Double Decker Banana Moon Pie (A Taste Of The States)

I've been wanting to try the Banana Moon Pie for a good couple of years now. It first caught my eye when the big sweet shop in Hereford city centre started stocking them, but I refused to spend £2 on one that was a year out of date. Yes really. I know that these things tend to last way longer than their sell by thanks to all of the artificial.. well everything.. but it was principle, you know? Way back in November I was sent the Double Decker Chocolate flavoured Moon Pie and whilst this reminded me of my desire to try the banana flavour, I did little about it. Cue A Taste Of The States. 

Like the chocolate version, this was made up of layers of graham cracker and marshmallow, but this time it was a sunny* shade of yellow. 

The banana flavour was omnipresent and, of course, undeniably artificial. It was the good kind of synthetic though, at the foam sweet end of the spectrum and not the chemically one. The gooey, cakey quality made it feel very childish (and therefore all the more enjoyable) to eat. 

I had already learned from previous experience that a quick blast in the microwave transforms a Moon Pie into an even oozier concoction. So when you try one, please do warm yours up too - but only if you don't mind sticky fingers! 

This one is for the die hard banana sweet lovers out there. Those of us who are prepared to face the inevitable sugar high and relish the nostalgic glee of sticky marshmallow. The Banana Moon Pies are are quite the bargain too at just 99p from A Taste Of The States, and if you enter AMYSEEKS20 at the checkout you'll get 20% off too! 

8/10

*does that sound more appetising than slightly alarming? 

Snyder's of Hanover S'mores Pretzel Pieces (American Fizz)

Pretzels are totally underrated here in the U.K. Even ASDA have recently discontinued their six-pack of individual pretzel bags. What gives England? Don't you understand just how deliciously satisfying the salty crunch of a pretzel is? I'm hoping that one day we'll catch up with the Stateside fascination with them, but meanwhile I will have to get my fix through American Fizz. I haven't tasted any of Snyder's range before, but they come highly recommended by fellow blogger Nibbles 'N' Scribbles (please do check out her reviews of their salted caramel pretzels pieces and peanut butter pretzel sandwiches).

"The sweet flavors of marshmallows & chocolate sprinkled onto perfectly salty sourdough Pretzel Pieces."

I think it's the combination of salty-sweet that endeavours me to peanut butter, and probably why I love it even more combined with chocolate, banana and/or jam (seriously if you've never tried a pb & nutella or pb, jam & banana toastie, you need to get on it at your next opportunity!). It was the promise of salty-sweet that really drew me to this Snyder's flavour... well that and the inclusion of chocolate of course! 

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the bag and poured out its contents. There was a complete assortment of different sized pretzel pieces, including some positively ginormous chunks! All of the bits were evenly coated in a sweet scented chocolate powder, which I was pleased with as it's so frustrating when you eat underseasoned snacks! 

The pretzel pieces were perfectly crispy with a decent crunch. Whilst I found this satisfying, it did start to irk my fiance who was watching a film with me at the time -Snyders are most certainly not cinema friendly snacks. 

The chocolate flavouring was pleasant enough, but it tasted just like hot chocolate powder. Obviously it wasn't the most authentic chocolatey experience, but the sweetness of the flavouring allowed for the perfect juxtaposition against the salty pretzel. I'm not sure where the marshmallow or Graham cracker elements went to, that the traditional 'S'mores' consists of, because I couldn't detect them anywhere.

Complaints aside, the Snyders S'mores Pretzel Pieces make a welcome change to what's currently available in the UK. I haven't tried anything like it before, and whilst I may not be in a mad rush to buy this flavour again, I'll certainly buy more from their range in future.

6/10

NEW! Reese's Snacksters (B&M)

So it turned out that I was looking in the wrong place in my B&M store. Whilst the Hersheys Snacksters were situated with the sweets, the Reese's variety were by the tills -silly me. Anyway, I hastily picked up a couple of packs of the peanut butter version in the hope that I'd love them as much as the Hershey's. 

Just as before the pot was split in two: one side contained 9 Graham Cracker dippers, and the other the chocolate spread. I hadn't actually realised until I got home that it wasn't pure peanut butter and was a peanut butter flavoured chocolate spread instead. 

At once, a joyous peanut butter and chocolate fusion hit my taste buds. Sickly sweet, but comforting, I enjoyed the smooth dip against the bland cracker biscuit. My feelings started to change however as I munched my way through the pot, as soon the nuttiness was lost against the chocolate. I actually found it much more cloying than the chocolate spread alone, and by the end I couldn't handle any more sweetness, so was glad to finish.

I can't help but think that this would have been a much yummier snack if Hershey's had used their Reeses peanut butter instead of the chocolate version. Oddly enough, the night before I tried the Reese's snackster my sister offered her peanut butter pretzel graze box to me, and whilst I enjoyed it, it was just too healthy. 

I'm more of a naughty peanut butter kind of girl, and favour the spreads that have had plenty of salt and sugar to them -or chocolate, honey and banana if you remember my PB Crave review! Reese's peanut butter ranks high amongst my favourites, and I'd love to have a snack pot that uses it. Until then, I'll have to create my own with a bag of salted pretzels and a side of PB.  

6/10
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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...

Annabelle's Rocky Road S'mores (American Chocolate Bar)

The Black Friday box of goodies that I ordered from American Soda contained a couple more chocolate bars that I've wanted to try for a while. One of which was the Rocky Road S'mores which One Treat reviewed a couple of months ago on behalf of Taffy Mail. She spoke highly of it, and I felt the food envy kick in so I decided to order one for myself. However, given how disgusted I was with the first chocolate I tried from my order (the Sky bar) I wasn't looking forward to it as much as I was when it arrived.  

The Rocky Road S'mores bar is a big gnarly ol' hunk of snack. If you haven't heard of them before (as I hadn't before reading OneTreat's review) they are 'Handmade fluffy marshmallow with a real graham cracker coated with milk chocolate and sprinkled with roasted cashew nuts.'

Unwrapping it, I noted that the chocolate was much darker than UK milk chocolate such as dairy milk. Fortunately however, I couldn't detect the horrid cheap chocolate smell that I experienced with the Sky Bar. 

Biting into it, I welcomed the soft, billowy marshmallow that melted away so pleasingly. It was far better than the marshmallows I'm used to (flumps) and although very sweet, didn't become sickly. Crunch came from the graham cracker on top- which was delicious-  but there just wasn't enough of it; I felt it could have really done with being both on top of and beaneath the mallow. The chocolate coating was studded with cashews (also just on top) which didn't add much in the way of flavour, but certainly offered an additional texture, reminding me of the coating of a 'Feast' ice cream. The chocolate was much better than expected, and although it's not as good quality as British chocolate, certainly outshines most of the US chocolates I've tried. 

I enjoyed this bar, and I'd buy it again! 

8/10