A couple of weeks ago I was approached by The Skinny Bakery who asked me to review their products. This was a very welcome request seeing as I've been pawing over images of their range on Instagram for quite some time. Haven't heard of The Skinny Bakery? Let me fill you in...
The Skinny Bakery is the brainchild of baker Mariella Forte, who set up the company in 2013 with a vision to create delicious baked treats containing a fraction of the calories of their traditional counterparts. Think flapjacks, cookies, tarts, and cakes that even dieters can enjoy. Salivating yet? You should be.
A couple of days later a box arrived. Well it arrived at my neighbour's house actually, who came out running as soon as she saw me return home from uni.
"Amy! Amy! There's a parcel here for you, and it says to refrigerate it! But there's no room in my fridge!" She cried (she's a good egg).
Luckily it was a cold day and the cakes still all looked in perfect nick. The parcel contained 8 individual packs of treats, each of which contained less than 212kcals or less.
Skinny Beetroot Pearls (169kcals)
There's two flavours in this world that I really can't stomach, and those are beetroot and liquorice. I almost gave these to a friend, but then my curiosity got the better of me.
"Pack of beetroot sponges piped with a quark based low fat cream cheese frosting"
Blow me down. I'm sure I grimaced as I prepared to take my first mouthful, but my expression soon took a change for the better. The cake was unbelievably moist, with a very mild beetroot flavour. I tasted the delicate balance between earthiness and dark cocoa, contrasted with the slight tang from the quark centres. I'm not a beetroot convert by any means, but I can honestly say that this is the first beetroot product I've ever truly enjoyed.
7/10
Skinny Chocolate Pearls (208kcals)
Given the success of the beetroot Pearls, I was very much looking forward to their chocolatey sibling.
"Pack of chocolate sponges piped with our signature tofu-chocolate frosting. Low fat and a good source of protein. 21% tofu, 25% low fat yoghurt."
I was right to be excited. They tasted exactly like a very fudgy chocolate cake. The flavour was rich and dark whilst texturally they were moist and squidgy. I might've double checked the packaging to make sure I hadn't misunderstood and that they were 208kcal per cube. I wasn't, they were 208kcals for all 6 Pearls. Incredible.
10/10
Skinny Coconut Bites (212kcals)
"Pack of 5 vegan coconut balls with only 5 ingredients. No added sugar and wheat free."
I was looking forward to these because they're made with peanut butter! However, whilst they were soft I found that none of the flavours really stood out and they were a little on the bland side.
5/10
Skinny Sweet Potato Brownies (189kcal)
"Pack of sweet potato brownie bites, gluten and dairy free recipe, made with 46% sweet potato and sweetened with dates – only 38 calories each!"
It's a shame I'd tried the Pearls first really! These were yummy, but they weren't as chocolatey as the Pearls. They are a good treat if you're gluten and/or dairy free though!
7/10
Skinny Carrot Cake Pearls
"Pack of carrot cake sponges piped with a quark based low fat cream cheese frosting."
These are a new addition to the Skinny Bakery collection, and boy are they good! They're moist, yet fluffy and well spiced. The ratio of cake:filling was spot on and the mini morsels contained currants -Tesco take note. These surpass most of the full fat/sugar carrot cakes I've had. Delicious!
10/10
Skinny Choc Chip Cookies (187kcal)
"Pack of soft dairy-free chocolate chip biscuits – only 37Kcal each"
My pack contained a mixture of mushroom,star and heart shaped cookies, which were texturally somewhere between a biscuit and a cookie. In fact they reminded me of rusks! They were less sweet than I'm used to, and I could barely taste the chocolate. Tasty, but not outstanding.
6/10
Skinny Choc & Orange Cookies (181kcal)
"Pack of soft dairy-free chocolate chip and orange biscuits – only 36Kcal each"
I couldn't really taste very much difference between these and their standard choc chip cookies. Both the chocolate and the orange could've done with being bolder.
6/10
Skinny Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies (141kcal)
The pack contained 7 rather splendid looking cookies. Instead of eating them on their own I decided to make a wicked dessert with them and sandwiches them between Jude's Chocolate with a touch of sea salt ice cream.
"Pack of chocolate cookies made with egg whites and dairy-free chocolate. Crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. 30 calories per average cookie."
Genius. The cookies were exactly as promised. They were crispy, crunchy, chewy and chocolatey! My decision to pair them with the indulgently dark ice cream was a good one, and the added creaminess added a wonderful additional layer of flavour and texture. The double chocolate Meringue cookies are definite winners!
9/10
Summary
I love the idea of The Skinny Bakery, and many of their products are simply scrummy. I'm sure I could live off the chocolate and carrot cake pearls as well as their double chocolate meringue cookies. The packaging is cute and a lot of their products are suitable for those requiring dairy free and/or gluten free diets. The cakes have a short shelf-life but can be frozen for up to 6 months -if you can wait that long! If you love the sound of them and fancy giving them a go please check out their website, where you can receive 10% off your order by using the code STARTER10 at checkout.
**A huge thank you to the team at The Skinny Bakery for sending me the samples**
Are you sick of the mince pies yet? No of course not, I'm sure you've been much more sensible and waited much longer before giving into to the festive treats.
I'm obviously not either, given that this is the fifth review so far this season -and that's excluding yesterday's mince pie ice cream! I'm not sure I'll be up for the Twelfth night mince pie tradition promising of a full year's happiness come Christmas itself though (please let me know if you have the stamina after all the festive feasting and brave it)!
Of course so far we've seen the disappointing individual pie, award winning pies, chocolate orange pies and the salted caramel pies. Today marks the turn of M&S' frangipane mince pies -yes it's yet another twist on the classic! What will they think of next year? I do love a good frangipane tart, but don't buy them often as I find them too moreish and could easily devour 2 or 3 in one sitting. I knew I'd regret not trying these mince pie versions though, so I stumped up the comparatively pricey sum of £2.50 for 6 (although they are on a 2 for £4 offer).
"All butter shortcrust pastry cases filled with mincemeat and topped with almond frangipane and flaked almonds."
They looked much smaller than the other mince pies I've tried this year, but I knew I wouldn't mind if the taste was up to scratch. They were attractive too with their smattering of flaked almonds. Helping matters further was the combined bakewell-esque aroma mixed with the mixed spices emanating from the mincemeat within -to me the fusion was utterly enticing.
The instructions refrained to mention whether or not it was possible to heat the pies in the microwave, but the box did say "heat to eat" and informed me to bake them in the oven for 8-10 minutes (gas mark 4/180c). The wait was excruciating, especially as the pies started to fill my house with the most heavenly scent. Mmm.
After 8 treadmill-like minutes, the wait was up and I retrieved my almond topped pie from the oven. Both the pastry and frangipane was soft and crumbly, which made it rather messy to cut into -especially as the mincemeat oozed out simultaneously. I can't mark M&S down for this though, as I can't imagine many people cut into their pies unless they're silly and photographing them.
The pastry was thin but deliciously buttery, and I imagine it would make for a good traditional lidded mince pie. The mincemeat was well spiced, whilst the currants, sultanas and raisins were plump and juicy. We've heard this story before of course with the Iceland mince pies. Could the frangipane edge the M&S offerings into the extraordinary level of Christmas scrumminess?
Yes, it did. The frangipane was sheer perfection, and complimented the mincemeat and pastry wonderfully. I was pleased to find that the almond tasted completely natural, and shone through despite the spiciness of the filling. It was moist too, which can often be the stumbling block of lesser quality and/or long life frangipanes. The trouble is, I've already mentioned how my self-control is lacking with frangipane tarts -and that I can easily eat multiple mince pies in one go- so I think I'm going to have to ask my fiance to lock these away from me!
Bravo M&S, true ingenuity! It's another well deserved 10/10 from the premium supermarket this Christmas from me.
10/10
M&S's Christmas Pudding buns are one of last year's Christmas products that I wish I had got around to trying. I even posted them up onto instagram, but still they never made it home. I hoped the buns (that look remarkably like boobies with nipple tassles -surely it's not just me with a childish mind?) would be back this year, and so I have been dutifully scouring Marks & Sparks' bakery aisle at regular intervals. Yesterday my patience won out, and although I initially baulked at the £1.80 price tag, I got a grip and grabbed my buns*.
"2 Spiced and fruited buns filled with a brandy sauce, topped with a soft vanilla icing, hand decorated with a glacé cherry and a sugar paste holly leaf."
Now I should probably let you know that I really don't like Christmas cake. It's not the spices (I've told you how much I love them) it's not the dried fruit (again, I'm a big fan) or even the richness (Mince Pies are pretty rich aren't they?). I think it's more about the claggy texture -every spoonful seems to stick to previously undiscovered crevices in my mouth, lodging itself between teeth. Also, I make a mean boozy cheesecake, and cheesecake almost always wins out in any dessert war!
So why did I buy Christmas Pudding Buns? For the same reason I bought the Christmas Pud Nakd bars last year: the flavours of Christmas without the stodge.
I'll tell you now, the buns smelt incredible. Their warm spices emanated from them, and it must be a strong scent because I'm full of cold and can barely breath at the moment. The buns felt relatively light despite their brandy sauce filling -which I hoped meant that M&S hadn't skimped on the filling.
They certainly did not; Marks & Sparks did me proud. As you can see, the buns encapsulated a large pocket of golden brandy sauce, which oozed out enticingly once sliced into.
The buns were super soft, sweet, and generous with the cinnamon. There were plenty of moist currants and cherries in every bite too -yet not enough to make the dough heavy.
The brandy sauce should be the star of the show but I had my concerns about how well it would work against the wonderful bun dough. Fortunately it was creamy and smooth, delivering a warmth from the alcohol (without the throat burn) -I loved it!
The icing on top was in generous enough proportions to add an additional texture and sweetness, but not enough to render the bun sickly. Well played Marks and Spencer.
I'm so annoyed that I missed out on M&S's Christmas Pudding Buns last year, but I guess I've got the 'lost time to make up for' excuse to buy them in abundance now. I don't know about you but I've really missed Mr Kipling's brandy sauce Mince Pies since they were discontinued a couple of years ago, but these buns more than make up for the loss -they're absolutely incredible. If you're a fan of M&S' fabulous Lemon Curd Whitby Buns (also absolutely delicious) and/or traditional Christmas flavours, then please treat yourself to these wonderful creations ASAP.
10/10
*Not those buns. The Xmas Pudding buns. Obviously.
