McVitie’s Harry Potter Cookies Butterbeer Flavour (Ocado) By @Cinabar

With the Harry Potter series back in the spotlight after recent casting news, it feels like the brand is everywhere again. One of the most iconic treats from the books and films is Butterbeer, so it was only a matter of time before it turned up in biscuit form.

These McVitie’s cookies caught my eye online as they sounded a bit different. Butterbeer flavour is not something you see every day, so curiosity got the better of me. On closer inspection though, they are essentially butterscotch flavoured cookies with white chocolate chips, which does make a bit more sense.

Once opened, the first thing I noticed was the size. They felt a little smaller than expected, but that might just be my preference for a chunkier biscuit.

Flavour wise, they are pleasant enough. There are hints of vanilla and caramel coming through, giving that sweet, slightly creamy profile you would associate with butterscotch. That said, the flavour does not quite hit the richer, deeper notes I was hoping for. The white chocolate chips do a lot of the heavy lifting, adding both sweetness and a nice bit of texture.

I do have a sweet tooth, so these worked well for me, but I cannot help feeling they played it a bit safe. With a name like Butterbeer and the Harry Potter branding, I was expecting something a bit more distinctive or indulgent.

Still, a nice enough biscuit, just not quite as magical as the packaging suggests.

Walkers Hot Honey Crisps (B&M) By @SpectreUK

I have seen a few different products with the new trending flavour of Hot Honey. I tried Hot Honey Jaffa Cakes the other day, and wasn't that fussed by them. For me, there was a little too much chilli, and not enough honey, So, when I saw these Walkers Hot Honey Crisps, I was a little apprehensive.

However, on opening the packet there was a sweet light chilli aroma from the crisps inside. On taste, these crisps had a sweet honey flavour, with a light hint of chilli. There was no noticeable chilli burn from these crisps. So, if you're looking for a super chilli waker-upper snack, these might not be for you. If you are looking for something unique, with sweet honey and mild chilli, you've come to the right place.

Information on the packet; The 128g bag contained 128 calories, with 7.2g of fat, 0.7g of sugar, and 0.14g of salt. Please see photograph fpor the ingredients.

Cadbury Twirl White Dipped (Texaco) By @cinabar

Years ago, I think it was the 2000s, an iconic chocolate bar appeared for a short time: the Snow Flake. It was a white chocolate flake, dipped in milk chocolate to hold it together. I remember having an Easter egg that came with one of those bars and absolutely loving it. There hasn’t been anything similar, until now.

Here we have Twirl White Dipped. This time, it’s the other way round: the flake inside is milk chocolate and the coating is white chocolate. I was still really excited to give it a try. I spotted it at our local petrol station, and as is tradition when we top up the fuel, we buy a chocolate treat, so this was absolutely perfect.

Once home, I opened the wrapper and found two white chocolate-coated bars. Inside, the flakes were the familiar milk chocolate. I gave it a try and loved the flavour. The usual Cadbury chocolate shone through, but the white coating made it creamier and even sweeter. It was a lovely combination. I have a sweet tooth, so I enjoyed every bite.

The only downside is that it’s labelled as a Limited Edition, which is such a shame. I can see this becoming legendary, just like the Snow Flake did. Let’s hope it stays around a bit longer.

Seabrook Limited Edition Tomato Ketchup Crisps (Morrisons) By @cinabar

There’s always a little thrill when Seabrook release a new flavour, especially when it’s a limited edition. This time, it’s Tomato Ketchup, a bold, nostalgic choice that’s bound to divide opinion, but definitely worth grabbing while you can.

First off, the texture hits all the right notes. These crisps are satisfyingly crunchy, with that signature Seabrook crinkle cut that not only boosts the bite but also catches every bit of seasoning in the ridges. It’s a smart design that delivers a more intense flavour with every mouthful.

Taste-wise, they’re a delight. The tomato is sweet and rich, instantly recognisable, but there’s more going on under the surface. A subtle warmth lifts the flavour, thanks to the paprika and pimento tucked into the seasoning mix. It’s mild, but it adds a depth that makes them more than just your average ketchup crisp.

The only thing missing? That sharp vinegar tang you’d expect from a classic ketchup flavour. It’s not a dealbreaker, though. These crisps are still packed with tomatoey goodness, and the slight spice more than makes up for it.

If you’re a fan of sweet and savoury with a hint of warmth, these are well worth hunting down before they vanish from the shelves.

Yorkie Biscuit and Brownie Limited Edition (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I don’t buy a lot of Yorkie bars. My favourite chocolate is Milka because it reminds me of childhood treats from my German grandma. It has a slightly nutty taste, and I like it for the memories attached to it. My second favourite is Cadbury, simply because it is super sweet and creamy, and I have a sweet tooth to match. So I don’t often buy Yorkies, plus they had that awful ‘not for girls’ advertising campaign in the nineties. Some of us remember, and yes, we are that petty. However, I can be tempted by a new flavour, so for a change, I picked up a bar.

This is the Yorkie Biscuit and Brownie limited edition. The bar is smartly packaged in a blue wrapper, though in a more aqua shade than the usual blue. Inside were the classic Yorkie pieces, each embossed with the brand name. I broke off a piece and gave it a try. The chocolate was nice, but I think you get used to the brand you normally buy, and that becomes your norm. I liked the chocolate, it was chunky and sweet, though not quite creamy enough for me. The texture was good, with the biscuit adding a soft crunch to the pieces, which I enjoyed as I like a mix of textures.

I have to admit I enjoyed the bar. It was a nice chocolate, and the addition of brownie and biscuit worked well. I’ll have to make more of an effort to keep an eye on new products from the brand and give them a try. This was a very enjoyable afternoon chocolate with my coffee.

McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition (Iceland) By @Cinabar

I think I might have been around eight years old when I last had Iced Gems. I remember the cute little biscuits with a dollop of solid icing from my childhood. I specifically remember having a bag of them as an after-school treat, but I just don’t remember buying any in adulthood. I do remember the flavour though, the sweet, sugary goodness and crunchy biscuit. What prompted me to buy them again after all this time was the inevitable ‘limited edition’ label that lured me in, and what an interesting new flavour. Here we have McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition.

Inside the pack are 5 mini packs for a portion-controlled snack. Inside the bag, they do look the same; some had pink and some had blue icing on top, and some had the icing fall off. The aroma was slightly different; it had a much stronger, sugary scent, unless my memory was playing tricks on me.

I gave one a try, and the nostalgic crunch was all there. I could remember the crispy icing, and it took me back to childhood. The flavour is as sugary as you would expect, but there is also a slightly burnt sugar taste, the candy floss element. There was enough of the original flavour for it to bring back the memories, but the twist of candy floss was there, and it worked too. I absolutely loved eating Little Gems again, and this McVities Iced Gems Candy Floss Limited Edition was so nice. They also made me feel like a giant with these tiny biscuits. I will try and pick them up more regularly now as an afternoon snack; they are too good to leave it so long before having them again. 

Toblerone Gold - Golden Caramel With Honey and Almond Nougat (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I think I have to start this post with a bit of back history about the price. I rarely write about the price of items we’ve bought for Foodstuff Finds, as most items cost us less than £2 and those that are a little bit more expensive from time to time are a bit of an indulgence. When Toblerone first announced their new Toblerone Gold Edition Golden Caramel With Honey and Almond Nougat bar, I wanted one, naturally. I went to buy one online as it was an online exclusive at the time and it came with a personalised pack and a price tag of £17.50. I stopped, it was a ridiculous price for a bar and even though I did consider it, I couldn’t do it. I speak as someone who has spent several pounds on exotic foreign Kit Kat specials, but one bar for that price and I knew I’d have to let it go.

So, as you may have spotted from the title, I went on to find this bar in the supermarket with a much more palatable price tag of £3.50, and excitedly snapped one up. I’ve not had Toblerone for a while but the rush of nostalgia from Christmases past hit me. Finding a large Toblerone under the tree was super exciting. I opened the bar and ripped into the foil, the aroma of caramel was sweet and strong. Toblerone is an awkward shaped bar, it makes it unique but also difficult to eat. The internet has taught me how to break the pieces off. As a kid I’d wrestle them off outward and in an undignified manor, but apparently the internet said if I pressed the piece inwards toward the rest of the bar it would break off, and it did! Who knew! Did they add more space between the pieces? Is that why it is easier?

These are big chunky pieces, and they are still a bit difficult to eat, but that is my kind of problem. The flavour is sugary sweet, with soothing tones of caramel, and then the honey almond nougat kicks in. The bar doesn’t have the best texture as the nougat is sticky, but I like it because of the memories that it generates. I love the sweet new caramel version of Toblerone, it is rich and comforting. I will definitely try and pick up another Toblerone Gold Edition Golden Caramel With Honey and Almond Nougat bar, so long as it is £3.50!

The Artist Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca Cola (Tesco) By @Cinabar

We have a new summer edition Coca Cola out in the UK. This one is a flavour created by The Artist Marshmello. As the whole artificial sweeteners thing is a very Marmite concept, I will just make it clear the can I bought is a no-sugar drink. I don’t mind the extra sweetness that brings, but I know it will put a lot of people off completely.

Anyway, I poured out the drink and the colour was not unusual at all; standard Coca Cola brown. The aroma was cola with strawberry laces, it was very sweet and fruity and like sweets. When I tried a sip the fruit taste was a bit softer, for me it made me think of peach. If this had been a flavour to guess, I would have gone Peach Melba. The explanation of the flavour is on the can, it is strawberry watermelon. As I said, the strawberry is very present, and the sweet fruity mellow taste but I couldn’t pick out watermelon.

The Artist Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca Cola drink was fine, it was sweet even for me but fun for the summer. I still rate the Coke with Lime over this, that is a proper refreshing flavoured cola for a hot day.

Cadbury Twirl Caramel flavour (Co-Op) By @SpectreUK

This is going to upset me. This is definitely going to upset me. Okay, so we're not all that adventurous when it comes to flavouring chocolate in the UK. Although caramel and milk chocolate do go exceptionally well with each other. In fact it's beyond doubt my favourite flavour of milk chocolate. Maybe I'm not all that adventurous when it comes to my indulgences, but I know what I like. So making this Cadbury Twirl Caramel flavour chocolate bar a limited edition is going to upset me.

I love regular Cadbury's Twirl chocolate bars. They're pretty much the neat version of a Cadbury's Flake. Well, unless you have a Dipped Flake of course. So I'm just going to adore this Cadbury Twirl Caramel flavour chocolate bar and wish it wasn't a limited edition. Well, you'd certainly think so anyway.

On opening the packet there was a milk chocolate and caramel aroma. The chocolate Twirl sticks inside looked just like the regular Twirl sticks. On taste there was Cadbury's milk chocolate to start with that was instantly followed by a gorgeous flavour of caramel. These two flavours wrapped lovingly around by tastebuds soothing my senses after a couple of days of tough job interviews. And the good news; I just had a phone call from my future boss, it looks like I've finally got some work to do.

Information on the wrapper; Each 21.5g Cadbury Twirl Caramel flavour finger was 114 calories, with 6.3g of fat, 12g of sugar, and 0.5g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Rhubarb & Custard Creams (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Breaking news here, forget the Bourbon Custard Creams which came out earlier in the year, the big news are these Rhubarb & Custard Creams I found in Tesco. They don’t even have a ‘new’ label on them but they are the first time I’ve seen them (or even heard about them). They are a fab sounding edition of biscuit, I mean what other fruit could you possible pair with custard as well as these.

 

I opened up the packet of Rhubarb & Custard Creams and the biscuits look very much like regular Custard Creams except for the filling being a pale shade of pink. There is a light rhubarb aroma too which was nice, I couldn’t wait to try one. I have to say I was super impressed with these biscuits. The rhubarb flavour is fairly strong and the acidity of the fruit flavour perfectly balanced out by the creamy custard. A perfect flavour match. The biscuits are good, even dunked in coffee all the flavours and textures still worked well. I don’t re-buy a lot of limited editions but these I will, they were just lovely on their own and dunked, and are an absolutely brilliant edition. Everybody was talking about the chocolate Bourbon Custard Creams but really these Rhubarb & Custard Creams are the biscuits everyone should be trying.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Neapolitan (GB Gifts) By @SpectreUK

Much of the time Cinabar moans at me for not listening to her. I say 'much of the time', but I could possibly have missed quite a few through not listening to her. She told me that I'd asked about this Cadbury Dairy Milk Neapolitan several times, and she'd told me each time that the chocolate bar didn't have nuts in it, but it does have Dairy Milk chocolate, Dream white chocolate and strawberry flavoured chocolate. I can't remember asking her about it that much, but maybe I don't really listen to myself either…

On unwrapping the bar as you can see from the photograph that there is white chocolate on top of strawberry chocolate on top of Dairy Milk Chocolate. On taste there was the creaminess from the Dream white chocolate to start with, followed by a touch of sweet strawberry chocolate, which quickly merged with the Diary Milk Chocolate. There was then a stronger flavour from the strawberry chocolate as it slightly over shadowed the other two other chocolatey flavours. This is a gorgeous flavoursome three-way chocolate bar, and it was a Dreamy treat with my white hot chocolate drink for pudding. 

Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Walker Chicken Burrito Crisps (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I love the limited edition crisps from Walkers, I always get excited to try out the new flavours but nothing makes me happier than a variation of new chicken flavour crisps. Also one of my favourite meals out is to have Chicken Burritos too so yes I may be a little biased about these crisps even before I open the bag. Bring it on.

These Walker Chicken Burrito Crisps are one of the new flavours in the Walkers “Taste Icons” range which is supporting local restaurants, there is even a money off voucher on the bag. I opened up the bag and the aroma was lovely, chicken but also a creamy scent too. I gave one a try and found that they were really good, there is a nice chicken base flavour, some mild spices mixed in a sour cream dip flavour in the after taste. I was impressed by how well they had recreated the flavour of a chicken burrito, it was a good fresh flavour and worked ever so well. I mean yes I am biased but oh my these do just work, they are such a tasty bag of crisps. I am rather pleased I picked up two multipack as these won’t last long in the cupboard.

Wispa Gold Hazelnut Limited Edition (@CadburyUK) By @Cinabar

The Cadbury twitter account said that followers could sign up for a share of gold (not an actual share and not actual gold) and in fact I’ll be honest I wasn’t completely sure what I was signing up for. I thought I would be getting one bar of the new Wispa Gold Hazelnut Limited Edition, what arrived though was so much better, a rather fabulous box with 6 bars and a pin badge arrived. Yay!!!

Now I am nuts about hazelnut and chocolate so I couldn’t wait to try out this new bar. Wispa Gold is also probably my favourite regular chocolate bar so yes I’ll admit I was a bit excited. I broke one in half and the golden caramel oozed out, it looked yum!

I gave the Wispa Gold Hazelnut Limited Edition bar a try and it was divine. The chocolate was the wonderful bubbly self, but the hazelnut was a good rich flavour, lots of hazelnut and there was still the golden caramel taste too. I loved the mix of textures from the Wispa chocolate and the caramel, and every bite delivered chocolate nutty goodness. Think eating a Wispa full of Nutella, absolutely divine. Please Cadbury can you keep this around, it is too good to be a limited edition. Also we need more flavours, what next, Wispa Mint perhaps? Come on Cadbury, I’d buy a share.

PS I can't see hazelnuts in the ingredients?

New Cadbury Orange Twirl (Co-Op) By @Cinabar

The hype about this New Cadbury Orange Twirl has been unprecedented. I have asked so many local shops if they have it in stock and all have replied something along the lines of no, but if only I had £1 for everyone that asked I’d be rich! On a special stop off at a local Co-Op to check there too I finally had success. The man in the shop said he only put the box out 30 minutes ago and I had the last six bars from it. Weirdly they are on offer at two for £1, but they really didn’t a special deal to make this chocolate bar sell out.
The bars themselves are in a twin pack which has an orange coloured section highlighting the limited edition nature of this bar. I unwrapped the Cadbury Orange Twirl and could already pick up on the chocolate orange scent. The bars themselves looked like regular Twirls, two sticks of flake style chocolate with a milk chocolate coating.
The chocolate has the usual crumbly texture and thick sweet melt of a Twirl, but the flavour is backed up with oodles of orange. It is a sweet and fruity flavour and the richness of the chocolate is broken up by a lovely shot of citrus. I thought it was a well balanced bar that was distinctively Twirl but still worked like magic with its orange twist and it gets the thumbs up from me. I can’t remember ever seeing a limited edition Twirl before so I do understand the mass search for this chocolate bar and I do think it is worth it. Hopefully this bar becomes a bit more easy to find as time goes on. Have you managed to find one yet? What did you think?

Limited Edition Orange Daim Bar (PoundLand) By @Cinabar

Although Daim bars are fairly easy to get hold of in the UK, the Limited Edition flavours rarely make it onto UK shelves. You can sometimes find them in Ikea, but they can be quite pricey in there. This Foodstuff Find came from the wonderfully well priced £1 in Poundland for a multipack of three, awesome!

The bars are in a bright orange pack, and do state Limited Edition, without giving much of a clue as to how long they are available, hence I bought two multipacks! Inside each pack are three individually wrapped bars. The chocolate bar is fairly flat and consists of a crunchy almond cracknel coated in a fairly thick milk chocolate, flavoured with orange. The minute I opened up the wrapper I could smell the sweet orange essence and new this was going to be a good version of the chocolate bar. I had forgotten how lovely the texture is on a Daim bar, the centre is brittle, crunchy and the it turns slightly chewy as you eat it, and all of this is wrapped in creamy milk chocolate. The flavour is a lovely mix of chocolate and orange, it is sweet and full of citrus. You can still taste the almond and caramel cracknel and the flavours mingle together perfectly. I loved the playful textures too and am rather pleased with myself that I’d stocked up.

Black & White Lion Bar (Newsagent) By @Cinabar

I was recently on a trip to Cardiff, and on a search for some Welsh beer for Spectre we ended up looking in a large newsagent. Finding Welsh beer in Wales was not as easy as you might have thought, a branch of Tesco didn’t have any for example. We did finally find Cardiff beer in a large newsagent, and obviously I had a look at the chocolate available there too. Bars of chocolate for me I mean, for the train journey home. Anyway I found these Limited Edition Black and White Lion bars, and then forgot about them until today. Pretty shocking I know, but I was super excited when I rediscovered them again in the cupboard!
So White Lion bars are fairly easy to find, usually in bargain shops or import shops, but this is the first time I’ve seen a Black and White Lion bar. The Lion bar had dark chocolate wafers, dark chocolate and a coating of white chocolate on top, as well as all the usual crispie pieces and caramel.

Firstly I chopped a bit off to have a look at the promised black and white colour scheme, I wasn’t disappointed, I thought the filling looked very dramatic. I bit in and found I loved the flavour of the bar. This chocolate wasn’t as sweet as the white chocolate version, and although the white chocolate added contrast the dark chocolate added a balance to the cocoa and made this very enjoyable. The caramel seemed more predominant too and had a deeper flavour, which I also really loved. I’d forgotten just how nice Lion bars are, and how satisfying all those wonderful mix of textures were to munch on. I now have to find a local stockist of this limited edition bar, which I’m sure will be easier than trying to find Welsh beer in Wales!

Limited Edition UK M&Ms Brazil World Cup [By @Cinabar]

The world cup is coming, it is being held in Brazil and this means that the limited edition goodies are starting to appear on the shelves in the shops.
Excitingly M&Ms UK have a new Limited Edition to celebrate. Now let’s take a moment to think about the interesting options that they may have gone for, after all this is a special new product. One of Brazil’s largest food exports is coffee, this could be a clever connection. Imagine that folks  fabulous cappuccino M&Ms? Or a stronger espresso edition, wouldn’t that be different? Another major export from Brazil is orange juice. Orange M&Ms sound like they could offer a fruity and refreshing summer treat. Imagine a bag of those as you watch the football. America has had a limited edition raspberry flavour in the past, so it’s not an unreasonable bet this could be something with a fruit twist!
Talking of which lets also see if they took inspiration from some of the amazing flavours that get released elsewhere in the world, for example Birthday Cake. Well they could do a ‘celebration cake’ edition, that would be lovely and would sort of fit in. Carrot cake, has also been released over the shores, and Brazil has some spicy cakes flavoured with cloves/cinnamon that could work well with this. Perhaps we will just get something refreshing for the hot weather, like mint or a tropical taste like coconut that just screams summer? Both of those flavour have beed released in other countries.
Okay then, give me  a second to double check what this years Limited Edition UK M&M flavour is in celebration of the World Cup, drum roll please…. It’s… “peanut”. Oh. Like the peanut M&Ms we already have I hear you ask? No don’t be silly, this a UK Limited Edition Brazil World Cup special, so they only included the yellow, blue and green coloured ones. So err actually yes, pretty much just the usual peanut ones then. Whats the point? Are you supposed to try and make the Brazilian flag using them?

This follows an exciting Christmas launch last year in the UK where we got exactly the same M&Ms as usual but just coloured red and green. I couldn’t even be bothered to blog about them. This release has bugged me a bit as you can probably tell, so I committed word to (virtual) paper! Way to go M&Ms UK, you really know how to spoil us here.
For those wanting a taste review, they taste exactly the same as every other peanut M&M you’ve ever had before. *Sigh*

By Cinabar

Coco Orange Shreddies (Asda) by @NLi10

Ah - good old Limited Edition.  Adding Orange sure is a popular thing to do these days, and it tweaks the ordinary product just enough to make it special.  Normal Shreddies could be considered quite boring by non-cereal enthusiasts and I remember in my youth discovering the chocolate Shreddie and being overjoyed at how nice they were.  This is a little different - it's a special version of a special version.

I'm sure that a glass of orange juice in the morning is a very good idea.  You start the day refreshed and full of vitamin C and can bounce out of the house to work.  Similarly Shreddies are full of malt, whole grain & fibre and all the other things the TV says are good for you, but also in this case chocolate so that you actually get around to eating it.  I'm not sure the two mix.  I like chocolate orange, and I like chocolate shreddies but orange flavoured cereal is a bit odd.  I think that it's the milk & the citrus that kind of clashes, or maybe the hint of malt, or maybe just that oranges shouldn't have this texture!

I'll finish the box of these because they certainly aren't bad, but they are a big box of confusion for me.  I spend most of the time while I'm eating them trying to decide what it is that is so wrong.  I guess that Orange Shreddies with no chocolate wouldn't work either which is where the whole triangle of tastes falls over.  It has reminded me how much I love chocolate shreddies so I may have to get those on the next shop...