All Butter Rose Biscuits For Tea (@Tesco Finest) [By @cinabar]

There are quite a few new goodies appearing in the new range from Tesco Finest, and I couldn't resist giving the new Rose biscuits a try. As much as I love rose paired with rhubarb or even just on its own in Turkish Delight, I can't recall having seen it as a biscuit flavouring before now.
I had a little nosey at the box and was impressed by the simplicity of the ingredients list, every item was natural and there wasn't a single complex sounding ingredient in the box. In fact all the biscuits contained were wheat flour, butter milk, sugar and rose.
Inside the box were eight quite sizable squares of shortbread, each one coming in at 90 calories so they don't seem to bad a treat with a cup of tea, which incidentally is the serving suggestion. I would imagine this would go well with a floral tea like Earl Grey but as I was feeling rebellious I actually brewed up a cafetiere of coffee instead. :-)
The biscuits had a light dusting of sugar on them, and where a smart pale cream in colour. I really enjoyed the flavour of these too, the balance of rose was spot on, there were no qualms about its presence, but the flavour still remained delicately floral. The sweet and buttery flavours of shortbread still shone through and it was still easy to identify the underlying biscuit flavour. The texture was good too, they were firm but crumbly, exactly as they should be. I think the way to judge a biscuit is to see how long they last once opened and this pack was empty within the afternoon, enough said really.
These biscuit are something a bit different, a new flavour and a bit of a posh treat. I can't wait to see what other goodies are coming out in the rest of the new arrivals in the range.

By Cinabar

Domino's Twisted Dough Balls: Hot Dog / Belgian Chocolate (@Dominos_UK) [By @cinabar]

This is not the first time I've seen Dough Balls on the menu at Dominos, I think they have been available for a while, but in flavours like garlic and cheese and I've only ever thought of them as a garlic bread alternative. During a recent order the new Hot Dog variety caught my eye, available with or without mustard, so I added some to our order. Then I clicked on desserts and I couldn't believe what I saw, a sweet version! The chocolate variety got added too. I don't normally get a pudding from Dominos so thought it would be a nice extra treat.

Twisted Dough Balls Hot Dog and Mustard

There are six of these in the box and each one comes with its own mini hot dog rolled in the middle and a line of yellow mustard. They do have more than a passing resemblance to mini sausage rolls, but the minute you bite in you can tell the difference. The pizza dough is soft and bread like and works well with the hot dog sausage really helping to recreate the flavours of the real thing. The mustard was tangy, but not hot so shouldn’t be too strong for anyone. We loved having these as a side dish with our pizza, they break up the meal nicely and don't contain any garlic. I always feel bad having garlic bread, particularly if I have work the next day, as the smell lingers! :-D

Twisted Dough Balls Belgian Chocolate

After we finished off our mains, we opened up the box for dessert. There are a few hybrid cakes on market at the minute, from doughnuts mixed with croissants to muffins mixed with doughnuts, it is definitely the current trend! Dominoes have gone for pizza bread mixed with chocolate, and why not. Again there were six in the pack, but a couple didn't quite look as good as the others. All the hot dog versions had a mini hot dog in them, but not all the chocolate ones appeared to have much chocolate, and when we tucked in I can confirm two had little flavour, but I'll focus on the good ones for now.
The Dough Balls were still warm, and came dusted with icing sugar. The chocolate chips were melting into the warm bread base turning them into a sticky chocolate filling, which made them even more appetising.
I was impressed that the dark chocolate chips were of a good quality and the flavour worked well. It reminded me of chocolate spread on bread, and certainly worked as a combination. As new hybrid desserts go, this'd one gets the thumbs up! It’s just a shame that a couple of them didn’t have much chocolate, I’m hoping I was just unlucky because if they can sort that out then I’ll be ordering these again.

By Cinabar

Asda Puff Pastry Pies - New Flavours (Asda) [by @NLi10]

Ah - pies.  Meaty snack food, convenience food and full meal in one.  Since the advent of pieminister and the luxury pie revolution the likes of Pukka and the more typical pies have almost become the basics and discount versions.

To me this isn't a problem - different meals require different pies.  Today we are looking at Asda's new additions to their ordinary pie range, under the Chosen By You range banner.

We have Chicken & White WIne and Chicken Curry varieties - both of which were £1, which is a bargain and about a third of the Pieminister price.

First up we have the Chicken & White WIne. I'm not a fan of wine, but I understand the tang it can add to sauces  and was interestd to try this.  Turns out its a fairly creamy white sauce, not too strong in flavour but certainy plesant enough.  It's a meal size pie and contains decent cuts of chicken. For a pound this is a good choice.

I missed out on Chicken Curry pies growing up as for years I feared the spiciness and then after chose not to eat things that didn't specify what kind of curry it was. It'd be like eating a Meat Pie without questioning the kind of meat...

This however is a little non-descript in it's flavour, but still rather enjoyable.  It's not too spicy, but does have a bit of heat in there.

The meat inside is all a bit shreaded but gives it a great texture and its overall a nice pie.  I think I'd like to try Pukka's take on this as my lack of experience means this was probably a bit more of a novelty than it should have been.

I'll probably add both of these to the trolly in future trips, they aren't as 'basic' as I'd feared at the price.  I may add a few oven chips on the side to take them into the status of a full meal.

Wonka Crème Bruelee (Tesco) [By @cinabar]

This is the third new bar from Wonka that has launched in the UK. It was actually a bit more difficult to find than the other which seem to be stocked more widely. Still I did find it in huge Tesco in the next town, so maybe that says more about where I live!

This new bar is quite pretty when opened, with the chocolate pieces all having a round coin like motive on the top, some decorated with a W for Wonka. The pieces of chocolate are quite thin but are fairly wide squares so still feel quite substantial. The bar is quite a sweet affair, with its sugary mousse filling. There is a nice rich flavour of vanilla and good helping of brown sugar and cream making the bar impressively sweet and rich, but I have to say it was very reminiscent of a proper Crème Bruelee. The texture is pleasant, the mousse is smooth, but there is a gentle crunch from what feels like brown sugar crystals distributed within each piece.

It’s as nice bar and it does go a long way to recreating the dessert it is named after, with its set dairy custard like filling. I have a sweet tooth and as such rather enjoyed the bar, but it may be to sugary for some.

I think the biggest issue for me with the new Wonka range it's that the brand gives the image that it should consist of crazy and adventurous chocolate ideas, and yes all the bars have been nice but Cadbury still have the upper hand with their Marvellous Creations range .With Cadbury having bars with popping candy and cola jellies I do think Wonka are going to have to sprinkle some more imagination into their next product.

By Cinabar

Wing-Co. Chocolate Flavour Milk Drink (Tesco) [By @SpectreUK]

I participated in Movember last year and raised about £130. Even though it was apparent after a few days that it was physically impossible for me to grow an actual moustache, people still gave generously, of which I am still thankful. I’m not sure if I will try and grow another mangled fluffy slug thing under my nose this year, but I will certainly donate to friends who do participate and donate to the charity also, as it’s for such a good cause to raise awareness of prostate cancer, other male cancers and associated charities. This Wing-Co. Chocolate Flavour Milk Drink reminded me of Movember, especially because of the moustachioed pilot on the front of the bottle. With phrases such as; “Proper man fuel” and “don’t be a girl shake it up and drink it now”, I was intrigued as to why Wing-Co. wouldn’t try to appeal to both men and women to sell more of their product. This product reminded me a little of the sexist marketing for McCoy’s crisps and Yorkie bars. Don’t get me wrong, I love McCoy’s crisps and like to munch on the odd Yorkie bar now and then, but I always grimace a little due to their packets as I can’t see women buying something that tells them not to buy it! It is a marketing scheme that just doesn’t seem logical to me, but perhaps I think too much anyway as women get cancer too! :-S

Anyway, I digress... this 500g bottle of Wing-Co. Chocolate Flavour Milk Drink had 65 calories, 0.5g fat, and 9.5g sugar per 100g. The ingredients included; skimmed milk 90%, sugar, whey protein, fat reduced cocoa powder 1.3%, maltodextrin, milk minerals, carrageenan as a stabiliser and also vitamin D. I gave the bottle a good hearty shake and opened it for a good hearty swig. If I didn’t like the marketing scheme I certainly couldn’t moan about the quality of this chocolate flavour milk drink. It reminded me of a high end supermarket chocolate milk drink that I drank far too much of and had to give up because of my ever increasing belly. It was very creamy with a really good cocoa flavour. The drink was very moreish, not too sweet and didn’t feel like a kids chocolate drink, more like an adult’s chocolate drink. At the risk of sounding sexist it felt like if I drank the whole bottle in one go it would put hair on my face. Besides, I need all the help I can get if I decide to grow a moustache in Movember, as I just can’t grow one at all. So I did drink the whole bottle in one go. I didn’t notice any further facial hair growth though. I really enjoyed this chocolate flavour milk drink and would have it again. So remember if you see a guy with a moustache in Movember make sure you give him a smile, he’s likely to be doing it for charity and hating every scratchy minute! And remember women can grow moustaches too, although that’s not necessarily a good thing, but if you do see a woman with a moustache in Movember just try not to stare at it...

By Spectre