NEW! McVities Coffee Caramel Digestives (Sainsbury's)

Tomorrow will mark two months since  the two new McVities caramel digestive flavours were announced, and since then I've been on my longest and most frustrating snack hunt to date. It seems I'm not the only one who's been desperate to try the new biscuits, as many of you have got in touch, sharing my  disappointment. At long last though I have got my hands on both varieties though (you can read my review of the banoffee caramels here) thanks to the lovely Beth and her digestive-related determination. I'm just glad I'm not the only foodzilla out there! The new coffee caramels can be found at Sainsbury's now for a rather exorbitant £1.75 -which usually I wouldn't pay, but given the length of time I've been searching for them I could hardly leave them behind. According to Beth's email from McVities, they'll be stocked in ASDA from next week and Morrisons the week after. 

"Wheatmeal Biscuits with Coffee Flavour Caramel, Covered in Milk Chocolate."

The components bare striking resemblance to the Cappuccino Twix (which, FYI, have recently popped up again, this time in Poundland at 3 for £1). I must admit though that I was less impressed when I re-tried the Twix version recently though; the caramel just wasn't as coffee-y as I had originally thought. I found myself praying that McVities had done just as good a job with this new flavour as they had with the banoffee.

I knew I was on to a winner as soon as I opened the packet and was greeted with the scent of freshly made latte. I say latte because it wasn't knock-your-socks off espresso, but the aroma was still promising.

The second sign that led me to believe that the Coffee Caramel Digestives weren't going to disappoint occurred when I left a couple in the living room whilst I retrieved my mug of coffee from the kitchen and heard a clattering. I pegged it back around the corner, where I caught my dog red handed, guiltily nabbing the biscuits from the coffee table. He's seven years old and never stolen food before. Damn McVities, what have you done to Monty?

Oh boy. They nailed it. The sturdy, wheat biscuits were truly complimented by a caramel that delivered a coffee kick much stronger than the Twix. The nature of the caramel means that it's still very sweet, but the flavour is not hindered in any way. In fact it want until writing this that I realised that the biscuit wasn't coffee too, for the flavour had permeated throughout. The chocolate was good too, which has got me thinking: why aren't caramel mochas a thing? 

I loved the taste of the cappuccino thins when they launched at the beginning of the year, but wasn't happy with the thin nature. I'm all for a bit of biscuit chunk (and hence won't be reviewing the 'new' Maryland thins -they can bore off). These are far superior, and well worth a buy!

9/10

NEW! McVities Penguin Cake Crunchers (Tesco)

How has it already been a week since I reviewed the Trio cake crunchers? Scrap that, how was yesterday the summer Equinox? Christmas doesn't seem five minutes ago, and yet Sunday will mark six months until the best day of the year. Yep, I'm counting down already and will be celebrating in my own way on Sunday, keep your eyes peeled on my Instagram if you want to see what I mean. Anyway, where were we? Cake crunchers. Yes, well of you remember I wasn't impressed by the lack of crunch in the Trio cake 'crunchers', but could the Penguin bars fare better? 

"Sponge cakes with a creamy layer and crunchy biscuit pieces, covered in milk chocolate."

The cakes were aesthetically pleasing to cut into with their respective layers, I'll give them that. Penguin cake bars have, of course, been around for donkeys but it was the cookies and cream flavour that first drew me to the bars (even a hint of Oreo anything and I'm there). The trouble is, 'cookies and cream' has become synonymous with 'unflavoured' in the same way that 'vanilla' has, and that was certainly the case with these bars. The original penguin cakes have a chocolate layer above the sponge, but this was just a plain mousse. I mean it wasn't unpleasant, but it was far from spectacular either.

 To make matters worse, the biscuit pieces were again more-or-less inexistent. At only 4% of the bars they were never really going to make an impact though we're they? Why bother Mcvities? Ah yes, because then you can label it as new and draw us suckers in. 

On a brighter note, the chocolate covering and cake were fair, in a cheap, long-life cake sort of way. They were also individually wrapped which makes them good for lunch boxes, but they're also high in sugar (10g per 24g bar) so be warned if you're giving them to children! These bars have got me thinking, why don't McVities make a Hershey's cookies n creme style penguin biscuit? White chocolate studded with biscuit crumbs and a milk chocolate filling? Now that sounds good to me... 

5/10 

NEW! McVities Trio Toffee Cake Crunchers (Tesco)

Apologies for the infrequency of posts this week. I've been super busy with a few projects (mainly work) and am experiencing a number of technical issues (both my Mac and phone aren't working properly) so please bear with me. Anyway... 

It appears that McVities are treating us to a whole host of new products at the moment. Not only have they released the scrummy new Banoffee Caramel Digestives, and the elusive Coffee Caramel Digestives (pleeeeeease shout me if you find them!) but they've also launched two new individually wrapped cakes based on two of their successful lunchbox biscuits. The first I'm reviewing today, but please stay tuned for my thoughts on their new a penguin Cookies & Cream Cake Cruncher bars. 

"Toffee Flavour Cream and Crunchy Biscuit Pieces Covered in Milk Chocolate."

The apparently iconic* Trio bars were reintroduced as a limited edition last summer, but it seems they're here to stay. Not that I'm complaining. I found packs of this new cake version of the toffee biscuit bars in ASDA for £1.78, balked at the price, then found them on offer in Tesco a week later at the far more reasonable sum of £1.00. 

Both the cake and chocolate were indifferent to those used McVities Jaffa Cake Bars. That's to say that the chocolate was reasonable, although there wasn't enough of it to really distinguish it's quality. The cake was fairly light and fluffy for a long-life cake, but again it was pretty bland. 

The toffee cream however was scrummy, with a butterscotch flavour that hit the spot in a truly nostalgic fashion. It was very sweet, but that's what I expected -especially as each 24g cake contains 9.9g of sugar! As for the biscuit pieces, blink and you miss them. There's nowhere near enough of them (they only constitute 3.5% of the bars) which I can't help but think is a shame -not to mention a huge marketing ploy. Cake crunchers my arse. 

Give these new cakes a go if you're after either an intense sugar hit and/or a little nostalgia. Don't expect anything groundbreaking and you won't be disappointed. 

7/10.

*Despite being an 80s baby and junk food addicted child (and adult) I can't actually remember them. 

NEW! McVities Mini Penguins (ASDA)

McVities' Penguins. If they don't bring back memories of school trips then I feel sorry for you. I know that they were the highlight of my packed lunches, even if they were melted and crushed beyond recognition by the rum you opened them, and you'd read the jokes a million times over. I also love Cadbury's Animals and so I hoped these new mini Penguin biscuits would offer the best of both worlds. At £1 for a packet of 6 bags from ASDA they were cheap enough to find out! 

"Mini penguin shaped chocolate flavour biscuits topped with milk chocolate." 

Each bag contained 8 or 9 cute little penguins. The biscuits evidently weren't going to be a similar to bourbons given their lighter shade, but they did smell strongly of milk chocolate.

The full size Penguins are arguably one of the chocolatiest* biscuits you can get, so it's no surprise that these don't provide the same intense hit. That's not a complaint though, as the biscuits were still well flavoured and were perfectly crunchy; imagine if you will a chocolate flavoured digestive. Given the size of these penguins, the milk chocolate topping didn't make them too sickly either. As a bonus they're dunkable* too - surely that makes them as good, if not better, than the original?

It's safe to assume that I loved these mini penguins. They might be marketed towards children but that's not stopping me! Oh, and I imagine they're good if you're trying to watch your weight -each bag is 118kCals and feels more satisfying than a lone biscuit! *PLUS* Each bag has a joke on it, hey it's the small pleasures in life! 

9/10

*now added to the Amy dictionary of adjectives. 

NEW! McVities Milk Chocolate Cappuccino Digestive Thins (Tesco)

We've been moaning for years about the ever decreasing size of chocolate bars and snack packs. Walkers crisps, Mars bars, Magnums, Toblerone, Dairy Milk have all been shrunk recently and of course we all now expect the outcry that occurs every year when the Christmas chocolate tins come into Supermarkets inevitably smaller than the previous year's. Yet still there's a juxtaposition of interests going on. We complain and feel hard done by, conned by the greedy companies who have sneakily done away with a few grams here and there, yet eagerly jump on the "thin" bandwagon. I'm not exempt from this and often don't think twice about spending the same on bagel thins as I would on a pack of their chunkier brothers. We're strange creatures.

The thin trend is growing too, and what once only applied to the bakery section has now extended to the biscuit aisle. Oreo thins have recently arrived on British shores but Mcvities and Tesco* have also jumped aboard the bandwagon too.

I did think of two bonuses to McVities new range though:

1. They're coated, meaning there's surely a greater chocolate:biscuit ratio (always a win).

2. Smaller/thinner = I can eat even more biscuits!

Also, they've made this cappuccino version which is the real reason* I bought them when I finally spotted a box in Tesco for a rather expensive £1.69.

*well that and admittedly I'm a gluttonous chocoholic.

"Delightfully delicate cappuccino flavoured digestives covered in milk chocolate."

Crikey, they really do mean thin don't they? How they've even managed to make a biscuit that's not much wider than a sheet of paper I don't know!

I was impressed that despite their narrowness McVities have managed to imprint their logo and thin on the back (just in case you forget it's not a regular digestive of course). 

Are you a dunker? I can't help it, I just have to! So it's an odd experience, eating a biscuit so thin that you can't really dip it in your drink. Luckily despite its size the flavour still managed to shine through, offering a mocha mix of coffee in the biscuit itself and chocolate covering. The characteristic wheat-yness remained in the undertones and I realised that I was actually quite impressed!

They're delicious but not as satisfying as full size digestives, and so I find myself longing for non-thin cappuccino flavoured milk chocolate digestives... or better yet, white chocolate digestives. McVities are you reading this?

8/10

NEW! McVities Hobnobs Tiffin Slices (Farmfoods)

I have to admit that I didn't give these slices a second glance in ASDA. I thought that they had just been subject to a packaging overhaul, and it wasn't until I saw an Instagram post about McVities' tiffin that I decided to take a closer look.

"Milk Chocolate Hobnobs Slices: Tiffin-Style Biscuit Slices topped with Milk Chocolate."

What comes to mind when you think of tiffin? For me it was school cookery classes; mixing together a gooey concoction of golden syrup, chocolate, biscuits and raisins. Yum. Those fond memories are ultimately what caused me to buy these McVities offerings -although the bargain price of 49p for five at Farmfoods certainly helped.

I was a bit disappointed when I unwrapped my slice as it was absolutely tiddly. With no exaggeration it was only a couple of mouthfuls -not much bigger than a matchbox. It certainly looked chocolatey through!

The oat and chocolate combination was always going to be a winner -chocolate hobnobs have got to be one of the best British biscuits after all. The slice simply had a higher proportion of chocolate to biscuit, but was essentially the same product. I was left contemplating where the raisins and mishmash of textures had disappeared too -surely that's a fundamental requirement of tiffin? It certainly is in my books!

McVitie's new tiffin slices aren't really what they're cracked up to be. They're tasty, but they're just not tiffin or substantial enough to fill a hunger gap -so you'd better have two.

6/10

McVities Caramel Digestive Slices

I'm not sure how long these have been about, but when I saw these McVities Caramel Digestive Slices on offer in ASDA (at the bargain price of 64p for 6) I couldn't resist.

These are described as 'digestive slices topped with caramel and milk chocolate'

Each slice is 129cals (6.9g fat 3.7g sat fat 10.3g sugar)

I think McVities caramel digestives are a marvellous creation and so I had high expectations from these slices. Each slice is individually wrapped- perfect for a treat on the go. I opened the pack to discover a decent biscuit layer topped with a (slightly indistinguishable) caramel layer and smooth milk chocolate topping.

I bit into the slice and entered my own little segment of heaven. The biscuity bottom tasted exactly like a decent cheesecake base should- buttery and decadent. The caramel and chocolate top were deliciously sleek and the combination was perfectly rich. The slices aren't that big, and so I savoured every nibble.

It turns out that McVities have got size felt just right, any more and the slice could easily trip into the realms of  being sickly.

I'll definitely buy these again. 

9/10