NEW Knickerbocker Ice Cream Cones at Tesco

Tesco, thank you for creating yet another new ice-cream in the British Gelato drought season that is otherwise known as winter. Hidden in the freezer aisle, these new additions were modestly situated amongst the other own-brand cones, at the very reasonable price of £1 for the box of 4.

Knickerbocker Glorys have become somewhat of a a retro dessert- something you don't often see on menus anymore- and indeed it seems to be open for debate as to what the dish consists of.

For example the Telegraph's recipe calls for 'vanilla ice cream, raspberry ice cream and raspberry coulis' whereas the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as 'a ​sweet ​dish consisting of ​layers of ​ice ​cream, ​fruit, ​jelly, and ​cream, ​served in a ​tall ​glass.'  

Tesco have taken a completely different route altogether, and their take on the Knickerbocker Glory cones are 'Peach & strawberry and cream ice creams in a biscuit cone coated with chocolate flavour coating, rippled and topped with peach sauce and sugar balls.'  I guess that Knickerbocker Glory sounds much more enticing than Peach and Strawberry-  in fact I don't think I would have purchased them if I had realised that's what it was!

The sprinkles were a pretty addition, and there were also generous dollops of peach sauce drizzled on top. The ice cream tasted more tutti fruity than strawberry & peach, as the flavours muddled together within the cone. The sauce offered an enjoyable contrast, providing a tartness that cut through the sweet ice cream, and the biscuit cone had a lovely dark chocolate rim which added an extra depth of flavour.

These are much more refreshing than the standard flavour cones, and if you're a fan of fruity ice cream I'd suggest giving these a go!  I'll probably stick to chocolate in future...

7/10

Portlebay Lemon Sherbet Popcorn

I love that Popcorn seems to be the snack of choice at the moment, with new brands being stocked in an increasing variety of stockists. I have a particularly sweet tooth and so what excites me most about this new craze is the sheer innovation in flavours- both sweet and savoury. Of course I'm naturally  more drawn towards sweet popcorn in flavours such as the 'Sweet coconut & vanilla' by Propercorn (which are absolutely delightful), and the Tesco own brand 'chocolate orange', 'strawberry toffee' and 'salted caramel' popcorn (which come in a pack of 6 single serving bags).

Whilst in Boots picking up a meal deal I spotted these 'Lemon Sherbert' bags by Portlebay. Each bag is 25g, contains 115cals and costs 80p.  I remember seeing something on the net a few months ago about Portlebay bringing out a coffee flavour popcorn which I'd have chosen above Lemon Sherbet, but never-less I was suitably intrigued by Portlebay and decided to give them a go. 

They're packaging tells me a little more about Portlebay- apparently they are a small crew from Devon who want to make great tasting, interesting food. They 'pop it by hand in small batches with a splash of rapeseed oil and a touch of raw cane sugar to give it a delicious crunch.' They 'then sprinkle it with our natural Lemon Sherbet seasoning.'

I munched on my first mouthful and was disappointed that I wasn't hit with a strong lemony flavour, just a mere citrusy tang. I thought I'd made the wrong choice in not purchasing the Propercorn 'coconut & vanilla' that I know I love, but as I continued through the bag I was rewarded in my persistence. The popcorn increased in intensity, and was reminiscent of the classic Lemon Sherbet sweeties I had as a child.

When I reached the bottom of the bag I realised that Portlebay had completely redeemed themselves and I felt satisfied both by taste and in satiety. I was also impressed that I found a lone hard kernel in my bag, notably less than you would find in a bag of Butterkist for example. I guess that's a benefit of popping it by hand, and I welcomed not having to watch out for that painful crunch when you bite down on an unpopped corn.  

I'm definitely on the hunt for their coffee popcorn now. However,  I'm far more eager to try Propercorn's newest release- a peanut and almond flavour which I absolutely cannot wait for!

8/10

ASDA Blueberry Ice Cream Roll

Nestled amongst my favourite foodstuffs, alongside peanut butter, caramel, chocolate and bananas is ice-cream. Over the past few years there has been something of a retro resurgence which has thankfully led to the return of some much missed favourites such as the Cadbury Wispa bar. In 2008 one of the nostalgic treats that made a comeback was the Birds Eye Arctic roll, which was welcomed back to supermarket shelves after an eleven year break. 

ASDA must have taken note of this trend and have manufactured their own spins on this classic dessert. Last year we were graced by a Battenberg variety which unfortunately seems to have been now dropped; it certainly hasn't been in my local branch. This year they have produced two new varieties of an arctic roll style dessert- Blueberry, and Cookies and Cream.

I bought the Cookies and Cream a month or so ago, when ASDA started clearing their summer lines in favour of the winter items. I was lucky enough to pick one up at 25p, a ridiculously low price. More specifically it was a 'chocolate flavour sponge wrapped around cream flavoured ice cream with chocolate flavour cookie crumble and chocolate sauce.' I don't have any photos of it, because it was before I started this blog, but it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, as soon as I realised the deliciousness of this treat I returned to store to stock up, and of course they had all gone. 

I have been sulking about ASDA's decision to sell off all their stock as I would have been happy to pay the £1.50 standard price and eaten them all year round. ASDA did however decide to keep selling their (non-chocolate) Blueberry ice-cream roll and they must have had their reasons so I decided to test it out. This flavour is described as 'blueberry flavoured sponge wrapped around purple and white blueberry and sponge flavoured ice creams with a layer of blueberry sauce'- well that's got to be one of the most confusing descriptions I've read.

The roll is supposed to serve 6 but that would be a pretty measly portion so I quartered ours. The ice cream has four different sections and it looked rather attractive once presented. I sampled the purple ice cream first, which was lovely and fruity; exactly what I hoped for.Next I tried the white coloured ice cream, but I couldn't identify a flavour. The blueberry sponge however was beautiful- and complemented the purple ice cream perfectly. I couldn't find much of the blueberry sauce that was meant to nuzzle between ice cream and sponge, which was a tad disappointing but didn't ruin the pudding.

Overall, I enjoyed this retro-inspired ice cream dessert. I definitely preferred the Cookies and Cream flavour, but that's the opinion of an utter chocoholic. 

7/10