NEW! Reese's Rounds (B&M)

I was both excited and resentful when I was tagged in a photo on instagram this week by 'productsinstore' who had found a new Reese's product. I love Reese's, you know I do -if you've ever read this blog before anyway!- so why on earth would I be grumpy about something new to try? Well my snack buying has become slightly out of hand again, especially with biscuits, ice cream and chocolate.. My kitchen is a diabetic's worst nightmare.. there's at least 40 bars of chocolate in my fridge (if you include the individual Reese's white chocolate hearts), 60 ice cream portions in my freezer (a combination of 'wiches, sticks & tubs) and a good 10 or so packets of biscuits stashed away filling up the cupboards too. All this (combined with the fact that I've had to reduce my working hours as I've returned to uni) means that I really shouldn't be buying any more food. But c'mon. It's Reese's. I'm impervious to resist their bright orange packets, calling me in like the nutty sirens that they are. So I hot footed it down to B&M the very next day and spent 99p on a pack from B&M Bargains.

"Crunchy biscuits with a peanut butter filling covered in milk chocolate."

The pack felt rather light (and at 110g it was) because it only contained 6 biscuits, however I then realised that I was imagining them to be a little like Reese's versions of the PB twix -of course in circular rather than finger format- and immediately equated it to three chocolate bars. Much better value for money. Go figure. 

I could immediately detect the pleasing scent of peanut butter as soon as the pack was open, which made me almost salivate with anticipation. I sliced one in two, and spotted the softer-than-expected centre. The peanut butter was more akin to the Reese's spread than the filling of their cups, which didn't concern me but simply surprised me. 

The biscuit was as crunchy as described, and instantly made me think of my gran at Christmas. I've been racking my brains ever since to try and understand why, but I think it reminded me of the crunchy chocolate covered round biscuits in the M&S selection boxes, which I hope you'll agree is a positive.

If you're not a fan of the chocolate covering the Reese's cups, you really won't like the stuff they've used on these biscuits. Which is slightly odd given that they're actually made in the EU (and manufactured for Lightbody Ventures -so it's not even coming directly from Reese's). 

The last disappointment came from the peanut butter which, although smelt strong, got lost in a miscalculated flavour ratios. The rounds consist of 27% milk chocolate and just 25% peanut butter filling, which means that the nuttiness is all but lost. It also didn't taste particularly like the Reese's that I know and love so well; lacking the characteristic salinity that the iconic brown is known and respected for.  

Well, they're not bad, but they're not great either. PB Twixs are by far the more superior product, with a much better balance of flavours -and better quality ingredients to boot.

6/10

NEW! Godiva Double Chocolate Bar (B&M)

As you may be aware, today is World Chocolate Day! Isn't every day chocolate day? Still, I can't think of a better excuse to review this double chocolate Godiva bar. What I hadn't realised when I reviewed the Chocolate & Creme version was that both products are in fact new to the USA. 

"Layer of Cocoa Biscuit & Chocolate Ganache in Milk Chocolate."

The chocolate and creme bar was simply divine, and so I imagined that a double chocolate version would taste even better. From the outside they looked identical, but slicing it in half revealed both chocolate flavoured layers. 

Once again the quality of the chocolate casing was impeccable, and the biscuit was short and delicious.

I expected high quality ganache from luxury chocolatiers Godiva, but that's unfortunately not what I tasted. Perhaps I should blame Gü puds for setting the standards so high; instead of the silky soft ganache that I've come to love so much, I found a chalky, super sweet, almost gritty substance. It wasn't unpleasant -just not what I was hoping for. 

The sickly nature of the second chocolatey layer also knocked the flavours off balance, and I wished that I'd just bought two of the creme bars. Oh well. Lesson learned.

7/10

Godiva Chocolate & Creme Bar (B&M)

I wasn't expecting to find anything of interest when popping into B&M this afternoon to pick up dog food. I just thought I'd double check the chocolate shelves en route to the till -just to see if they had any peanut butter twixs in stock. There was none of them -boo- but there was two Godiva bars! 

I haven't had Godiva chocolate before, but it was noted somewhere in the back of my brain as the ultimate in quality chocolate. There were two flavours to choose from: double chocolate and chocolate & creme. I ummed and ahh for a couple of seconds -would they be worth the 79p per bar? I could get three Galaxy duets in B&M for the same price- luckily my frugal nature lost out to my hungry eyes and both bars went into my basket.

The packets informed me that despite their branding as Belgian chocolate, the bars are in fact produced in Turkey and distributed from New York. Crikey that's some serious carbon footprint! 

I thought I'd try the lesser exciting of the two first, which to me was the chocolate and creme. 

"Layer of cocoa biscuit & creme in milk chocolate."

The guilt that I''d experienced from the purchase followed by their eco non-credentials abated when I cut the single finger chocolate bar in two. The layers were distinct and beautiful. The chocolate had a silken sheen to it, and I knew I'd spent my pennies wisely.

I'm convinced I spotted pearly gates; the combination of chocolate, creme and biscuit was heavenly perfection. Cote D'or make my favourite chocolate, but Godiva's version comes pretty damn close for it was soft, creamy and utterly delicious. The cocoa biscuit on the bottom was crunchy and short, tasting a little how I imagine the lovechild of a double chocolate digestive and shortbread would. As for the creme in the middle? Well it was milky, smooth and equally delectable, good enough to eat on its own but enhanced by the chocolate and biscuit surrounding it. 

It's taken me every ounce of determination and will power to not sit and gobble the Godiva Double Chocolate bar that's sat in the fridge..

10/10  

NEW! Hershey's Snacksters (B&M)

I did a little jig when I saw that Kev (from Kev's Snack Reviews) had posted some photos of the Hershey's & Reese's Snacksters onto Instagram. What excited me even more was the tell-tale yellow signage below which indicated that they were from B&M, hurrah! 

Let me explain my excitement. I've had my eyes on the Reese's snacksters for quite a while now, but have also made a vow that I won't place another order with American Fizz/American Soda until I have extinguished my exhaustive supplies of snacks and chocolate that are making it hard to close the doors on my snack cupboards*. At £1 each the Snacksters seemed too much of a bargain to miss out upon though, so I hot-footed it down to my local store. 

Gah, Hereford. You're so pants sometimes! I could only find the chocolate Hershey's pots. Sigh.

My only experience of Hershey's chocolate is the minimal covering that encases the Take 5 bar and Reese's peanut butter cups, wafers and bars. They're all fabulous products, but the chocolate is never the star of the show, and it's not good enough quality to warrant me buying a bar of it on its own. Still, I was suitably intrigued by the Hershey's Snackster pot and so I parted with a whole pound of my hard-earned cash, knowing that I wouldn't have to make room in the overflowing cupboards at home as it wouldn't hang around long enough!

The pot was split in two as expected: one side contained 9 of the Graham Cracker sticks, and the other was full of a dark coloured chocolate spread. 

The Hershey's spread tasted far better than expected! It reminded me of buttercream icing: thick enough to hold its shape but soft enough to melt in the mouth. The spread didn't taste of melted chocolate or Gu's ganache, but it offered a good cocoa hit that was dense, fudge like and oddly addictive. The Graham Crackers tasted just like sweet breadsticks, and I can't help but wonder why Hershey's didn't consider using pretzels instead (much like the delicious Graze punnet) as it would have provided a better balance of salty-sweet. 

As always, I ran out of dippers before I ran out of dip. It wasn't long though before the remaining spread summoned me and I naughtily used my finger to scoop up every last morsel. Oops. 

I enjoyed the Hershey's Snacksters far more than I expected to. I wouldn't buy a jar of the Hershey's spread over my beloved Nutella, but it was well worth the pound, and I suggest you give it a go too if you're visiting a B&M soon... 

8/10


*Yes, I have more than one snack cupboard. Ok, yes, there's more than two...

Hershey's Payday (B&M)

I'm gradually on a mission to try every American peanut/peanut butter bar that I can get my hands on if you haven't noticed! Fortunately for me, B&M have recently extended their range of imported chocolate bars and sweets, hurrah! What makes this revelation even better, is that the discount store sells them far cheaper than anywhere else, double hurrah! So, when I spotted Hershey's Payday in my local branch, I felt the implicit need to try it -particularly as I've enjoyed every single Hershey's peanut bar so far.

 "Peanut and caramel bar: our nuts don't need chocolate."

Hmm, I'm not sure I agreed with Mr Hershey on that front. Surely chocolate improves everything?* 

The bar comprised of a caramel core, surrounded by salted peanuts. It was an odd looking thing, unlike anything available in the UK.

The caramel was thick, fudgy and as sweet as expected. I liked the texture, and realised that I was dreading a toffee-like caramel that would pull my fillings out bite by bite. Luckily, this was a lot softer despite having been stored in my fridge. The peanuts were salted and had retained their crispness, and were the perfect juxtaposition to the sugary centre. The bite and the salinity of the nuts balanced out the caramel wonderfully, preventing the Payday from becoming too sickly. 

Of course, I missed my chocolate fix, but I think that an extra sweet element would've knocked the bar off kilter. Well thought out Hershey!

The Payday isn't quite as special as the Take 5 bar  or my beloved white chocolate Reese's cups, but it's still a very enjoyable Hershey's product.

8/10

*Well, apart from the unappetising Bonne Maman's Crème Brûlée of course.

NEW! Magnum Double Chocolate Bar (B&M)

Even on holiday, my long suffering fiance can't escape my excitement when spotting a B&M bargains. Our Hotel in Rhyl was only a few doors down from the high street, at the end of which was a number of discount stores, including my beloved B&M. Of course I couldn't help but pop in on the off-chance that they might have some different stock to my two most local branches.

Most of the products were the same, but I did come across a chocolate bar that I've never spotted before: Magnum Double Chocolate -priced at just 50p. I've never bought any of Magnum's chocolate before, although Kev has written about a number of their bars (check out a review of the new chocolate and almond truffle bar here).

"With layers of Magnum chocolate and an indulgent chocolate filling".

First off, please accept my apologies for the lack of in-depth information about this bar. I have two rather pitiful excuses: 

1. I forgot to keep the wrapper.
2. I had drunk two large glasses of wine before munching it

I did read the wrapper before I munched it, and recall that it was supposed to contain milk and dark chocolate, with a crunchy filling... It was also quite small at only 37g... but that's about all my memory served me! 

Thankfully my taste-bud recollection is better than my visual memory...

The chocolate coating was darker than your normal British milk chocolate, but no different to the coating of a Magnum ice cream -and taste-wise it was very similar. There was a darker layer of chocolate underneath the top coat, and whilst it was richer, it was far from bitter -and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The core of the bar contained a truffle studded with crunchy bits. The textural contrast was well thought out, but the flavour less so. The crunchy bits tasted like honeycomb, and the truffle was very sweet too, which when combined with the two chocolate coatings resulted in a very sickly bar.

The Magnum double chocolate bar satisfied my chocolate cravings, but also made me want to brush my teeth. There was just too much going on for me, and I can't say I'll be in a rush to track one down again.

5/10

Nestle Butterfinger (B&M)

A few weeks ago, when I wrote about Bud's Best Butterfinger Cookies, I mentioned that I'd never tried a Butterfinger before -a comment that I received a bit of stick of for on Twitter! How could I love peanut butter and never have tried a Butterfinger, or a Zagnut for that matter? 

Under orders to get up to speed with peanut butter bars ASAP, I went on a hunt for Nestle's Butterfinger. Returning to Tesco I discovered that they've recently amended their American range and are no longer selling them. I'm still working my way through my February American Fizz order, so I thought that I'd just have to wait. As luck would have it, and just as I'd given up, I stumbled across Butterfinger bars in B&M for a very reasonable 79p!

One of the things I've noticed about American Foodstuffs recently, is that their product names can be very vague -and the Butterfinger is no exception:

"Bolder than bold cravings can’t be contained. Especially when they’re this crispety, crunchety and peanut-buttery. So go on and indulge yourself in the one of a kind taste of an all American classic that can never be replaced."

Thanks for that insight Nestle! It's crispy, crunchy and peanut-buttery, rather similar to the Reese's Crispy Crunchy then?

The long finger bar was covered in a smooth milk chocolate covered coating. Once sliced into, I realised just how crunchy the inside was, as it splintered upon impact, sending shards of orange coloured candy across the table. 

The first taste to hit me was the overwhelming sweetness. The peanut butter centre was reminiscent of solid candy floss, which morphed into a highly adhesive toffee-like substance as soon as it reached my mouth. I mean, it stuck to everything! The peanut butter flavour was also strong, but like the chocolate coating it was completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sugar!

I'm afraid that I didn't enjoy the Butterfinger in the slightest. The bar contains a whopping 23.8g of sugar per bar, and it's very evident in the taste. Munching the bar made my teeth ache so much that I felt the need of a Dentist on standby. Not one for me.

1/10*

*a generous scored based on the fact that I managed to eat all of it, just.

Peanut Butter M&Ms (B&M Bargains)

How it has taken me this long to try peanut butter M&Ms I shall never know! Well that's a fib. It's just that I've been Reese's loyal until recently, when I tried the Wawel Polish Peanut butter chocolate bar and discovered that there *might* be other manufacturers who can be trusted to combine my two favourite foodstuffs!

B&M Bargains sell these standard sized packs of imported peanut butter M&Ms for 79p, and also larger sharing boxes (which I can't recall the price of sorry!). I was pleased to discover that the bag was generously filled with approximately 30 large, irregularly shaped, brightly coloured candies.
Two of the things that our American cousins tend to do better than us Brits is ample portion sizes and peanut butter, so with one out of the two boxes ticked so far, I was eager to get stuck in.

As to be expected, the outer coating was crispy, and cracked pleasingly once bitten into -revealing its golden peanut butter nucleus. The combination of chocolate and sugar was as sickly as I remember (something that prevents me from buying British M&MS more regularly).

 Fortunately, the introduction of smooth peanut butter offset the sweetness with its characteristic saltiness, resulting in a much better balance of flavours. It was a genuine, firm peanut butter -none of the fake 'peanut flavouring' nonsense often sneaked into British products.

I think I'll always be a Reese's girl, but these made a pleasant change to the peanut butter cups that I seem to live off. If you're a fellow peanut butter fanatic, then I suggest you head down to B&M and pick yourself up a bag of these American Peanut Butter M&Ms!

8/10

Peanut Butter Twix (49p at B&M Bargains)

Can you imagine my excitement as a peanut-butter-mad-bargain-hunting-chocoholic when I found this American Peanut Butter Twix sat on the shelf in B&M bargains priced at a paltry 49p? It made my week (yes I'm that sad!) but I've wanted to try this bar for so long!

I was possibly even more excited when I read on the packet that it contains real peanut butter- nothing else compares to the real deal!

I opened the Twix and it looked near on identical to our British standard Twix. When I snapped it in half however, there was a solid peanut butter layer where the caramel normally sits. It was a similar firm consistency to the centre of a Reese's PB cup (or tree)

Flavour wise, the peanut butter was powerful, and at first I thought it overwhelmed the other components, but as I became accustomed to the nuttiness I could appreciate how well balanced it truly was. The chocolate was better quality than Reese's and the biscuit layer added a wonderful crunch which meant that altogether the three tiers worked in perfect harmony.

I adored the peanut butter Twix ,so i quick-stepped it back to B&M to stock up before they disappear....

10/10