Waitrose Seriously Delicate All butter Lavender Shortbread

Here we see the second in a series of lavender flavoured foods that I've tried recently. After the savoury oatcakes this sweet version is quite different.

This is Waitrose so as usual they have tried to make the best thing possible and then figured out the price, instead of trying to make a price point product. Because of this we have distinct folded layers in the shortbread and lots of air to enhance the flavour, a genuine butter taste and noticeable bits of lavender.  

The sugar on the outside is also not obtrusive and adds to the crunch nicely. The texture is crumbly and works well, but the flavour is still a little odd. The lavender works better with the sweetness but sits slightly at odds with the butter. While enjoyable (as all good quality shortbread is) it wasn't a rush out and buy variety.

It was however much more popular with colleagues who were far more keen to have second helpings of this than the previous offering. The novelty and cool factor add together to make this a nice little gift and something that would go down well with the hot drinks over Christmas.

Pirates Versus Gingerbread Men (New @McVities #Biscuits) [By @SpectreUK]

Memories of my childhood consist partly of late Saturday afternoon's after shopping spent at my Auntie and Uncle Fred's house. My Uncle Fred taught me the basics of woodwork and bought me toy cars, whilst my Auntie started my love of Walker's Ready Salted crisps, this was before I tried them washed down with beer, and fed me Animal Biscuits whilst I watched the football scores. Not that I knew what was going on or ever supported any teams, but I have always strangely found the announcer's voice soothing and sometimes still watch the football scores today! This is why Cadbury's Animal Biscuits are the favourite biscuits from my childhood. Cinabar occasionally buys me a box now and then when I've been good, so it's quite a rare occurrence! When she bought me two boxes of McVitie's mini chocolate biscuits I knew something was up. "'Pirates versus Gingerbread Men', sounds like a great title," she said, ever the taskmaster!

McVitie's Mini Pirate Crew

McVitie's have brought out these new Mini Pirate Crew biscuits, which are a different take on Cadbury's children's chocolate biscuits. As you can see from the photograph there was four crew members joined together for "crack' n' snap" fun. There was a fun Snakes and Ladders type game on the back of the box. There were six packets in the 155g box, with two crews in each handy lunchbox sized packet. The biscuits were covered on one side with lovely milk chocolate, and the biscuits were slightly crunchier digestive style biscuits than Cadbury's Animal Biscuits. These biscuits made for a fun and tasty alternative lunchbox sized chocolate biscuit treat that I'm sure would appeal to children and parents alike. If you don't like pirates there's always McVitie's Mini Jungle Friends crack 'n' snap biscuits to try, though these may be a little overly reminiscent of the Animal Biscuits variety.

Information on the box;
Each pirate crack 'n' snap crew biscuit contains 65 calories, with 4.5g of sugar and 2.8g of fat. No artificial colours or flavours, and no hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ingredients included; wheat flour, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, butter oil, lactose, soya lecithin, vegetable oil, milk solids, salt, sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate.

McVitie's Mini Gingerbread Men

Now I like Gingerbread Men just like most other people, especially in the cold winter months as ginger has its spicy warming effect. Give me a large Gingerbread Man and I can happily torture him for a while, biting his limbs off one after the other before the finishing bite to his neck! Sounds gruesome I know, but if you say you haven't done it you're probably lying. Just like anyone who say's they haven't bitten the top off a Fizzy Cola Bottle and pretended to drink it!

Covering half of each Gingerbread Man with milk chocolate sounds a bit out there to me. Besides how can I torture a Mini Gingerbread Man anyway? These biscuits are Animal Biscuit sized and the days of biting daintily into most sized biscuits have long since passed me by. I usually dump a good wad of Animal Biscuits in my mouth at a time. The only reason I crack 'n' snapped the Pirates was so I could play the Snakes and Ladders type game on the back of the box! Anyway, I digress... There was a mild smell of ginger on opening the silvery packet inside the box. These smiley Mini Gingerbread Men had a mild spice from the ginger and a milky sweetness from their half covering of milk chocolate. The 25g serving suggestion quickly went out the window and I devoured most of these ludicrously moreish Gingerbread Men in one sitting and in not so dainty handfuls.

Information on the box;
100g box. Each recommended 25g serving contains 120 calories, with 9.6g of sugar and 5g of fat. Ingredients included; wheat flour, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, dried whey, butter oil, soya lecithin, partially inverted sugar syrup, molasses,vegetable oil, ground ginger, salt, sodium bicarbonate and disodium diphosphate.

Both boxes of biscuits were very tasty indeed. The Mini Pirate Crew can give Cadbury's Animal Biscuits a warning cannon shot across their bow, with a "Shiver me timbers!" They also had the fun Snakes and Ladders game on the back of the box, which I'm sure I saw one similar on the Animal Biscuits' box when I was a child. If I was to pick between the two though, Animal Biscuits would win as I prefer the softer less crunchy biscuit. If I was to pick an alternative to Animal Biscuits with a spicy edge, the Mini Gingerbread Men would be my first port of call. Just like Animal Biscuits I just couldn't put the packet down. So much so that I didn't mind the crunchier biscuit or the fact that I couldn't torture the Gingerbread Men, I had to finish them off quickly and on mass instead!

By Spectre

New Sweet Cinnamon Spice #TopcornTribe @MetcalfesSkinny

It is no secret that cinnamon is my favourite spice, and at this time of year it is definitely at its most popular. When I realised that it was being used for the new Metcalfes Skinny Topcorn flavour I was super excited, and couldn't wait to give it a try.
One of the things I love about popcorn is that as snacks go it is fairly low in calories but still tasty and pretty filling too. This large bag didn't disappoint, the entire pack came in at just 117 calories, which is pretty good going.
Once the bag was open the aroma from the cinnamon became very much apparent, it was sweet and warming and rather enticing. Once I started to tuck in I couldn't stop! The popcorn was fresh and fluffy but crunchy as it should be. I think the varied texture is one of the reasons it is so moreish, it is rather satisfying to munch on. Topcorn is seasoned, rather than coated in its topping, so the popcorn seems purer. The cinnamon was well balanced, warm and spicy, but with plenty of sweetness. Some of the pieces deliver a stronger cinnamon hit and again it was the mix of flavour balance that added to the overall enjoyment. I was in popcorn heaven.
Now when it comes to popcorn I've always been a firm believer in Sweet and Salty being the best, but that can now stand aside, bring on the Sweet Cinnamon Spice. I know it is probably seasonal, so I'm going to be buying up stocks of this for after Christmas!

By Cinabar

Jannocks Oatmeal Biscuits (@teebayservices) [review by @NLi10]

While at Teebay Services I spotted these oatmeal biscuits, and while they are from Shropshire and not the lakes I thought they looked worth a go. I hadn't seen many things with a lavender flavour so I picked that variety - as it turns out people have been telling me that it's quite fashionable!

The biscuits themselves are well made oatcakes and have a nice texture and a good crisp snap to them.  I wasn't that sure on the lavender though - to me it conjors up perfume and cleaning flavours! 

I did think that the lavender may be better suited to having a topping on the biscuit so I made one like that.

In the absence of peanut butter I stuck a Reece's Cup on top and munched away. This did work well, but I don't think peanut and lavender is a taste sensation that will set the world aflame.

I think with a balancing flavour then these would work well, but alone the lavender is a little too much. I have other lavender things to review soon to see whether sweet works better!

Cofresh Savoury Rice Sticks - Crunchy Indian Chakri Sticks (Tesco) [By @SpectreUK]

These Cofresh Savoury Rice Sticks: Crunchy Indian Chakri Sticks were made in Leicester, which doesn't sound very Indian I know, but I've savoured a multitude of spicy snacks from Cofresh in the past and can definitely vouch for their spicy authenticity! Many snackers out there may be looking for a snack that doesn't contain nuts in the ingredients. Although most products like these have been prepared in an environment that handles nuts, there aren't any nuts in the ingredients, which are bad for my digestion. "How do you still write a snacking blog?" I hear you ask. Well, I look around for alternatives, especially as I adore spicy chilli flavoured nuts! Cinabar found me these Indian Chakri Sticks and I just couldn't resist popping open the bag one night in front of a film. There was a strong smell of rapeseed oil on opening the bag. The Indian Chakri Sticks tasted like one of the ingredients in Bombay Mix. Their was an initial taste of rapeseed oil with a spicy mix of cumin, cardamon and ginger. The spice was mild to start with, but built up after every mouthful with its fiery green chilli heat. These Indian Chakri Sticks were very crunchy indeed and very moreish. They were a great alternative to nuts and I will have them as a regular in my snack collection.

Information on the label:
300g bag. Per 100g: 510 calories, 26g fat. Serving size 28g.
Ingredients included: Rice flour, rapeseed oil, wheat flour, potato starch, ginger, sesame seeds, sugar, green chilli, butter, spices, salt, and citric acid.
Suitable for vegetarians, but not for small children apparently as there is a warning on the back of the packet that states that small children can choke on nuts, which should be okay really as there are no nuts in the ingredients!

By Spectre