Christmas Tree Biscuit (Greggs)

You know that you've completely lost the plot when you're finding food to match your plates. Yes, that's my current state of mind, thanks to the desperate assignment avoidance mode that's kicked in. If you follow me on instagram you might've spotted my impressive array of themed serveware that has come out to play recently. One of my best finds thus far is the Christmas tree plate that I found at Home Bargains (I think it cost about a pound), and now most evenings I entertain myself by finding festive foods to match said plate -much to the bemusement of my other half. I tried making branches from apples with a mince pie base before discovering that Christmas tree crumpets matched it rather well. Then yesterday I had a brainwave whilst attempting to write a social media report: what about the Christmas Tree biscuits that I've spotted at Greggs when buying their mince pie and Christmas Muffin? They would fit perfectly I'm sure! So that afternoon I side-stepped my studies once more and cycled into town on important biscuit business. 

 Photo from www.greggs.co.uk

"What's more Christmassy than a Christmas tree and a bit of ginger?! That's why our Christmas tree biscuit is back!
Ginger biscuit covered with chocolate flavour coating and decorated with sugar sprinkles and a sugar paste star to finish it off like all good trees should be."

It's a good job I love both gingerbread and chocolate really, and that said biscuit was a reasonable 80p, otherwise this plate hobby could become a bit of a chore. The biscuit was every bit as pretty as the picture in Greggs' adverts, with a good covering of chocolate and sprinkles. I felt a bit childish ordering it, but if you can't be childish at Christmas then when can you be? 

Like Cinderella's shoe, it fit!

Are you a crispy, soft, or no gingerbread kind of person? I like both varieties, but have had my fill of the former kind this month thanks to the Lebkuchen Hearts I've been gorging on. I did hope that the biscuit would be a little kinder on my teeth than the sneaky Gingerbread Reindeer from ASDA were last year though. 

Fortunately the base of the tree was rather soft and almost bendy. I wondered if it had gone slightly stale, but it still tasted good and delivered a fiery warmth. As I worked my way up  towards the star, the biscuit was crisper with a good crunch, yet wasn't hard enough to worry the dentists (although the sugar content might!). The coating tasted typically of cooking chocolate -it was cheap and not the sort of stuff you'd want to eat on it's own- but used in this light its sweet waxiness worked well to counteract the heat from the biscuit.

Greggs' Christmas Tree biscuit is a lovely little festive treat, and I'd be more than happy to have another!

8/10

NEW! Specially Selected Gingerbread Ice Cream (ALDI)

Earlier this week I reviewed ALDI's Specially Selected Mince Pie ice cream, and mentioned that I'd also picked up the gingerbread tub, so here's your second (and final) instalment in their Christmassy ice cream specials...

I don't know why, but gingerbread flavoured ice cream appealed to me much less than mince pie. I love gingerbread, but gingerbread flavoured foodstuffs have less appeal. Take M&S' teacakes (the toaster kind) for example; it took me a while to make the purchasing plunge -and now I stock up whenever I spot them reduced at the end of the day. ASDA are selling a frozen gingerbread cheesecake at the moment, yet that doesn't really appeal either. It's the one flavour I need convincing. Gingerbread Lattes? Absolutely! Lebkuchen? Addicted! Ice cream? Mmm, not so sure. After dillydallying for a while I decided to buy it anyway.

"Gingerbread flavour ice cream, swirled with toffee sauce, gingerbread biscuit pieces and fudge pieces."

This ice cream was noticeably firmer than the mince pie flavour, but was still easy to scoop straight from the freezer. I was pleased to spot so many fudge and biscuit pieces embedded within, even at the very top. The sauce was far less abundant, but could still be seen in subtle swirls.

There was no mistaking the flavour of this ice cream given the warming ginger that came through in every mouthful; offering the perfect juxtaposition against the creamy coolness. The heat wasn't unbearable either, but was bold enough to be true to it's namesake. As for the abundant gingery biscuit pieces, they reminded me of lebkuchen. As you know, I love the traditional German Christmas treat, but in this case the softness was a bit of an antilclimax as the additional texture (from something akin to a gingernut) would have been welcome. There were plenty of fudge cubes to mix up the consistency though, but they were more chewy and toffee like than expected, and I found that they stuck to my teeth. Gah ALDI, I don't have the patience to faff when eating my ice cream! The toffee sauce seemed to have gone AWOL in my tub too, and I really hope that it hadn't missed out entirely. Hopefully I'll find a pool of it at the bottom. 

It's fair to assume that this was my least favourite of ALDI's two festive ice creams, although admittedly it's still a pretty damn good, and not one I'll shun when selecting my nightly dessert.

7/10

Schlute Kirsch Lebkuchen (TKMaxx)

Last year I was obsessed with plain Lebkuchen, but this year it's the turn of the jammy, chocolate dipped variety. Thus far I've tried the Lambertz version, but then I spotted this curious Kirsch version from a company I've not heard of before in TKMaxx.

I don't make a regular habit of buying food from the discount retailer (mainly because it's actually more expensive than most supermarkets) but I've recently made a habit of checking my local branch because I've discovered that they regularly stock Jordan's skinny syrups- and they're much cheaper than I can get them online.

Now that TKMaxx have their Christmas foods in stock I'm finding it even harder to make my was to the syrup shelf without being distracted by the continental treats -and Kirsch Lebkuchen sounded just to good to resist. At £1.49 for 100g bag they're more costly than the Lambertz version, but they sounded so much more exciting and I felt that the extra expense was justified.

Have any of you tried Schlute's products before? Their website leads me to believe that the company are a quality German manufacturer of biscuits, waffles and pastries who use only "old, tried and tested recipes and exquisite ingredients" and "carefully selected ingredients".

"Juicy gingerbread with fine apple-cherry-fruit filling (18% and plain chocolate (28%).

Gah. The bag obviously hadn't been looked after on its travels. Unlike the Lambertz Lebkuchen, most of the hearts were smashed. I certainly wouldn't have been happy if I'd received them a present in such a questionable state. Still, I hoped that the taste would make up for their sorry appearance.

Alas! Compared to the Lambertz versions, these were pathetic. The gingerbread was fairly well spiced but was noticeably less soft and more tough -which in itself wasn't a deal breaker. Add poor quality chocolate and so-so jam into the equation however and you're left with a pretty disgruntled Amy. I was hoping for a lovely, black forest vibe (or at the very least a good quality German gingerbread) but these missed the mark entirely -especially as the jam was distinctly lacking in the Kirsch department. Perhaps I should've read the bag before I'd bought (or even tasted) the hearts, as then I would've realised that the ingredients includes 10% apple pulp and just 1% morello cherry juice concentrate. Very misleading.

I can't blame Schlute entirely for my experience with their Kirsch Lebkuchen though, after all I have no idea how long these have been kicking about the TKMaxx system (but they were in date until April next year) and I also imagine they looked far prettier when leaving the factory floor. 

4/10

NEW! "The Best" Gingerbread Muffins (Morrisons)

When you think of gingerbread do you think of Bonfire Night, Christmas or neither? Either way, the warming spice definitely comes out to play during the latter months of the year, and these Gingerbread Muffins have graced Morrisons' stores since the end of October. I'm still going to include them as a Christmas review though due to their very festive decoration!

I had a very hard job in Morrisons trying to find a pack of muffins without broken (and therefore sad looking) men on top. In fact there wasn't any and I even asked the department manager if there was any intact muffins out the back, but unfortunately I wasn't in luck. He said that they might have a delivery in the next couple of days, but I was too impatient to wait. At £1.50 for 2 muffins they're at the more expensive end of the supermarket muffin range, and I was a bit reticent about forking out for them given my previous experience with Morrisons "Signature" lemon & raspberry and marbled chocolate muffins in the summer. I knew they'd play on my mind if I didn't buy them though, and I refuse to have a snacks I wish I'd tried last Christmas list next year.  

"2 Ginger flavoured muffins with a gingerbread flavour filling, topped with toffee icing and a chocolate decoration."

The muffins weren't particularly light but neither were they notable heavy. They were however a beautiful dark golden colour, and smelt very gingery, which I took as a good sign. Slicing the first in two (for photographic reasons) bared the injection of sauce that ran through the middle. It wasn't particularly obvious, especially given that it was a translucent affair, but there didn't seem to be a huge amount of it. I wondered if it was going to be a similar experience to Tesco's Toffee Apple muffins where the sauce had oozed into the cake itself. I sure hoped so. 

I was expecting the muffin to taste like McVites Jaminger (sorry Jamaican Ginger) cake, but it was less sticky and more fluffy. Unlike Morrisons' previous muffins, this was jam packed full of flavour too, offering warmth in every mouthful. The sauce was disappointing though, it didn't really shout gingerbread, but was more of a super-strength spicy drizzle. Such a shame really because the icing was superb, and complemented the flavour of the muffin well with it's buttery sweetness. If Morrisons had only filled the Gingerbread Muffins with the toffee icing, or a custard instead, I'm sure they'd have been on to a sure fire winner. 

7/10

Lambertz Milk Chocolate Lebkuchen Hearts (Waitrose)

I'm not shy about my adoration for Germany's Christmas treats; I believe that their use of spice is cleverly balanced, brave and quite frankly unsurpassable. Last year I reviewed ASDA's lebkuchen iced stars, Weisse's Pfeffernüsse, Bahlsen's Zimtsterne, Lidl's marzipan stollen as well as Bahlsen's Poppy Seed Stollen, and this year I'm on a quest to discover the best on the market. 

Today's review is of Lambertz's apricot filled Lebkuchen hearts: the hearts were a favourite Christmas treat as a child, my grandmother was always dependable for a healthy supply of them too and I looked forward to gorging on them after school. I say gorge because it felt impossible to stop at one or two (I reckon they're even more moreish than Jaffa cakes) so I really hoped that Lambertz' version would live up to my high expectations. I bought the 150g bag from Waitrose for £1.

Gingerbread hearts with apricot fruit filling (28%), coated with milk chocolate (23%) and dark chocolate decoration (3%).

Now to some, the combination of gingerbread, chocolate and apricot might sound like an utterly absurd idea. Even to me it sounds like it shouldn't work, but it really does (hence why I thought to spread M&S' new gingerbread teacakes with apricot jam). 

The hearts weren't exactly perfectly formed, but I preferred the almost homemade look. The milk and dark chocolate coating was ample too, with none of the gingerbread peaking through (as often happens with the iced stars). I could smell a subtle gingery warmth, but only when I brought the hearts to my mouth pre-munch. 

For anyone who's not had Lebkuchen before (seriously you're missing out), the texture between varieties and brands can vary quite dramatically. Even in a single bag of ASDA's stars I've found that some have been very firm, whilst others have been soft and cake-like. The Lambertz hearts leaned towards the latter texture, with a lovely fluffiness that provided very little resistance when biting into. The spice was very mild though, too much so for my liking. The ginger was almost completely lost against the delectable chocolate and apricot jam. Yes, you heard correctly, the chocolate was super! The quality was much better than one might expect for a biscuit/cake covering and I'm sure I'd have been quite happy to enjoy a bar of the chocolate that Lambertz have used here. As for the jam, it was gooey, sweet and in abundance -exactly what I hoped for. 

9/10

What do you think are the best German (or continental) Christmas treats? I'd love to know, so please do leave me a comment!

NEW! Gingerbread Teacakes (M&S)

Happy Halloween! Have you had many trick or treaters this year? Did you get dressed up for any parties this weekend? I'm afraid I really haven't got in the spirit at all. For me the best part of Halloween is the Reese's pumpkins, yet they've been surprisingly scarce this year. In fact I only spotted them only once in my local Tesco Express, and I decided not to buy them considering I had approximately 40 white Reese's hearts in my fridge. A day later my compulsions kicked in and I returned to the store to buy one -but they had completely sold out! Ever since then I've regularly checked the same Tesco Express, as well as the two main Tesco supermarkets in Hereford and the Express next to the station near my uni in Worcester, but haven't seen them again. Humf. Fortunately I've got ample supplies of the Reese's Trees thanks to my good pal Laura (A Daisy Chain Dream) and B&M (who are stocking 6 packs for just £1.99 FYI), Anyway, now I've got all that off my chest I shall move on to the topic of today's review: M&S's new gingerbread teacakes...

I love M&S's bakery aisle. Their ultimate -sourdough- crumpets are to die for, and I'm pretty certain I got a fair few people hooked on them when I went through a crumpet craze on Instagram a couple of months ago (including Nibbles 'N' Scribbles and you can read her thoughts on them here). In fact it was Nibs who introduced me to the gingerbread teacakes, having reviewed them mid-September. I have to admit that I wasn't completely convinced. That was until I spotted them reduced to clear at the same time as finding the bargain Melting Chocolate Domes -yep they also survived that lengthy trek intact. For 50p, they were easily worth the punt (normally £1). 

"2 teacakes with toffee pieces, black treacle, ginger and cinnamon."

They looked almost like wholemeal buns thanks to their darker colour, but their shiny tops gave indication of a brioche-like quality, and their physical lightness also added testimony to the same impression.  As soon as I retrieved my bun from the wrapper, a sweet yet spicy scent greeted my nostrils. The aroma actually reminded me of McVities ginger cake, and brought up nostalgic memories of visiting my grandma after school to unwind after what felt like a never-ending day of learning. In actual fact I've strangely called it Jaminger cake for a number of years -and that's my random fact of the day for you. 

The serving suggestion advised: 'Cut teacake in half. Place in toaster for 2min.' I hope you also mean toast for 2 minutes M&S, otherwise that's a damn waste of time! Anyway, I was left wondering how to serve my teacake. Butter? Jam? Both? I'd normally spread a teacake with pb&j but my inner alarm bells warned me that peanut butter wouldn't work so well on the gingerbread version (if you're braver than me and have tried out the concoction however, please do let me know whether it worked or not!). I decided to opt with one side butter, the other butter and apricot jam -after all apricot filled lebkuchen hearts are simply divine. 

I only slightly toasted my super soft teacake until it had a light tan and was warm enough to melt the butter. 

At first the ginger flavour was mild, fully backed with a resounding sweetness coming from the toffee and treacle flavours -again much like my beloved Jaminger cake.The softness was sublime, and meant that the bun simply melted in the mouth. The butter was a welcome addition, adding much needed moisture. I did wish that M&S had incorporated sultanas instead of toffee pieces into the dough however, as their texture was almost completely lost. 

Next up was the side slathered with apricot jam too. The fruitiness worked well with the teacake, but it did overpower the ginger somewhat. Well, I thought it did until the very last mouthful, which delivered a potent gingery kick that remained on my tastebuds for a good long while. 

I certainly think that the new M&S gingerbread teacakes are an ingenious seasonal creation, and I'm sure I'll enjoy them all winter. If you still need some convincing, read Nib's original review here.

9/10 

NEW! Cadbury Winterful Layers Of Joy (Tesco)

Cadbury releasing their new limited edition Layers Of Joy is always a dicey time. Their previous attempts have been a right mixed bag between delicious and grim. Fortunately their last product in the line -the Jaffantastic pots- were at the top end of the 'Joy' scale, but that does mean that they'll be sorely missed if the new winter edition isn't up there with them.

I'm pleased to see that Kev (from Kev's Snack Reviews) has recently stepped up his 'spotted in shops' posts again, so it's to him I owe the knowledge that Cadbury have launched the Winterful pots -thanks Kev! I found them at Tesco for a round pound, but have since spotted them in Waitrose priced at £1.20.

"One winterful gingerbread biscuit dipped in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate sauce and delicious white chocolate mousse."

I always find that Cadbury are on the sneaky side and slightly under fill their pots; still at least it meant that the white chocolate mousse had retained it's attractive peaks. Admittedly I haven't had the best experience with Cadbury's white chocolate mousse in the past, but I tried to keep my mind unbiased before digging in to the Winterful dessert.

Sigh. They haven't changed it since last year. The mousse was fluffy, but had the same bland flavour and lacked the richness that Milkybar Mousses achieve. It might be due to Cadbury using white chocolate powder (5%) to give it it's flavour. Come on now Cadbury -this isn't marketed as a diet product so surely you can do better than that?

Underneath the mousse layer was the chocolate sauce, which I normally quite like, except this time some rogue ginger had fused with it and messed with the flavour. If you've been reading this blog since the start you'll appreciate that I love a good chocolate and ginger combination -heck I more-or-less lived on Lebkuchen last December- but this just didn't work. Maybe it's because the chocolate was too mild, or too sweet, but the resulting flavour reminded me of washing up powder. Not good. 

I kept everything crossed that the gingerbread would go some way to redeem the situation. It kind of did too -that's to say that it had a bold, fiery flavour- but -and here's the killer- it was soggy, and made me think of the ensuing disaster when dropping a dunked ginger biscuit into your cuppa. Fail.

Last up was yet another layer of insipid white chocolate mousse,which was at this point, totally overwhelmed by the ginger aftertaste of the soggy biscuit. Gah, at least the disappointment ended at the bottom of the pot, right?

Maybe my grumbles are based on high expectations from the 'Layers Of Joy' range, so I'd welcome any comments with reference to how you found them. Or just leave me a note to say hello, that's always nice.

5/10

*or Muller -who Cadbury told me last year make their desserts! 

Gingerbread Reindeer from ASDA

How sweet is this new festive pack containing half of Santa's steeds? Yes, another gingerbread related post, but now i've rekindled my love with the spice I can't get enough! This pack of mini Rudolphs cost £1.25 and can be found in the bakery section at ASDA.

I only realised after I bought them that the supermarket has 'life hacked' when making the biscuits (as they're really just upside-down traditional gingerbread men)! Tut Tut ASDA- I'm sure you could've forked out for proper Christmas cookie cutters! Also, some of my Reindeers look a bit... erm... special...

The gingerbread itself is rock hard, which made it difficult to munch on with bad teeth, but nothing a good tea-dunk couldn't rectify. The spice level was spot on, offering a warming heat but not overwhelming the tastebuds.

Cute little treats ASDA, I like the cuteness, even if you are being Scroogey on the production costs! At the moment it's a 
6/10 

(but it'll bump up to a 7 if & when they soften up).

Walls Gingerbread Sandwich Ice Creams

I feel like I need to apologise for another review of a festive product that was first released in 2014. Once again, I didn't get around to trying them last year, so I'm trying them this year for the first time- but I'm guessing I may not be the only one! 

'Gingerbread Sandwich is the perfect Winter Ice Cream! 

Gingerbread Sandwich is a special treat on cold, Winter days. When 2 delicious Ginger Biscuits meet creamy, tasting vanilla Ice Cream you get the perfect Winter Ice Cream. Enjoy it with a cup of tea, or just as a special snack in cold days, for the joy of Ice Cream with a special Winter taste'. 

I've got to be in the right mood for ginger; I often find gingernuts too crunchy and spicy, however I love a good slice of Jamacian Ginger Cake (especially warm with a large pool of Ambrosia custard!) and eagerly await the return of German Lebkuchen into the discount supermarkets in the run up to Christmas.

Unwrapping the ice cream, I discovered that it was a good sized portion, unlike the tiny Oreo ice creams. The biscuits were a lovely deep golden colour, and the ice cream was contrastingly stark and bright. 

The ginger biscuits were soft, chewy and perfectly spiced, offering a genuine satisfying warmth. The whiteness of the ice cream concerned me and I hoped it would't taste cheap and artificial, but I couldn't have been more wrong -it was in fact rich and creamy, which offset the ginger wonderfully. It's not often that I find an ice cream particularly comforting (delicious and moreish yes) but this dessert made me want to nestle into my sofa with the fire on and a festive film. 

Top marks Walls!

10/10