety assessment easy. The range does contain xanthan gum to help hold the bread together, so anyone with sensitivity to this product will steer clear of these breads.

The bread compares well with its closest rivals, Genius and Marks & Spencer’s, and having the might of such a large bread bakery company behind it should manage to avoid some of the issues of availability and shelf life that these others have had.

I tried the bread fresh; it is soft and slightly powdery as expected. It toasted well, and made excellent French toast. To make this I used and egg and some milk, soaked the bread briefly and then fried. The bread soaked up the liquid well, went crisp when cooked, and the interior was soft and moist with no hint of the bizarre texture changes you can get with other gf bread – granulation has been a problem with some other breads.

Overall I was very impressed with this range. It will make serving coeliacs and others with a wheat or gluten intolerance or allergy much easier. It should mean that cafes and restaurants will no longer be able to say they have nothing to serve – provided they remember to use clean hands, clean surfaces and, if toasting, have a dedicated toaster or toaster bags.

The launch was held in collaboration with the Coeliac Society and Phil Vickery. Phil has produced a range of recipes using these products to show how a simple slice of bread can turn into many different foods.

By Lois Parker

Warburtons: Chippidy DooDaa Chilli Jack [Pitta Chips] (Nisa)

Now I’m not going to pretend that I loved the Warburton’s Snack-A-Doodle snacks that I tried last week. I thought they were a little dull on my taste buds and found the flavour a bit muted and, dare I say it, healthy. I purchased these Pitta Chips at the same time and felt that I should stop putting off their inevitable testing.
All the flavour missing from the Snack-A-Doodles has definitely been hiding in this Chippidy DooDaa bag. My word these products have strange names! The Chippidy DooDaas are absolutely full of flavour, a wonderful sweet paprika taste and a decent hit of chilli too, they are very tasty. The crunchy base is nice, and the underlying taste reminded me of French Toast. Although it is hard to distinguish the base taste from the heat of the chilli, what a fab full flavour! I’m so pleased to find a product marked as containing chilli that actually has some heat , they are the complete opposite to the Sweet Chilli Snack-A-Doodles, which is a good thing if you like a chilli burn.
Okay, so now I’m tempted to see what other options are in the new Warburtons range!

Warburtons: Snack A Doodle Sweet Chilli [Wholegrain Snacks] (Nisa)

It is always nice to see new low fat snacks on the market, well it is if they manage to combine the wonders of healthy and tasty. These particular snacks are made from wholegrain, and in appearance remind me of Snack-A-Jacks, and in name too I guess, Snack-A-Doodle is similar in style to Snack-A-Jack.
I like the texture of these snacks, they are lightly crunchy and dissolve nicely in the mouth. Sadly I wasn’t so keen on the flavour. For a product to be labelled as ‘Sweet Chilli’ I would expect a decent full flavour and spice. Oddly they smelt nice, they had a salty, sweet aroma, but the taste seemed very muted to me. Even a direct lick didn’t show up much of a taste sensation. What did come through when eating these was the base flavour of ‘wheat’ and cereal, not sweet but sort of dull on the taste buds. Sadly they tasted ‘healthy’ and I know that they are indeed good for you, but would some extra chilli flakes and seasoning really have upped the calorie content that much?
I have other flavours of the new snacks from Warburton’s to try; I do hope I get on a little better with them.