NEW! Hershey's Cookies'N'Creme Dipped Pretzels (A Taste Of The States)

I told you I’m obsessed with pretzels at the moment! I actually had my greedy eyes on the brand new Snyders Reese’s pretzels, but A Taste of The States hadn’t had any in when I placed my order. I can’t moan at all though, I had the Good Health pretzels to munch through and have an affinity towards anything cookies and cream. I’ve had sweet (S'mores flavoured) Snyder's pretzels once before, but I wasn't overly impressed with them

I can’t help but feel that It’s such a shame that pretzels aren’t given the recognition they deserve here in the U.K. I love their salty crispness, which is perhaps odd considering that I rarely crave potato crisps. Hey, I’m just contrary like that. Thank goodness for America!

The packet contained roughly 25 traditionally shaped, generously coated pretzels. There was  a good amount of cookie crumb poking about in the bag’s corners too -a good sign for those cereal dust fans* out there, you know who you are. I’m not sure how big Snyder’s mouth is but I didn’t agree that they were bite size. Well, you could fit a whole one in your mouth in I guess, but I’m more ladylike than that.

That’s a lie, I just like to savour my pretzels.

They were utterly delicious though; I mean seriously good. Despite loving the Hershey’s Cookies ’N’ Creme bar, I’ll admit that you need to be in a sugary mood to crave one as they are  sickly concoctions. I was therefore relieved to find that Snyder’s hadn’t done away with the salinity in these pretzels completely, as the salt was required to counteract the sweetness. The resulting combination was tantalising on the tastebuds: a journey of sweet vanilla with a touch of cocoa, followed by that wonderful salty hit. All that chocolate luckily hadn’t hampered the crunchiness of the pretzel dough either, and I enjoyed every single nibble. 

I’d like to say that my pretzel cravings have been satisfied, but actually I’m now even more desperate than ever to try the Reese’s covered Snyder’s Pretzels, which are now in stock at A Taste of The States. Don’t forget, you can get 20% off the new pretzels -and anything else that takes your fancy- from A Taste of The States by using the code AMYSEEKS20 at checkout.

Thank you to A Taste Of The States for sending me the new Hershey’s Cookies ’n’ Creme pretzels!

9/10 

*you know, the people who love the end of the bag of cereal? I’ll admit here that we normally give ours to the dog, which I know some of you will deem heretic! 

NEW! Krispy Kreme Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Filled & Ring Doughnuts (Welcome Break)

I'm not going to lie. Despite still being narked at Krispy Kreme for their ridiculous pre-April Fools stunt I was excited by the release of their new Hershey's doughnuts. As a lover of Hershey's Cookies'n'Creme bar I just hoped that they'd be more successful than the last Cookies & Cream inspired doughnut I tried; remember that disappointing Oreo ring? 

Of course I had to wait until I was in Cardiff to get hold of the Krispy Kremes, and indeed I sent my poor Dad on a goose chase on the way home from visiting my sister's new home, purely in pursuit of these new doughnuts. In the end I ended up paying an extortionate £5.45 for three doughnuts (I bought the Nutty Chocolatta too) from a Welcome Break -they'd better be worth it! 

Ring Doughnut
I don't usually buy KK's ring doughnuts as I figure that the filled versions represent much better value for money, but I wanted to compare the two (for reviewing purposes, obviously! 😉)

"Filled with Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Kreme, topped with white chocolate flavoured coating and Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme pieces."

It wasn't the prettiest ring doughnut I'd ever seen, but at least it did have a plentiful supply of Hershey's cookies 'n' creme chocolate atop! Biting into the ring I tasted Krispy Kreme's classic glaze, which of course works gloriously well with the sweet dough. I did find that the white chocolate coating became somewhat lost in all the sugariness though. The pieces too didn't stand out, and I ended up feeling very underwhelmed by this doughnut. Lets hope the filled version would impress!

7/10

Filled Doughnut

"Our signature ring, topped with white chocolate flavoured coating and Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme pieces".

Well that's not much of a topping in comparison is it Krispy Kreme? The doughnut also felt much staler than I'm used to (I usually buy their doughnuts from their shop in the St David's centre). Humf. I kept my fingers crossed that it was adequately filled.

Whilst the filling was off centre, I was just pleased that there was a decent amount to be found. Whilst I was worried that the doughnut felt stale, the innards had remained light and fluffy, with plenty of big air pockets. Taste wise the dough was just as delicious as always, but it was the filling I forked out my pennies for!

Oh. It just tasted of fondant. As a disliker of Creme Eggs, and fondant filled chocolate in general, this simply wasn't my cup of tea. How Krispy Kreme can call this Cookies 'n' Creme I'll never know. It was just flavourless sugar. As with the ring the chocolate coating was a let down too. White chocolate? If you say so. 

5/10

The new Krispy Kreme don't deliver. Greggs' new caramel cookie doughnut is far better and cheaper. I shan't bother with either again. 

NEW! Morning Pops Subscription Box (Online)

At the beginning of July I was contacted by a brand new British company who told me about their exciting new subscription box, and wanted to know if I'd like to try the first shipment when they launched. Morning Pops sources a monthly collection of fun cereals from around the world and delivers to them to your door (with no delivery charge). The team have been scouring the globe on the hunt for innovative cereal to pop in upcoming subscription boxes such as Milo from Australia, and Oreo cereal from Korea.

If you follow my blog and/or Instagram you'll know that cereal is something I really enjoy -and eat a great deal of. My evening is never complete until I've had my pre-bed bowl. I also love trying international treats, so Morning Pops sounded right up my alley and I gleefully accepted their kind offer.

Last week the company launched and my Morning Pops Box arrived; I couldn't wait to see what lay within. Inside was three large individual serving bags of international cereals:
Kellogg's Froot Loops (USA)
Hershey's Cookies n Crème (USA)
Nestle Chocapic Duo (France)
The parcel also contained their own limited edition mix: Chocolate Pillows & Marshmallows (UK) and a mini Reese's peanut butter cup.

The only cereal I'd tried before was Froot Loops (I was addicted to them for a while a couple of years ago!) and I was eager to try the others. I just hoped that they still tasted fresh and the transference to clear wrappers hadn't resulted in stale or soft cereal.

Froot Loops
Nostalgia hit me of my trip to Miami when I opened this pack and the super sweet synthetic scent wafted into my nostrils. It never fails to amaze me how America can get away with using such artificial colours.

For anyone who hasn't tried these before, I warn you, they're so sugary that they always make me feel like I could jump on the sofas with sheer hyperactivity for half an hour after eating (not good when you have them before going to sleep). That said, I think they're scrummy and i love the fact that they taste so different to anything we have over here (UK Fruit Loops included!).

8/10

Hershey's Cookies & Creme
I was most excited to try this cereal, it's been on my must try list for quite a while, especially given how much I love Reese's Puffs -and indeed the Hershey's candy bar from which it is derived.

It didn't disappoint either. Both the cookies and Creme flavours were represented well in maize form. The little cereal balls retained their crunchiness too, and they imparted a creamy sweetness into the milk. Yum yum yum.

9/10 (nothing can beat Reese's Puffs).

Chocapic Duo
Now I only knew about Chocapic through Instagram (where else?) but I've seen it highly praised everytime I'd seen it posted, so was looking forward to discovering what all the fuss was about. The cereal comprised of a roughly even divide between white chocolate and chocolate curls. I couldn't really smell much, but poured my bowl and got stuck in.

Meh, both chocolate and white chocolate were tasty, but nothing special. White chocolate often doesn't translate well into other products -Tesco's white chocolate and raspberry ice cream cones for example- and this was no different. Of the two, the milk chocolate clearly dominated, and it was a pretty standard chocolate cereal taste. Texturally it was crunchy, despite its lengthy soaking in milk whilst I faffed about taking photos. I imagine that children would love the colours and flavour of the Chocapic Duo, but it's not one I'd considering importing especially.

7/10

MorningPops Exclusive Mix
I'll be honest here. An exclusive mix has so much potential, so chocolate pillows and mini marshmallows seems a little thoughtless -and dare I say it- lazy. Looking at the ingredients (printed on a label on the bag of each cereal packet) showed that the cereals indifferent to that of Tesco's Choco Nut Pillows. Even I can add a few jazzy marshmallows to that without a huge amount of imagination!

Despite my grumbles, it was yummy. The mixture of chocolate, hazelnut and fluffy marshmallow works like a dream. Of course it was very sweet and again probably not the best thing to munch on before bed, but I enjoyed it never the less.

6/10

I enjoyed my Morning Pops subscription box, and think it's a novel idea. At £8.95 per month it's perhaps a little on the steep side (especially when one of the cereals is mainstream and from the UK) however If cereal is your jam, then why not spoil yourself or even that person you love? Take a gander over to www.morningpops.com where you'll find the full low-down on what the company has to offer, and if you use the code BLOG25 you'll even get 25% off your first box order.

Many thanks to MorningPops for sending me a sample box to try.

Hershey's Zagnut (American Fizz)

A while ago, in my review of Nestle's Butterfinger, I mentioned a comment that I'd received on Twitter about how I couldn't be a true peanut butter addict without trying a Zagnut. The bar has been surprisingly difficult to track down, but American Fizz have recently undertaken a huge restock and so the Zagnut was available to purchase at long last. 

"When you've got a hankering for crunchy peanut butter and delicious toasted coconut, you need a ZAGNUT Bar. The satisfying crunch of peanuts, along with the sweet, toasty goodness of coconut, will bring a smile on even the most challenging of days."

Uh oh. Crunchy peanut butter. That sounds remarkably similar to the Butterfinger. Once it arrived, I manhandled the packet and realised that it felt exactly the same too. Had I made a mistake?  

The Zagnut was extremely brittle, and so it had already split in two during transit. I could smell the nuttiness as soon as it was out of it's wrapper -but my heart sunk when I saw that it was texturally indistinguishable to the Butterfinger. 

I bit into it, and tasted a powerful peanut butter flavour. There was no mistaking that Hershey's had used proper pb in the centre of the bar, packing a huge amount of flavour into every mouthful. As for the coconut? Well I couldn't taste that whatsoever. There was no hiding from the sheer amount of sugar though. I swear my teeth were screaming at me not to eat it. The sweetness combined with the crunchiness resulted in a bar that felt like I was chewing on peanut butter flavoured sugar cubes, an experience that really wasn't enjoyable. 

Half way through  I realised that it was only my reluctance to waste money that was fuelling my Zagnut endurance... With that I threw the other half away and reached for a Hershey's product that I know I love: a white chocolate Reese's heart, ahhh, much better!

2/10

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.

Hershey's Zero Bar (American Fizz)

Today's review is of another American classic candy bar made by Hershey's: their Zero Bar. I know Hershey's often gets a bit of a bad rap, but I love the company -and their products even more so. After all, without Hershey's there would be no Reese's -and lord knows I'd be a grumpier cow without Reese's! If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that I have also reviewed (and lauded the praises of) Hershey's almighty 'Take 5' bar, so it felt only natural to buy their Zero bar when placing my American Fizz order.

'Caramel, peanut and almond nougat covered with delicious white fudge.'

As you can see, the bar was a stark white number with rippled coating. Slicing into it uncovered the layer of caramel, beneath which was the peanut studded nougat. 

The fudge coating was just as expected, adding little to the bar other than playing the role of binding material to hold the bar together. It has to be admitted that I enjoyed it's sweetness, and the fact it's a different flavour than we have with any of the UK bars

.

The caramel layer was soft and chewy, although it was probably more solid than normal as it had been stored in my fridge. The caramel worked well with the nougat underneath, which was fudge-like and reminded me of the centre of a Mars bar. There was added crunchiness thanks to the peanuts dotted about, which made the Zero all the more texturally interesting to eat. 

It's another winning combination from Hershey's. The Zero bar is super sweet (it contains 30g of sugar after all) so perhaps it's one to avoid giving the kids; instead keep it for yourself to help with that mid-afternoon energy slump!

8/10

Take 5, Mike and Ike Zours, Twizzlers & Nerds (Taffy Mail Conclusion)

Take 5
The item I was most undeniably excited about in the Taffy Mail goody box was this Take 5 Bar. It's an unusual concept, and it's called Take 5 because it consists of 5 components: chocolate, pretzels, peanut butter, caramel and peanuts. The packet told me it contained 2 bars, and I was expecting them to come in a 2-finger format like Twix, but instead they were a couple of square-ish shaped blocks.

Once the blocks were sliced into, you could easily distinguish the chocolate, caramel, peanut butter and pretzels, which were evenly distributed (unlike the Cadbury's marvellous creations bars). As a fan of cleanliness and order this pleased me enormously. The structure of the bar meant that you could taste each of the elements in every bite. The chocolate wasn't great, and it reminded me of the coating of Reese's PB cups (I then read the packet and realise that it is indeed made by the same company- Hershey's). The caramel was gloriously sticky, although there wasn't a great deal of it because the bar is so compact. I could taste the peanuts & peanut butter which resembled the filling of a Snickers bar. The most enjoyable element however came as a surprise- it was the pretzels- which added a lovely saltiness to the bar and complemented the sugary chocolate and caramel wonderfully. 

The amalgamation of 5 completely different constituents resulted in textural heaven: bite, chew, smooth and stickiness. Yum.

If you're a fan of the sweet/salty combination I'd definitely recommend Take 5!

9/10

Mike and Ike Zours

These little pellet shaped sweets pack a punch. I'd describe them as a Jelly Bean version of Haribo Tangfastics -minus the sugary coating. Each flavour is perfectly represented (lemon, apple, watermelon, blue raspberry and cherry) and is chewy without pulling being filling-removers. They're utterly different to what we have in the UK, and I'd happily buy them again

7/10

Twizzlers
I've seen these in the import sections of both B&M and Tesco. Twizzlers are another Hershey's product and are strawberry twisted licorice. The flavour was mild and very synthetic, and although they're quite fun to eat in a 'Cheesestrings' kind of way, I'd probably opt for normal strawberry laces in favour of Twizzlers.

3/10

Nerds
Nerds were something I remember enjoying as a child, and this duo pack of cherry lemonade and watermelon apple rekindled my love of these little crunchy miniature sweets, although I'm not sure I could identify the flavours if asked!

7/10

Taffy Mail Conclusion
Once again, a huge thank you to the guys at Taffy Mail for sending me a sample of their Classic Box to review.

Christmas is just a couple of days away, and if you're panicking that you've not finished buying gifts for those you love, then why not subscribe to Taffy Mail for them, boxes start from just £7.49 and that way they recieve a box each month!

Alternatively If you've got a sweet tooth, and crave something a bit different to what's available on the UK market, Taffy Mail might just be your answer.

For more info please visit: www.taffymail.co.uk