HoneyBird Cinna-Bun (Hickory’s Smokehouse) By @Cinabar

Let me start this by saying that Hickory’s Smokehouse is one of my favourite restaurants. It is a small chain restaurant, mostly around the Midlands, and its theme is Southern Texan food and style. We go there regularly; Spectre is addicted to the Gumbo (spicy stew), and I love the Hot Dog (classic), but I have tried quite a lot of the menu items. They have a few sweet savoury options, for example, the chicken waffle that is drizzled in maple syrup, that work really well. This dish, though, is one that takes that sweet savoury mix a step further; here we have the HoneyBird Cinna-Bun. Effectively a cinnamon bun, with chicken served in the middle. I also love cinnamon but have sort of avoided this until now. 

When it arrived, it was served with nacho chips and slaw. The HoneyBird Cinna-Bun looked super dangerous to try and eat; there was icing and honey glaze on the top. I picked at the nachos before I decided to try to eat with a knife and fork!

I gave it a try and have to say I did like the flavours. I love sweet cinnamon, and it was good with the chicken; the red onions inside were definitely there to bring balance, and that helped. 

If I’m honest, even as a cinnamon lover, I think they force this to work, and it makes it a decent meal. However, in my heart of hearts, the maple syrup chicken waffle is by far the superior sweet savoury dish on the menu. If you are going for the first time, I still heartily recommend the Hot Dog, and apparently the Gumbo is also absolutely amazing. 

Twix Chocolate Spread (Iceland) By @Cinabar

Another day and another jar of spread. This one is hopefully a liquidised chocolate bar; here we have Twix Chocolate Spread. This sounds like a perfectly indulgent breakfast or energising afternoon snack to boost me for an afternoon of work. Sadly, I had the second option running today, so I needed a bit of sugar.

I put the toast on and spread this on it. The base flavour is chocolate and caramel, but there are little bits of biscuit pieces also mixed in. I’m never really sure about bits in spreads, but they did have a nice buttery shortbread taste. The sauce itself has a good chocolate and caramel taste; it is sweet and indulgent. It was a treat on toast and a nice version of a Twix bar; the flavour was quite well recreated. 

I’m not sure what other chocolate bars are available as spreads, but I will keep an eye out for any more that I can find. 

Lyle’s Golden Syrup Gloriously Gooey & Generous Flapjacks (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I do love flapjacks, although it's rare I have them. They're one of those treats in a coffee shop that go rather well after a good lunch. If I'm good at home, which seems rare, I get them baked for me. I could eat a whole tray of them to myself, just like Anzac Biscuits. I may constantly ask when I'm getting some more of both. They require a certain amount of Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is also a favourite of mine on thickly buttered toast.

These Lyle's Golden Syrup Gloriously Gooey & Generous Flapjacks should be a delicious treat after my lunch. Each cake bar is 30g at 132 calories, so not too much of a hit on top of my regular calorie amount I try to portion for my lunch. Besides, if I decide to gorge on the lot after dinner one night, it's just 660 calories.

On opening the first cake bar there was an aroma of sweet Golden Syrup and brown sugar. On first soft gooey taste, these Lyle's Golden Syrup Gloriously Gooey & Generous Flapjacks really lived up to their name. Although gone in two mouthfuls, they were certainly generous in flavour and gloriously gooey with oats and sweet Golden Syrup. Perfect with a mug of tea after my beef crisp sandwich.

Information on the box; There were five cake bars at 132 calories per bar, with 5.8g of fat, 10g of sugar, and 0.08g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Mr. Kipling Rich and Gooey Salted Caramel Brownie Bites (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I was hunting for snacks; really, I was looking for Halloween snacks, but hidden behind a packet of pork scratchings in the supermarket were these Mr. Kipling Rich and Gooey Salted Caramel Brownie Bites. I’m not sure how new these are, but they appealed, so I picked them up. I will go on a further hunt for more seasonal items, but for now I’m happy with my choices, and these are perfect for an afternoon snack with a coffee.

Inside the box, I discovered the Mr. Kipling Rich and Gooey Salted Caramel Brownie Bites are much smaller than I thought they would be. They are called ‘bites’ I suppose, but I still hoped they would be bigger. I decided to have a couple, as one just wasn’t going to be enough. I bit in, and the milk chocolate shell cracked and gave way to a chocolatey, moist sponge and a rich, buttery dollop of caramel. These were a delight, a two-bite delight. The flavour was full of chocolate and sweet from the caramel and rich too, as the sponge had a heavy cocoa content. They were lovely; I ate two but could easily have had more. I haven’t given up on the search for Halloween goodies, but these were a yummy find in the meantime. 

Reese’s White DJ Santa’s Disco Lights (Tesco) By @Cinabar

The next big event that will be upon us is Halloween. My local Tesco Express has skipped this and is stocking Christmas goodies. Oh my. I love Christmas, but if I’m honest, I’m not really feeling ready for it; I prefer to wait until mid-November. That being said, I also can’t resist a new product, so here we are with Christmas chocolates in October. This bag of chocolates is called Reese’s White DJ Santa’s Disco Lights, which is quite a lot to unpack in the name. Is being a DJ what Santa does the rest of the year? Are they called Christmas lights because of the shape? Because,  let me be honest, aren’t all Reese’s peanut butter cups the same shape?

I opened up the bag and found foil-coated chocolates. I unwrapped the foil, and then under that I also had to unwrap the brown paper wrapper. That is some serious packaging. The chocolates themselves are yummy. There is loads of thick white chocolate and a good dollop of peanut butter. The flavour combination is sweet and nutty and an absolutely delight. The links with Christmas are a bit bizarre, but the Reese’s White DJ Santa’s Disco Lights chocolates are a brilliant flavour combination.