NEW! Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Oreo 41g Bar (Tesco)

I don't think that any of us have quite got over the atrocious "peanut butter" Oreo Dairy Milk; It was an absolute insult to us nut butter lovers. I even refused to buy the mint version of the Oreo Dairy Milk on the back of my disgust, despite reading raring reviews on it, and enjoying the actual biscuit mint flavoured Oreos. I also didn't fancy buying a 100g mint chocolate bar when I'm not the biggest mint chocolate fan. Sometimes the combination reminds me all too much of toothpaste, and other times it's the refreshing hit that I crave. Kind of like Mars bars - I just have to be in the mood. So when I found this single serving 41g bar in Tesco last week, I put my reservations to one side and took a punt on the minty, biscuity, Cadbury chocolate bar. 

"Milk chocolate with a mint flavoured filling (36%) and biscuit pieces (14%)."

I still expect to see the old cube shaped segments when opening a bar of Dairy Milk. Do you experience the same thought, or am I just getting older (back-in-the-good-old-days-esque). I was pleased however to find that each bubble contained a generous amount of filling, which was a less ludicrous shade of green than mint Aero, and jam packed full of cookie pieces.

The overall flavour was pretty good. As per the Oreos, the mint was well balanced - not knocking into Aquafresh territory but standing it's own against the milk chocolate and cookie biscuit pieces. As for the chocolate, it's been so long since I last bought a Dairy Milk that I can't acurately comment on whether it's the same stuff used in the unadulterated bars. All I can say was that it had that undeniable Cadbury taste.

The cookie pieces were wonderful. They were the only aspect that I enjoyed in the [don't make me say it again] "peanut butter" Oreo bar, and they worked well once more - but this time the filling around the biscuit didn't grate on me. They were perfectly crunchy and added welcome texture, as well as a touch of added flavour depth from the cocoa which had the added bonus of breaking up all the sweetness. 

Then it dawned on me. I know why I was enjoying the bar so much. It reminded me of Viscount biscuits. Do they even still exist? As a child they were the holy grail of party food, I guess because they were the closest snack one could get to the Christmas luxury biscuit selection boxes*. Talking of which, If you didn't grab the foil covered ones first, there's something wrong with you.

Next time I'm craving mint chocolate, I'll probably choose this bar over an Aero. Cadbury's milk chocolate might've gone downhill, but it still beats Nestle's every time. 

8/10

Milka Cherry Creme (Polish Deli)

I was on an unsuccessful hunt for more of the Karmelove bars in our local Polish delis last week when I came across a couple of treats that did catch my eye. 

One of which was a spread version of the KarmelLove bars, which seeing as it's pretty much the equivalent of Caramac you can top your toast with, I feel it should really be renamed crack. If you see it, buy it*. We have an abundance of Easter European shops in Hereford and I've only found the one jar in one shop. It's also short dated, so I'm not sure if E.Wedel is still making it. The lack of availability is the only reason that I'm not doing a full review, but do let me know if you find it and try it! 

The other product that got my attention was a cherry flavoured Milka bar, which was far more readily available. I first fell in love with Milka on holiday in turkey almost twenty years ago, but now it's pretty easy to get hold of (the only benefit of the Mondelez takeover I guess). Some of the funkier flavours are still resigned to the Polish delis however, but I found this 100g bar for a very reasonable 79p. Normally I prefer my fruits paired with white chocolate, but given my affinity towards anything Black Forest, I was happy to give it a go. 

The Milka bars, as you probably know, are a lot slimmer than the Cadbury large bars and so I wondered how they would fit the cherry within the squares.

Snapping it in half however revealed a generous jammy layer atop a Creme -all surrounded in the typical Milka alpine chocolate. The Cherry oozed, emitting a tangy, fruity scent. 

As expected, the Cherry jam was super sweet, but there was enough of it to pack a punch. The chocolate was also good and far silkier than Cadbury. As for the Creme, it reminded me of the vanilla mousse filling in Cadbury's seasonal products -such as the egg n spoon and Snowman. On its own or in small doses, it's fine, but combine it wish jam and creamy chocolate and you've got one sickly concoction. 

Normally I can eat 50g+ of chocolate without batting an eyelid but even I was struggling with the sweetness by the time I'd even eaten half of this bar. It's tasty, and one to try as it's so different to what the British mass market chocolate offers, but it probably should be eaten in smaller portions than I'm used to! 

7/10 

*this is the crack spread...

NEW! Cadbury Egg 'n' Spoon Oreo (Tesco)

Even though I got stuck straight into the hot cross bun reviews almost a month ago, I've somehow resisted the call of the Easter chocolates until now. It might have something to do with the fact that I still have an excessive amount of chocolate, some left over from Christmas as well as the countless bars I brought back with me. Oops. When I spotted the insta-famous Oreo Egg 'n' Spoons half price in Tesco this week however, my self-restraint evaporated and somehow I ended up at the till with a box.

I remember being utterly disappointed with the chocolate Egg 'n' Spoons when they first came out a few years ago. Since then I've stayed clear of mousse filled Cadbury chocolates (bar a lone snowman reduced after Christmas). It was the addition of Oreo swayed me. I'm not even sure why I'm so infatuated with anything Oreo, but after the disappointment of the Peanut Butter Oreo filled Dairy Milk this week I hoped that Cadbury could go at least a little way to redeem their sorry selves.

"4 Milk chocolate eggs with a soft vanilla flavour mousse filling (42 %) with biscuit pieces (4.5 %)."

At least the packaging design is smart, and although it hasn't changed since the eggs were first launched, I still think it's a nifty little concept. The box contained four purple wrapped eggs and two very dinky plastic spoons.

I unwrapped my first egg and spotted the lines where the top could come apart from the bottom. I'll be very honest here and admit to indulging my perfectionistic streak by separating the top from the bottom with a veg knife... Sooo satisfying.

Inside the chocolate casing was the milky white Oreo filling, flecked with cookie crumbs as expected. Digging in, I discovered just how soft and light the centre was. For some reason I thought it was going to be a similar substance to the centre of the Dairy Milk bars, and I'm still not sure if I was initially pleased or disappointed by my findings.

The flavour of the mousse was plain vanilla, and it was super fluffy. The gritty nature of the Oreo crumbs were a delightful addition however, and helped to provide a contrast in terms of both flavour and texture. I really enjoyed the lightness of the mousse, and was pleased that I'd chilled it in the fridge beforehand to give the egg a more dessert-like feel -perhaps next time I'll freeze it.

As for the chocolate around the outside, it was pretty thin, but I really enjoyed it. I've heard that Australian Cadbury is better than ours, but having tried a couple of bars of their Dairy Milk recently, I'm inclined to disagree. The quality of our chocolate has gone dramatically downhill -I'll give you that- but it still outstrips many of the foreign versions.

I think I may have to stock up* on these Oreo Egg 'n' Spoons whilst they're on offer!

9/10

*Actually I've just taken another peek at my chocolate hoard, and decided that that may not be the greatest idea.

NEW! Dairy Milk Peanut Butter Oreo (Home Bargains)

My fridge is full of chocolate, like ridiculously so. It's the same with ice cream in my freezer, yet I can't stop myself from buying more whenever as spot something new or at a bargain price. Perhaps I should start up a freakshake cafe from my kitchen, or maybe I should leave my wallet at home more often. Despite my exhaustive supplies, the news that Cadbury was releasing two new Oreo themed bars filled me with excitement, then dread. Why dread? Well firstly because I knew I'd end up on a ridiculous treasure hunt and wouldn't rest until I found them, secondly because I really didn't need any more chocolate,and lastly because I just knew that Cadbury would mess the opportunity up. Yet still the search began...

Home Bargains. B&M. Poundland. ASDA. Morrisons. Sainsbury's. Tesco. 

No luck, but then I was told by the lovely Tiff on Instagram and @eveningtreats that they'd found the bars in Home Bargains. My heart sunk. My local branch seemingly rarely stocks the yummy items that many people find in the discount store. Rather than give up hope I desperately returned to store on Sunday. I might've danced in the aisles when I spotted both the Mint and Peanut Butter flavours, before picking up the latter and kissing it (much to Bert's embarrassment).

If you remember, I mentioned my disinclination towards mint chocolate when I reviewed the new Oreos last year. Whilst I was pleasantly surprised by the biscuits, I still decided to restrain myself and only buy the peanut butter flavour, even though they were both just 99p each.

This isn't the first time I've mentioned the dissatisfaction amongst us peanut butter addicts caused by British Peanut butter Oreos. Whilst our American cousins are treated to cookies stuffed with the real deal, we are given a paltry smattering of fake peanut spread. I mean why on earth would anyone make a peanut butter product that doesn't even contain peanuts? It's not even a rare occurrence either, take Saturdays' review for example. Despite Both Oreo and Cadbury being owned by the same giant corporation, Mondelēz, I prayed that the originally British firm would be more sensible and wouldn't try and palm us all off with some crappy fake stuff.

"Milk chocolate with a peanut butter flavoured filling (35%) with biscuit pieces (12%)."

One look at the ingredients and I knew I'd be disappointed. Not one mention of peanuts, just flavouring. The only hint of any nuttiness was the "may contain nuts"  warning, which appears on just about anything and everything. I wanted it to contain nuts Cadbury, as does everyone else, that's why we're buying  it! Gah.

Snapping the bar revealed a good sized filling. It's perhaps not as prominent as that in the standard size Dairy Milk Oreo bars, but that can't be helped due to the flatter shape of the segments.

The milk chocolate is one of the waxier, cheaper types that Cadbury tend to use in their combination bars these days. It doesn't annoy me as much as it once did, but it's certainly not of the quality the Cadbury were once proud of.

As for the filling, it's creamy by pretty much the same flavour used in the British Oreos. That's to say it's awfully sweet, and infinitely less authentic than the filling of a Reese's cup (which I ate at the same time for comparison purposes 😉). The biscuit pieces were a welcome touch however, and added crunch to the otherwise silken bar.

Humf. Why can't Mondelēz understand that us Brits know and love our peanut butter just as much as the Yanks? Is it a cost issue? If so, I'd gladly pay more for the real deal. I just don't get it.  I certainly won't be buying it again. 

2/10

Cadbury 5 Star (Poundstretcher)

As you might've gathered, finding and trying new chocolate is somewhat of a passion of mine. Purse strings are rather right as a student however, and I'm a natural born bargain hunter so nothing pleases me more than a cheap chocolate find (as long as it's good quality and/or a reputable brand of course). This is why I love to trawl the Saturday markets (which have heralded treasures such as the Côte D'Or FudgeNut, Cappuccino Twix, and Milka Oreo) the Polish Delis (KarmelLove was a game changing discovery) as well as B&M and American Fizz' online clearance section (for affordable American bars).  One store that doesn't ordinarily prove successful for chocolate finds is poundstretcher, but times might be changing. Snack hunting queen Emma (@emmasfood) recently spotted these Cadbury 5 Stars in the bargain basement chain, and I hotfooted it down to my local branch the very next day. Hurrah! At 4 for £1 (or 29p each) they ticked my favourite boxes: chocolate ✅ cheap ✅ branded ✅.

"Cadbury Milk Chocolate + caramel + soft chocolatey centre + crunchy biscuits."

So basically a Boost then? We'll sort of. The 5 star is made in Ireland and sold in Cairo, and there are some differences between the two:

The 5 star comprises of milk chocolate (31.5%), sweetened filling (34%), caramel filling (30.5%) and biscuit pieces (4%), whereas the Boost contains 26% caramel and just 3% biscuits. The chocolate recipe is very different between the bars too (5 star contains a minimum cocoa solids of 25% compared to just 23% for Cadbury's UK bars). I've often heard that Irish Dairy Milk is better quality than our version, so I was intrigued to find out if this would bear truth.

Slicing into the 5 Star revealed all of the components, which unsurprisingly appeared very similar to the innards of a Boost. Biting into it brought back childhood memories of my mid-morning snacks at school (normally either a Mars Delight, Galaxy or Boost -yes I've always been this healthy 👅). The combination of truffle like centre, tough (tooth-adhesive) caramel and biscuit pieces were -and still are- an absolute winner.

The point of difference however was the quality of the chocolate, which was much more noticeable than I originally considered. The melting smoothness of the milk chocolate was far superior to the version that we're now subjected to as a result of the Mondelēz takeover. I can't help but feel extremely bitter about this given that Cadbury's originated in the U.K, so surely by default we should be producing and selling the very best that Cadbury's has to offer. Of course I'm all down for the Egyptians eating yummy chocolate, but surely we should enjoy it too? That considered, I'm stocking up on 5 Stars whilst Poundstretcher have a glut (they're in date until June next year too!).

9/10