Twix Ice-cream and Eurovision 2026 [@NLi10]

A half time icecream at the theatre is important, and when watching spectacle TV at home it's nice to have the equivalent.

For Eurovision 2026 which I watched at home I decided to pick up Bounty & Twix Ice-creams from Iceland to see how they'd changed over the years.

At the half-way point I had the Twix.  One finger which kind of misses the branding, but a decent size one.

And inside is a tunnel with caramel and biscuit balls.  Flo in the background is only interested in the ice-cream.

Overall it was a decent choc-ice with a few added extras to keep it interesting.

The bounty had less coconut than I remember from my youth, but was essentially just a bar shaped choc-ice (I had that as the songs finished)

The show was decent too, and the bad guys didn't win which is always a bonus.  Hope it's still around next year!

 

Lindt - Les Grandes - Dark & Nutty [@NLi10]

Lindt make great chocolate, but apart from the little balls I think they struggle to get a hold in the 'bar with stuff' market.  In the UK it's all Cadbury and on the mainland it's all Ritter Sport (for me anyway).  I got given this one so thought I'd give it a try.

It's dark choc (but not too dark) and big nuts.

Do Cadbury even do whole nut anymore?  I used to be given that one a lot as a child as my sister hated nuts so I must trade my plain ones for hers.  Luckily I enjoyed them.  This has the typical care and attention of a Lindt bar.

And the super sexy (and recyclable) foil.

And the nuts are so big that you don't feel that you've been given the leftovers

But it's still firmly Lindt.

For me the balance is a little too sweet, so two squares at a time only for me.  That said - it's pretty nice.  The choc flavours are light, but the nuts are deep and interesting.

Not one I'd ordinarily choose (I'd much rather have the savoury nut snacks now) but a nice change and a great reminiscence about a nutty chocky childhood.

Mr Beast Crunch vs a classic Time Out bar [@NLi10]

 I had a hunt for exciting advent calendars this year - but I just didn’t see any! I know I have a few as presents that will appear this week - but instead I just bought some chocolate.

I hadn’t seen this Mr Beast bar - it’s the rice crispy one, and this is a classic Kwik Save chocolate treat - the Time Out bar.

Grass fed milk - like that’s unusual. Americans are odd.

The backs tell a familiar story.

One is focused on being the cool treat of choice - the other is a familiar friend,

And both being a chocolate with stuff mix they are fairly similar calories 

While Jimmy’s bar is a huge step up from most American chocolate, it still looks a little artificial next to the glory of the Time Out.

The wafer bar is actually pretty similar to how I remember it.  I used to get a pack of five from Kwik Save for a pound (maybe even 89p) while I was at uni and they’d last me all week. Here it’s 50p for one and it it’s a nice two bite snack. Just chocolaty enough to balance the wafers, it’s a delight.

The Mr beast offering has far more choc by percentage but has a similar taste and mouthfeel which isn’t surprising, but this kind of works in its favour.  For the price though you’d kind of expect more - think these are £2.50 still.

I’ll,only get more feastables if they do more interesting chocolate flavours like white and dark, otherwise I’ll stick to the Twix I’d have had if I’d not been in the interesting import shop.

Advent Roundup 2021 - White, Cats & Vegan by @NLi10

 It's basically half way through December which mean's I've got enough evidence to tell me what I think of each of the offerings.

First up we have a gifted Milkbar calendar - which actually has double pictures!

This is unusual in this age - all the other ones didn't bother.

The white chocolate could literally be anything and is unrelated to the pictures - low score but this is for toddlers (and me to have with cripplingly dark hot chocolates).

Next up - a late etnrant - cat calendar! These were better than half price (apparently) and contain regular kibble, and triangle luxury kibble.

Bad poos? Quick -fill the cat with them!  

Unfortunately only one of the cats likes the triangle ones - and they both ignore the kibble.  

No pictures of them eating them so far...

And here we have the main event - the Buttermilk vegan choc calendar.  No pictures - so dissapoint.

Here are the little lovely things inside - they aren't that exciting - but they are really nice!

The packaging is very eco too - easy recycle.  And the box has special reasons to break it up for recycling too - hidden goodies!

This is easily the winner but it was quite expensive...

Reese's, Hershey & Bahlsen - pink chocolate and Halloween leftovers by @NLi10

Discount chocolate is ace.  Today are some things that I picked up post Halloween for lower prices to try. 

I collated these all into a video if that is more your style. 

First up is the Reese's OVERLOAD - which is essentially a Reese's shape with slightly more biscuit inside.  It's nice - but it's not unexpected.

And don't get me wrong - as a discount snack I'm very happy with this.  I just would probably get a Twix for the regular price.

And here we have some discount pink chocolate - better than half price in Sainsbury's.  I love this generally, the mix of sugar and fruit is the foundation of my childhood.  This fondant approximation is fine - but the Pocky ones have better fruit, and white mice are more my style for the choc.

Enjoyable - but very much a small chunk at a time choc. Too sweet with too little flavour for mass snackage.

And now we have Messino Pink G&T ... well... Jaffa cakes!

Look like Jaffa Cakes! Taste like pink fruity alcohol.

Very hard to photo.  Again - pretty cheap and well worth the entry price - but unlike the regular cakes I could only eat a couple of these at a time. 

It's nice to get the best of the best when they get launched, but picking up three times as much when they get reduced is also pretty awesome!

Hope some of these are still floating around for people now.

Squirrel Sisters Brownie Bites Cacao/Orange (@NLi10)

 When making an online order from Holland & Barrett it's almost impossible not to add a few of the more specialist snacks on to the order.  So I ended up with two bags of Squirrel Sisters Raw Bite Brownies!

Look at these amazing treats!

Vegan, raw, full of fruit and just enough sugar and cocao (from natural sources) that you feel naughty for eating them!

I found these original ones a little dry for my tastes, but still very nice.  Lovely mix of textures too.

The orange ones are basically the same deal

Same mix, but the natural orange flavourings just make it shine.  I found these so much more enjoyable!

And yet they are fundamentally the exact same mix!

With the original flavour I could happily just have one and put them back, with the orange ones I've eaten three just writing this review.  I guess it's an individual taste thing.

A little pricey to sit and eat a whole bag, but as a perky little (healthy!) treat then these are spot on.  Nutrition and joy in one little cube.

Seasonal Jaffa Cakes - spooky, festive and pandemic?! (@NLi10)

 Jaffa Cakes are magical. They are a great way to bond with new people and turn any meeting into a race to eat as many as possible without looking greedy.  New flavours are always great as you HAVE to try them.

This year has been an odd one so I think they have just dumped everything in store at once so here’s what we picked up.

Halloween 

5 zesty orange cake bars? Yes please!

And with a day of the dead theme they evoke Pixar movie comparisons more than scary things. I approve!

They are quite little

Purple is a lot of fun, but these taste the same as normal. Great style, and the same great flavour. Just too small. Not worth chasing down, but enjoyable alternative.

Christmas/Festive

After non-scary Halloween we get non denominational Christmas. I approve again. This should upset no one while being pretty cool. I am excited to try these.

With only 10 in the pack these will go faster than the old dozens will.  (Ok - bad picture - imagine a Jaffa cake).

Looks like a slightly redder jelly bit. And to me it tasted almost identical. The younger people in the office got quite excited by the cranberry flavour they could taste though, so I think my old jaded tastebuds just needed to eat more.

Nice, not overpriced compared to normal cakes (except for these aren’t multipacks)

Pandemic/Sharing

Hint at future review here too!

So - whether this is just a good choice of what to put on special, or a cunning way of saying that three cakes is a portion, but here are individually wrapped Jaffa cakes ready for an office full of lab workers to share without risk of cross infection.

In my head these are overpriced, because snack packs usually are, but 18 cakes for £1.29 when it’s usually just under a pound for 10 seems fine to me.  I should have got these too!

We were very careful to tip the cakes out of the packets into peoples hands and not to fondle all the cakes as we handed them to people to try. Here you are sanitary and keep everything fresh too. Great plan.

Not very exciting offerings this year, but with solid flavours and no jacked-up prices I can see myself dipping back into these (especially if the post spooky ones end up in the discount section as usual!)

Kellogg's Choco Wheats (@NLi10)

Kelloggs Frosted Wheats are a great breakfast cereal.  They contain good tasting wheat, sugar, and enough gaps for the milk to mingle.

And now we have these!

10 bowls? Unlikely.  These are special because not only is the wheat chocolatey there is a hidden chocolate lump in the middle (instead of the non vegetarian icing on the frosted ones).

Raisin wheats also exist - but lets pretend that they don't.  

And here we see the real deal.  I layered them over regular Kellogg's Corn Flakes for a lighter breakfast.

And they work - they are indeed a little more chocolatey than the plain ones, and the choc in the middle boosts it to an officially chocolatey experience.  Not too sweet, not too chocolatey, and soft enough to enjoy.  Another victory for Kellogg's!

 

Indie Bay Dark Choc Pretzels - Oven Baked Spelt Bites (@NLi10)

The Ocado man has been - which means lots of fun new things to criticise.  The first of which are these Indie Bay Dark Choc Pretzels - Oven Baked Spelt Bites.  I did't really read much about these - I just saw Dark, Pretzel and special offer and said yes.

Not only are they not pretzel shaped (this is a crime) but they are made with spelt instead!  This is one of the older grains that doesn't have some of the negative connotations that wheat has these days - but they added a little wheat too so don't go thinking these are gluten-free!

They are veggie/vegan friendly which is nice, and they don't really have that many calories in them - although all the really healthy things seem to aim for sub-100 calories per portion.

That's fine though - you are going to have to share these.

They actually look like the pack shots too which is nice.  They are big.  They are most definitely a slightly lighter pretzel and I'm really happy with them.  They have a good level of salt, the chocolate is very high quality and the crunchy bits are good too.  Good job I got two packs so I can see if they go with beer.  I finished the first one while writing this up.

While I'm not sure this is an instant re-buy there are certain to be other flavours and styles in the range and I could totally justify getting a couple of packs of white/milk to review.  Hopefully these will show up on the counters of a couple of my in-town shops so i can pick them up for wandering about snacks.

Just the right kind of luxury snack for me, and something I can see being very popular.

Cadbury Wispa Biscuits Are Just Fine (@NLi10)

Lockdown continues.  And as exciting as it is to me you probably don't want to hear about the new kind of pea milk I've been trying (far right) and how it's creamier but ultimately the same stuff? Right!

Now is a time for little indulgences - and for picking up stuff we've probably written about before.

One of the only things that Ocado had in stock with Cadbury chocolate was thee Wispa biscuits.  Being as Wispa is the soft chocolate and Cadbury biscuits snap more than crumble I was probably harsh about these in the past.

Now that we are stuck indoors the tiny amount of Wispa they use to justify the product is OK with me.  The biscuits that are better suited to the little animal shaped boxes is still decent.

Everything is going to be fine - just like these slightly too expensive, but nice enough Wispa biscuits.  Just fine.

A Glorious Mash-Up! Cadbury White Bar with Oreo (@NLi10)

When Oreo (Kraft) purchased Cadbury it was a sad day for Birmingham.  A lot of the products that had been produced in smaller numbers due to the premium crumb were switched to the generic chocolate and became less special - but more available.  One of the upsides has been that there are a lot of cross-over products we couldn't see before, but unusually today we see another more unexpected one.

Cadbury White Chocolate has always been fine.  Not good, not bad, just fine.  I'd say that the luxury brands (and ironically milky-bar) have understood what works well at low cocoa concentrations (raspberries) and what just doesn't sell.

Here though I think Cadbury have hit on something - mix your new flavours and sensations with the less distracting white chocolate and let those flavours flow!

It doesn't photo well.  The outside is vanilla Cadbury white chocolate.  The inside is lovely Oreo biscuit.  The insulation in this cavity wall of a choc bar is a white mush that both my partner and I recognised, but I'm not really clear where from.  I think it's their previous wave of choc bars with Oreo inside, but the proportions and density are so different it may be a new recipe.  Either-way without the Cadbury Dairy Milk on the outside to overpower it this just works.

This is probably the best white chocolate bar on the high-street right now (ignoring luxury brands) unless there is a white choc Bounty that I can't see on Google.  It is still white choc so if you don't like that (or texture layers) then this may not be for you - but if you like any part of this I urge you to pick some up while it's still on the 4 for £1 special offer.