NEW! Milk Chocolate & Irish Cream Brownie Slices (M&S)

Last week I combatted the change in seasons by celebrating the fact that M&S have just launched new desserts into their menu collection. Whilst the giant macaroons might've been a little more style over substance, I looked forward to trying some of the other unusual additions.

I was in luck too - a couple of days ago I found the new Irish Cream Brownie slices emblazoned with that promising yellow reduced sticker. £1.90 for two wasn't too bad! They're currently £2.80 but will be £3.50 when full price. Ouch. 

"Layers of earl grey mousse and Irish cream mousse, chocolate sponge, chocolate brownie and milk chocolate."

They were an usual shape too, and although they were well protected in the wrapper, they were a pain in the bum to plate up as they had a tendency to fall over. Squish them onto the plate a little -like I did- though and they should stand proud. 

Shall we do this by layers? Ok then..

The top layer was jelly like, and offered little in the way of flavour. I assume it was simply there for decoration, and the gold sparkle was pretty. Beneath this was the first mousse layer - and it was scrummy. It was light, chocolatey and delivered an almighty Baileys-esque kick. For teetotal Bert this wasn't a good point, but I'd bought them because they were labelled as Irish cream and so I was happy to find that M&S had followed through on their promise. Simply put, it reminded me of Christmas.

Next up was a layer of dry, bland "sponge" cake. Again I assume it's only role was to break up the layers as it wasn't a substance that I'd want to eat on its own.  Another mousse layer followed - this time it was Earl Grey. Now I don't like Earl Grey tea - to me it's equivalent to drinking my nan's perfume- and had I have read the product description properly I think I wouldn't have actually bothered with this dessert. On its own I found it sickly and floral, but I bore with it in the hope that when it was combined with the other elements that it would transform into something magical... 

At the base was the brownie layer, which was perfectly moist and utterly chocolatey - exactly how a brownie should be. 

But what happens when you eat all the layers together? 

A journey of flavours. First the alcoholic heat greets your tastebuds, followed by the mellow chocolate and then that perfume-like Earl Grey. Damn that tea! Take out the bottom mousse M&S and you'd be on to a winner, but for me it's just too much. Too fussy, and too delicate. Give me the simple, scrummy (and cheaper) Banoffee Cheesecakes instead anyway. 

7/10. 

NEW! Chocolate & Caramel Pyramids (M&S)

I couldn't help it, ok?

After I tried my luck with the banoffee semifreddos at m&s I went back to see if any of the other frozen luxury desserts would work in the Dine in for £10 promotion. They all looked delicious but it was these chocolate and caramel pyramids that caught my eye. Not because they were particularly ground breaking in terms of flavours, or elements, but just because they looked so damn pretty. Fancy clothes might not tempt me, but pretty food? Always. 

"A cocoa sponge base topped with a Belgian dark chocolate pyramid mousse, a caramel ganache centre and caramel decoration."

I found myself thanking M&S once again for their clever packaging and thankfully, unlike their fresh banoffee cheesecake slices, the pyramids had remained perfectly intact - please ignore the freezer burn caused by my freezer blip. M&S suggests that they require defrosting for 5 hours, but I hadn't been that well organised and took mine out of the freezer a couple of hours before serving. 

That cocoa mousse was rich and fluffy with a deep flavour that I imagine would please most dark chocolate lovers, whilst remaining sweet enough to avoid offending us who prefer their chocolate milkier. Where was that sponge base at though M&S? I thought Waitrose's version was stingy but this was none existent.

Things got worse as I hunted for that supposed caramel ganache. At first I refused to panic, having been initially disappointed when digging into the Waitrose salted caramel mousse (before finding the pocket at one end), but as I got towards the last spoonful I realised I'd been duped. At best there had been a slightly sweeter mouthful, but where was that oozy caramel sauce or sticky dulce de leche?

I thought perhaps I'd got a duff one - but if I did then so did Bert. He didn't even realise that it was meant to contain caramel, and actually asked me not to buy them again as he found them too rich. Admittedly, he's not as chocolate obsessed as I am though.  Meh. Another case of style over substance, that is, unless you're after a show stopping chocolate mousse - in which case, head to Marks and knock yourself out! 

7/10

NEW! KitKat Chunky NY Cheesecake (Tesco)

It's been just over a year since we last had a new flavour to the KitKat chunky range. Have you tried the Cookie Dough version? I must admit that I wasn't taken with it. In fact I haven't bothered buying it since that review. The KitKat peanut butter bites were a pleasant surprise however, so I tried to hold back my preconceptions and get excited when I saw that Nestle had released NY Cheesecake Chunkys. The new KitKats are currently stocked in Tesco and are part of their very handy 3 for £1.20 mix and match chocolate bar offer (or else they're 60p each). 

"Crispy wafer with a New York Cheesecake flavour topping (19%) covered with milk chocolate (60%)."

As normal, the Chunky comprised of three segments. Within these segments were the bottom layers of wafer topped with that "New York Cheesecake" layer. Now I've only recently mentioned by ambiguity towards NY cheesecake, and it's lack of identifiable flavour. Was this going to be just another cover up from Nestle, another marketing ploy for what was essentially a pretty dull vanilla topping?

Well kind of. It was vanilla-ry but there was a slight sour tang to it that I've not tasted on any KitKat before. I mean, it wasn't groundbreaking and it certainly didn't make me squeal with delight, but it wasn't resigned to the bin either. The ingredients list includes "powdered soft cheese", so there is some authenticity to the title, but without any hint of biscuit (digestive, graham cracker or otherwise) can it really be labelled as cheesecake? In any case, the topping worked fairly well with the standard KitKat milk chocolate and wafer layers; i.e. it didn't jar, but didn't provide something entirely new or interesting either.

If you're intrigued by the bar then please do give it a go, at least there's no new product premium to pay -as is so often the case nowadays- and it's inoffensive. As the Cookie Dough before it, I probably won't bother with it again though -  I'd much rather the double caramel, peanut butter or white chocolate KitKats. Well actually, I'd rather that Nestle brought over the Raspberry Cheesecake Duo KitKats that our Australian cousins are lucky enough to have - of which you can read Nat's review here.

7/10

Belgian White Chocolate & Raspberry Sauce Ice Cream Sticks (Tesco)

Hey, do you remember when I moaned (yes, I know I'm always moaning) a couple of weeks ago about Magnum's double raspberry ice creams, and more specifically about the fact that they'd chosen to coat them in milk chocolate instead of white? Well, I was in Tesco the other day when I spotted something that might just be the solution to said grumbles: a white chocolate and raspberry ice cream with raspberry sauce. Hurrah!

I had actually forgotten that until this summer Tesco sold white chocolate and raspberry ice creams that were pretty good rip offs of the white chocolate and raspberry Magnums - but now both Tesco and Magnum's versions have been sadly discontinued. Boo. Let's hope that Tesco have made up for it with these 2017 editions - which are slightly cheaper than Magnums At £1.50 for three sticks  (Magnum doubles are currently on offer in Tesco at £2 for 3).

"Vanilla dairy ice cream, covered with raspberry sauce, coated in Belgian white chocolate with freeze dried raspberry pieces."

Please agree with me that the raspberry flecked ice creams looked beautiful; to me they screamed luxury. However, I still find myself taken aback however at how small all these new 90ml sticks are (new Magnums are the same size). Biting into the stick revealed the shocking pink sauce that looked stunning against the vanilla ice cream and white chocolate. 

Unfotunately, it was one of those occasions where the taste just didn't quite live up to the looks. God damnit, I wish appearances weren't so deceptive. Perhaps I'm being harsh here, because the white chocolate was fairly good -it's no Magnum covering though- and the ice cream was creamy -it just lacked the real vanilla flavour that I longed for.

It was more the sauce that I was disappointed by. The sauce in the double Magnum had a real tang to it, more like a coulis, whereas this was more like a standard Askey's ice cream topping. I mean, it was just very sweet, and lacked the tartness that I'd hoped for. The raspberry flavour was a little lost actually, and I found myself wishing that they'd used a raspberry ice cream (as Magnum had) to really boost the contrasting flavours. 

These are great if you're after a pretty ice cream, but they're another case of style over substance. Considering the uncompetitive price-point, I probably won't bother with them again. 

7/10

Honeycomb & Caramel Dairy Ice Cream (Sainsbury's)

A few weeks ago I discovered the peanut buttery tub of joy that Sainsbury's surreptitously keep in their freezers, and so I couldn't help but return to my local store to find out what else I was missing...

Cookie dough and honeycomb & caramel are the other two flavours in Sainsbury's own dairy ice cream range. It was a fairly easy choice between these two tubs for me; cookie dough is fairly widespread and never as good as Ben & Jerry's, whereas there's a distinct lack of luxury extras-added honeycomb ice cream -especially since the sad loss of Morrisons' Shortbread Millionaire's mash up. 

"Caramel flavoured dairy ice cream swirled with toffee sauce, honeycomb pieces and chocolate coated shortcake pieces."

I swear the caramel ice cream was softer in this tub than in the peanut version, but I must have imagined that because there appears to be similar ingredients in both: skimmed milk, double cream, sugar, skimmed cows' milk concentrate, glucose Syrup - AKA the good stuff. Perhaps it was the sauce that made it seem looser. As well as the textural issues this toffee ripple provided, it was also problematic on the flavour front. You see, the peanut tub worked well because it had the nut brittle to counteract and cut through the sweetness, but this toffee sauce just tipped the ice cream into sickly territory. Not great.

So what would make a caramel ice cream and toffee sauce even more cloying? Oh yes, that's right, honeycomb pieces. There was an abundance of them, and they were light and crunchy... but this tub really didn't need any more sugar, and remember, this is coming from an out & proud sugar addict. Ok, ok, yes I've also recently acknowledged that I can't hack a great deal of honeycomb, so maybe if you're a Cadbury Crunchie fan this might be up your street. It's just not in my neighbourhood. 

Thankfully, redemption reared its head when it came to the chocolate coated shortcake pieces, which were both buttery and crisp. The biggest issue with biscuit in ice cream is the fact that it often goes soggy, but the coating prevented this nicely. The chocolate wasn't anything of note, but it wasn't awful either. Which reminds me, I must try the McVities nibbles soon. 

Meh. As you might've gathered, I wasn't overly fussed on this tub. Bert however really enjoyed it, and said that he'd happily have it instead of Ben & Jerry's. If we were talking about the Sainsbury's peanut tub I'd agree with him, but this one? I'd rather pay the extra 50p and have B&J's any day. 

7/10

Milka Cherry Creme (Polish Deli)

I was on an unsuccessful hunt for more of the Karmelove bars in our local Polish delis last week when I came across a couple of treats that did catch my eye. 

One of which was a spread version of the KarmelLove bars, which seeing as it's pretty much the equivalent of Caramac you can top your toast with, I feel it should really be renamed crack. If you see it, buy it*. We have an abundance of Easter European shops in Hereford and I've only found the one jar in one shop. It's also short dated, so I'm not sure if E.Wedel is still making it. The lack of availability is the only reason that I'm not doing a full review, but do let me know if you find it and try it! 

The other product that got my attention was a cherry flavoured Milka bar, which was far more readily available. I first fell in love with Milka on holiday in turkey almost twenty years ago, but now it's pretty easy to get hold of (the only benefit of the Mondelez takeover I guess). Some of the funkier flavours are still resigned to the Polish delis however, but I found this 100g bar for a very reasonable 79p. Normally I prefer my fruits paired with white chocolate, but given my affinity towards anything Black Forest, I was happy to give it a go. 

The Milka bars, as you probably know, are a lot slimmer than the Cadbury large bars and so I wondered how they would fit the cherry within the squares.

Snapping it in half however revealed a generous jammy layer atop a Creme -all surrounded in the typical Milka alpine chocolate. The Cherry oozed, emitting a tangy, fruity scent. 

As expected, the Cherry jam was super sweet, but there was enough of it to pack a punch. The chocolate was also good and far silkier than Cadbury. As for the Creme, it reminded me of the vanilla mousse filling in Cadbury's seasonal products -such as the egg n spoon and Snowman. On its own or in small doses, it's fine, but combine it wish jam and creamy chocolate and you've got one sickly concoction. 

Normally I can eat 50g+ of chocolate without batting an eyelid but even I was struggling with the sweetness by the time I'd even eaten half of this bar. It's tasty, and one to try as it's so different to what the British mass market chocolate offers, but it probably should be eaten in smaller portions than I'm used to! 

7/10 

*this is the crack spread...

NEW! Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Slices (Waitrose)

Isn't it funny how thoughts and ideas wheedle into our brains and lodge themselves into our subconscious? Only yesterday morning was I talking to Nat about cheesecakes, and by yesterday evening I was tucking in to one (admittedly it was never going to be as exciting as her talk of a Biscoff banana cheesecake creation). Despite the fact it was a warm day, all of a sudden ice cream just wasn't going to cut the mustard, and so I popped to Waitrose on the hunt for the new desserts that have started to crop up on Instagram this week. 

Argh, they were all on an introductory offer too. Cookies and Cream or Mocha? Bert doesn't like mocha.. but damn they looked good. But so did the Cookies and Cream... bugger it. Both went into my basket. Oops. 

Cookies and Cream were up first....

"A baked cocoa biscuit and vanilla flavour cheesecake on a chocolate flavoured biscuit base, decorated with chocolate ganache."

They were much cheaper than the Mocha at £1.67 for two (they will be £2.20)  and looked rather pretty with their ganache, which was definitely more of a drizzle than a topping. The amount of visible cookie pieces was a promising start too. I really hoped they wouldn't be another disappointingly dull cookie product and that this was a case where I could tell a book by its cover. 

Oh. The cookie pieces looked pretty, but I'll be damned if you could taste them. A look at the ingredients list indicates why: they only make up 4% of the desserts. The vanilla cheesecake itself was fairly good though, but it was sweet and lacked the sour tang of a New York cheesecake. Also on the plus side, it lacked the horrible gelatinous edge that so many supermarket cheesecakes seem to have and I would say it was on a par with the vanilla topping of the Rhokett. Unfortunately it seems that the ganache was only purely for decoration too, for there wasn't enough of it to taste on its own -and believe me I tried!

Thankfully the biscuit base however was a work of art. The deep cocoa flavour worked wondrously well against the vanilla topping, and was the only real nod to the Oreo type flavour that we've come to associate with cookies and cream. Like the base of Rhokett's cheesecake, it held together well until bitten in to -when it started to melt in the mouth perfectly. 

They're good, but not outstanding and I'd still rather have an ASDA white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. 

7/10

NEW! Peanut Butter & Jelly Biscuits (The Co-Op)

It's such a lovely feeling when a new peanut butter product hits the U.K shelves and you guys make an effort to let me know. It makes me appreciate that I'm not the only PB obsessive who gets excited by the new treats. Saturday evening three of you got in touch to let me know about the new peanut butter & jelly biscuits in the Co-Op's American range, so thank you. It did however mean that I made a detour after a super early start at work yesterday to the big Co-Op on the other side of town. Read: I bent Bert's arm to pick me up and take me.

'Biscuits with forest fruits filling and peanut butter, sprinkled with biscuit crumb.'

£1.79? For 6 own-brand biscuits? You've got to be kidding me! I felt the pressure to review them after the triple prod about their existence, and prayed that they would be good whilst popping them in my basket. I also spotted these new pretend chocolate coated Oreos, which I can't imagine would be as tasty as the (authentic) white chocolate covered Oreos. 

Each biscuit was individually wrapped, making them perfect for eating on the go, but that's not how I roll. Instead I opened two of the square shaped biscuits as part of my peanut butter inspired late night snack.

They were much thicker than I imagined to be, and I didn't expect them to be square either. The base was very crisp and crunchy, tasting more like shortcrust pastry than biscuit. As you can see, there wasn't a huge deal of the jam filling, meaning that it made little impression on the overall flavour of the biscuit. As for the peanut butter.. well at first I thought it wasn't real peanut butter* because it lacked the salinity that I expected -when in fact, the biscuits contain 19% peanuts, However, the more I ate, the more I enjoyed the biscuits and although there wasn't as much salt or as much jam (or jelly) as I'd have liked, they were edible and fairly enjoyable. There's just no way on earth they're worth £1.79 per pack.

7/10

*If you've had the British peanut butter Oreos, you'll know exactly what I mean by that. If you haven't (lucky you) then I'll fill you in: for some reason Mondelez decided to use a synthetic peanut flavouring instead of real peanut butter. Both disgusting and mind boggling. 

Mrs Freshley's Oatmeal Creme Pie (A Taste of The States)

I love cinnamon. Like seriously love cinnamon.  I mean, give me cinnamon buns, cereal, cookies, cakes, with apple in a crumble? It makes my heart sing, does it do the same to you? It might shock you, given my chocolate addiction, that oatmeal raisin cookies take precedence over any chip varieties in my house, something I already mentioned in my FlapJacked cookie review.  I also love cookie sandwiches (albeit normally filled with peanut butter or ice cream) and so the Mrs Freshley's Oatmeal Creme Pie appealed to me -especially at 99p and given my recent success with Mrs F's cinnamon donuts.

The Creme Pie consisted of two bakery-size cookies filled with creme. Now Creme tends to be something more favoured on the other side of the Atlantic, you certainly don't see it so often here (unless we're talking Oreos, but then again, they're American expats really anyway. The cookies had crumbled in transit, revealing the white coloured centre. I could also smell the cinnamon. Mmm. 

The cookies were fairly moist considering the distance they've travelled (they obviously don't suffer from long-haul flight related dehydration in the same way us humans do). The cinnamon spice was every bit as prominent as the aroma had led me to believe, however  I was a bit disappointed that the creme pie doesn't contain raisins -although according to the packaging it does contain raisin paste... something I've never seen referenced before.

If you're accustomed to eating Twinkies, you'll get the gist of what the creme was like. Indeed it was that similar, super-sugary buttercream-y filling. To be honest, I found it made the cookie creme pie overwhelmingly sweet, but I imagine if you ate it in two sittings (or shared, shock horror) that it wouldn't become so sickly. My bad. 

I'm glad I've tried the Oatmeal Creme Pie. It's not my favourite Mrs F product to date but I did enjoy it and would have it again. The Oatmeal Creme Pie is available to buy from A Taste of The States, where you can get a huge 20% discount across the site using the code AMYSEEKS20. Go, shop!

7/10

Rhokett Caramel Cheesecake (Waitrose)

There's a dessert that's been haunting me for ages.. a cheesecake that's been on my mind since I first discovered it whilst researching Rhokett 16 months ago. The rarely spotted caramel slices has been supposedly stocked in Sainsbury's stores across the country, but Hereford didn't even get a sniff. I once found them, but it was in an extra store on a trip to Birmingham, and at the time I didn't think they'd survive the journey home -plus I was sure they were going to crop up sooner or later*. I guess I was right, it was just much much later, and in a different supermarket: Waitrose. At £3 for two 100g slices they're on the dear side, but I recall thinking that the Belgian chocolate flavour were worth the money and so I hope these would be too.

"A winning combination from Rhokett that really delivers on that traditional texture, raised to the next level by the Belgian chocolate chunks and the smooth caramel sauce that have been swirled through the mix before baking."

They were beautiful slices, l give Rhokett that, however they were very fiddly to retrieve from the packet -so please be careful if you buy them. 

I expected a rich toffee tone to the cheesecake, so was utterly perplexed when I tasted it and was met with a similar cheesecake batter used in the chocolate slices. That's to say it was creamy with a slight sour tang, but it was completely devoid of the caramel flavour that I'd longed for. Humf. What I hadn't realised was that the sole source of the caramel came from the toffee sauce, but unfortunately there wasn't a huge deal of it, and it certainly wasn't the generous pockets of thick dulce de leche that I had concocted in my imaginings. 

Oh the plus side, the chocolate chunks were both aplenty and delicious -although I can't help but feel that due to the lack of caramel that fudge pieces may have suited the slices better. 

I was also pleased that I'd saved the biscuit base until last as it was the only part I thought that Rhokett truly nailed. Thick and buttery with a classic digestive biscuit flavour, it held together enough to make it from fork to mouth, but crumbled easily upon munching. It just wasn't £3 worth of biscuit base. 

7/10.

* I even ended up sending poor Nat (author of Lot-o-Choc) on a hunt for them before my train arrived into New Street station when meeting her in Birmingham last month.

NEW! Banoffee Doughnut (Greggs)

Doughnut week is very much down to one of you lot. Dan, if you're reading this, I'm not sure whether to thank you or cuss you. You see, Dan brought the release of Greggs' new range to my attention last week...not long after I had realised that I would soon be in the proximity of a Krispy Kreme store (and would be making the most of the opportunity to stock up). His prompt also fell after a conversation with the talented Heather (at The Tandem Bakery) about a very exciting doughnut that she was going to make this Wednesday (just gone) and I just knew I couldn't resist that one either. That brought the running total to 5, so why not go utterly doughnut doolally and get the two new Greggs offerings too? Especially as one of them was banoffee.

The new sweet menu was released yesterday and features lemon shortbread, toffee apple cookies, as well as the duo of doughnuts. 

"Soft ball doughnut topped with caramel icing with a banana flavoured filling."

The new filled doughnuts come in at 90p each, a damn site cheaper than Krispy Kremes, but more expensive than standard jammy doughnuts. They looked as pretty, if not more attractive, than Krispy Kremes too.

Slicing mine in half revealed an abundant pocket of pale mousse. Perhaps Greggs should offer Krispy Kreme some training on how to adequately fill a doughnut. 

However, having had so many Krispy Kremes this week, it was extremely evident to me who reigns supreme when it comes to the dough. Even after freezing and defrosting the KKs they were much fluffier in texture than the Greggs doughnuts, with a sweeter flavour throughout. In contrast, Greggs dough felt heavy and breadlike, though it was still admittedly enjoyable. 

The banana mousse was entirely artificial in flavour, and although it was reminiscent of foam banana sweets, the aftertaste was slightly chemically. I wish Greggs had thought to inject a little toffee sauce into the centre too, because although the icing was caramel flavoured, the synthetic banana was the far more prominent of the two flavours and so to me it wasn't really true to the classic dessert. 

I did however enjoy the little crunchy balls on top, which reminded me of the Muller Crunch Corners. Sure it would have been nice to have some digestive crumbs (as per a banoffee pie) but I guess they'd have gone soggy and so I think Greggs might have made a wise choice. 

To be honest, I probably won't bother with this doughnut again. Hats off to Greggs thought for constantly innovating their range (as opposed to KKs barely veiled attempts to disguise their rereleases as new products). 

7/10

NEW! Krispy Kreme New York Cheesecake Doughnut

Day two of the Doughnut week brings you a review of the NY Cheesecake inspired Krispy Kreme. Now if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know just how much I love a good cheesecake, but NY cheesecake? Not so much. Give me lemon, chocolate, chocolate orange, dulce de leche, strawberry donut, or speculoos cheesecakes (to name just a few) any day; but vanilla and sour cream? Nah, you're alright. That said, I'd heard good things about this new doughnut from the American chain, so looked forward to trying it.

'Filled with Kreme Cheese, hand-dipped in vanilla icing and sprinkled with biscuit crumb and white choc flavoured drizzle.'

Now the white chocolate topping didn't taste of white chocolate, and taking a look at the ingredients (Sugar, Palm Oil, Whey Powder (Milk), Emulsifer: Soya Lecithin) that's unsurprising. Why don't you use real white chocolate Krispy Kreme? Especially when you're charging a small fortune for each doughnut? 

Krispy Kreme's are renowned for being unpredictable when it comes to the amount of filling they contain, but this particular doughnut contained a respectable amount of 'Kreme Cheese'.

There was a slight tang to the flavour, and it was certainly different to their standard Kreme, but it wasn't 'shut-the-front-door' amazing. I did however enjoy it, and the sour edge helped to combat the resounding sweetness. 

As usual, the dough was beautifully soft and fluffy. The biscuit crumbs were also a welcome touch, helping to deliver the cheesecake element, however I have a bone to pick with Krispy Kreme.

That, ladies and gents, is the American Krispy Kreme NY cheesecake doughnut! Why can't ours look like that? Even the PR photo of the British version doesn't look as promising, although at least my doughnut did pose similarities to the picture below!

7/10

 

NEW! Krispy Kreme Rocky Road Doughnut

Doughnut lovers, this week of reviews is for you! Not a fan? See you next Monday...

This week I'll be reviewing a different doughnut everyday, and today's post kicks off with one of the brand new 'Taste of America' Krispy Kremes. In the past couple of weeks the American company has released teasers on social media about the possible new flavours, and I guessed correctly with two of them (pb&j and pecan pie) but failed to think that Krispy Kreme would release a rocky road. Surely Mississippi Mud Pie would be more apt?

Anyway, I present to you the new Rocky Road Doughnut...

"Filled with toffee & mallow filling, hand-dipped in chocolate icing and topped with biscuit crumb, chocolate drops & toffee drizzle."

The doughnut was as soft as I hoped it would be, although two chocolate drops was a pretty poor effort Krispy Kreme. Slicing the ball in half revealed a fairly generous pocket of toffee sauce... but I thought it was meant to be toffee and mallow?

The toffee sauce was quite good, tasting like a slightly thicker toffee ice cream sauce. It was of course extremely sweet though, and combined with the chocolate icing made for a sickly doughnut. I found that the little bit of Mallow offered very little in the way of flavour, and ended up being a little redundant. The biscuit crumb was also good, but again there wasn't much of it. As expected, the chocolate icing wasn't the best quality, but at least it did deliver a chocolatey element.

My biggest bug bear was that this wasn't really a rocky road doughnut. I mean, the appeal of rocky road is surely the combination of textures? Seeing as there can't have been more than a teaspoonful of biscuit crumbs on the top there wasn't the contrast that I'd hoped for going on here. Really, it was a chocolate and toffee doughnut with a little bit of biscuit... perhaps Krispy Kreme should rename it the Millionaire's doughnut. Actually, that sounds rather good.

7/10

:Diablo Sugar Free Cappuccino & Cream Sweets (Sweets Without)

It's time for another review of a sugar-less sweet treat courtesy of Sweets Without. This time I was sent a pack of the :Diablo Cappuccino & Cream sweets. As a fan of the ALDI s/f coffee sweets I was really looking forward to trying :Diablo's version, which are sweetened with isomalt.

:Diablo instantly won extra points from the packaging. The biggest problem with ALDI's packs is that they often tip over in my handbag. I can testify to the fact that sweets are far less appetising when you have to pick lint off them. Instead the Diablo sweets are individually wrapped which makes them perfect for picking up a couple at a time to keep you going for a few hours. 

The sweets are also fairly large in size, a little bigger but a similar shape to Werthers Originals. The first flavour that greeted me was a milky, latte-esque flavour, which subsided fairly quickly to a buttery, toffee flavour with a hint of coffee. True to their name they're creamy little sweets, and more so than the ALDI versions.

However, there's another big bonus to the Diablo sweets though: their size and shape means that each pastille lasts an extraordinary amount of time. Normally I'm a boiled sweet cruncher; I get bored all too easily and end up giving into the temptation to put pressure on them and then they're gone before I know it. Each of the :Diablo sweets lasted a good seven or eight minutes before I crumbled -or should that say crunched? 

Whilst I think that ALDI deliver a more prominent coffee flavour with their sugar-free cappuccino sweets,, the size and packaging of these :Diablo sweets actually makes them a better option for me. They're a good option for those wanting a low-calorie sweet fix too, as each candy is only 12 calories. You can buy :Diablo Cappuccino & Cream sweets directly from Sweets Without for a reasonable £1.79 oer 75g bag here.

7/10