Favorina Finest Rum Raisin Marzipan Bread (LIDL)

I've never been a huge Christmas cake fan. In fact I really thought I didn't like it at all until recently when I tried Tesco's Free From Christmas Iced Fruit Cake Slices thanks to a tasting table in my local store. For any vegans, coeliacs or lactose intolerant readers please be assured that Tesco have done a rather good job there. To be honest I always considered Christmas Cake's only saving grace to be the slab of marzipan that traditionally lies amid the layers. I even used to make a yearly Christmas Cake, but would only eat my homemade marzipan (which is surprisingly simple to make if you haven't attempted it before). The sweet almond paste is a personal favourite, and I could quite happily munch through a large bar of the stuff. Cue Lidl.

Amongst the selection of 'Favorina' branded Christmas goodies (along with the Spiced Biscuit Spread) LIDL are currently stocking a range of 100g chocolate coated flavoured marzipan logs priced at just 99p. The minute my eyes caught sight of the rum-raisin flavour I was sold. Rum is my favourite spirit and I love a good Rum N' Raisin ice cream -something that seems to be far and few between, don't even get me started on Carte D'Ors version. As a bonus it was milk chocolate coating the marzipan too. I find that so often companies opt for dark to counteract the sweetness.

Slicing into the log revealed the raisin studded almond paste, which smelt boozy and almondy, i.e. perfection. Whilst the milk chocolate wasn't thick enough to really taste by itself, the creaminess came through which I took as a sign that it was decent quality. As for the centre, it was a sightly grainy kind of marzipan -but delicious none the less. The rum soaked raisins worked well to keep the paste moist, and the hit of sugary festivity pleased my taste buds immensely. The sweetness means that it's better enjoyed with a big mug of coffee, as opposed to an amaretto and coke, but that's more than fine by me.

8/10

NEW! Favorina Spiced Biscuit Spread (LIDL)

I don't know about you but I definitely go through phases. Biscoff is often subject to such phases; I become addicted to the stuff and then don't have it for a few days and before I know it it's relegated to the back of the spread cupboard (yes I have three shelves and an entire cupboard solely dedicated to toast toppings). Then when I rediscover it, I fall back in love and the cycle begins once more. Honestly, if you've never bought it and have addictive tendancies stay clear of Biscoff, the stuff is ridiculously hard to put down.

Anyway the subject of today's review is LIDL's Spiced Biscuit Spread, which I presumed to be their knock-off version of Biscoff. They've released it as part of their Christmas range, something I found strange because Biscoff doesn't even enter my mind as being a seasonal product. However Speculoos biscuits do tend to make an appearance at this time of year, so I guess from that point of view it is. 

LIDL are selling two versions just as Biscoff do: Crunchy and Smooth. Whilst I'm almost always a smooth peanut butter kind of gal, crunchy Biscoff always gets my vote -so that's what I went for. The 350g jars are on a 2 for £2 deal though (I think they were £1.29 each) so if you can't make up your mind then you could always pick up both.

"Spiced biscuit spread with biscuit pieces." 

I had a jar of Biscoff Crunchy at home, so I'll directly compare the two for those of you who are also obsessed with the spread.

The colour of both was identical, and even the keenest eye would be hard pressed to tell them apart. There was a noticeable difference in consistency though, with the LIDL version appearing slightly shinier and a lot smoother. 

I first tried the spread on M&S' Gingerbread Teacakes -which I now realise is the perfect topping for said treat. Whilst the spread complimented the bread perfectly, the warming flavours from the teacake prevented me from really being able to tell the difference between LIDL and Biscoff. The following evening I tried both on the same *Christmas Tree* crumpet for optimum comparison, and found that there was very little difference in the flavour between them -both delivered on the extreme cinnamon biscuit yummy scrummy-ness. The singular difference came from the texture: Biscoff's spread was grainier and stayed put whereas LIDL's spread melted wonderfully, oozing into the crumpet's pockets and still provided a little crunch from the biscuit pieces. Delicious. 

Top 1/2 of the tree is LIDL, bottom 1/2 is Biscoff.

There's slight variations between the ingredients, more than I expected given the similarity of the flavours. Nutritionally the LIDL is slightly higher in calories and fat, but is lower in sugars (see below for the breakdown). Really there's not a lot in it though, and I love that the consistency of LIDL's crunchy Spiced Biscuit Spread is more like a mixture of Biscoff's smooth and crunchy. The price is also a bonus -at 36.8p per 100g it's a lot cheaper than the branded version (currently on offer at Tesco and still 46.1g per 100g). I'll certainly be stocking up before Christmas anyway, and I suggest you do too!

9/10

Nutritional Info Per 100g
LIDL: 594Kcal/ P:3.2/ C52.0/ F41.2
Biscoff: 571 Kcal/ P:32.3/C58.8/ F: 35.7