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when the big sweet shop in Hereford city centre started stocking them, but I refused to spend £2 on one that was a year out of date.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? 

NEW! Dessert Menu Banoffee Semifreddos (M&S)

Banoffee pie is absolutely up there as one of my all time favourite desserts (with tiramisu and my mum-in-law-to-be's apple crumble). The trouble is, most of the supermarket versions are pretty poor, and most of them come in large sized pies (I can't deal with that amount of temptation in the house, the same reason I don't make it very often). Cue M&S. Thank the lord. Their frozen dessert collection now contains a double pack of banoffee semifreddos. But there's a catch -they're £4 a time, yes, ouch. I struggle with spending £3 on a couple of cheesecake slices, but then I reconsidered...

1)  I'd heard resoundingly positive feedback on the semifreddos from fellow dessert fanatics Nat and Sian.
&
2) I'd pay more than that for a single dessert at a restaurant.

But then I had a brainwave anyway. The dine in for £10 meal deal. That says it includes selected ice creams. It usually contains some of M&S' dessert collection free desserts. I wonder... would the banoffee semifreddos be secretly part of the fortnightly deal? There was no offer ticket to suggest it was, but I did used to work at the Hereford branch and so I cheekily asked the lovely Maria to check it through the till...

BINGO!

It worked. I managed to buy two rump steaks, 4 potato rostis, a bottle of wine and the semifreddos for just a tenner. Bargain.

"Banana and vanilla custard cream with Dulce De Leche caramel sauce on a digestive biscuit crumb base, finished with cocoa powder and a dark chocolate plaque."

Chuffed with myself, I got them home and opened them up, to find that M&S had done a rather marvellous job of packaging them carefully in separate little brown boxes. First brownie point awarded to Marks, they were impeccable, despite my persistent clumsiness; anyone remember this doughnut pancake?

The topping was well flavoured with an authentic flavour (M&S have used real bananas - 6% of the ingredients) and it was creamy whilst remaining fairly light. I couldn't get my head around the consistency though; after the 20 minutes suggested defrosting time I had a soft moussey outer edge and a frozen inside. I get that's what its meant to be, but it made me think that I hadn't left it out of the freezer for long enough. 

The biscuit bottom was a lovely digestive affair, and although it was on the crumbly, fall-apart end of the cheesecake base spectrum, it was delicious nonetheless. 

It was the caramel centre that I was most excited about, and as I started to dig in, I thought M&S had been fairly stingy. In reality, it simply turned out that it was mostly pooled down one end, and the golden treasure was worth the wait. It was thick, gooey, and sweet with the buttery richness that I had hoped for. 

M&S Banoffee Semifreddos will never beat a fresh, homemade banoffee pie -especially as they understandably* lack the slices of fresh banana. At £4 for two, they're expensive too, but are well worth picking up as part of the Dine in Offer. As such, I'd happily have them again. 

8/10

*no-one wants slimy, black defrosted bananas gracing their dessert after all!

NEW! Banoffee Doughnut (Greggs)

Doughnut week is very much down to one of you lot. Dan, if you're reading this, I'm not sure whether to thank you or cuss you. You see, Dan brought the release of Greggs' new range to my attention last week...not long after I had realised that I would soon be in the proximity of a Krispy Kreme store (and would be making the most of the opportunity to stock up). His prompt also fell after a conversation with the talented Heather (at The Tandem Bakery) about a very exciting doughnut that she was going to make this Wednesday (just gone) and I just knew I couldn't resist that one either. That brought the running total to 5, so why not go utterly doughnut doolally and get the two new Greggs offerings too? Especially as one of them was banoffee.

The new sweet menu was released yesterday and features lemon shortbread, toffee apple cookies, as well as the duo of doughnuts. 

"Soft ball doughnut topped with caramel icing with a banana flavoured filling."

The new filled doughnuts come in at 90p each, a damn site cheaper than Krispy Kremes, but more expensive than standard jammy doughnuts. They looked as pretty, if not more attractive, than Krispy Kremes too.

Slicing mine in half revealed an abundant pocket of pale mousse. Perhaps Greggs should offer Krispy Kreme some training on how to adequately fill a doughnut. 

However, having had so many Krispy Kremes this week, it was extremely evident to me who reigns supreme when it comes to the dough. Even after freezing and defrosting the KKs they were much fluffier in texture than the Greggs doughnuts, with a sweeter flavour throughout. In contrast, Greggs dough felt heavy and breadlike, though it was still admittedly enjoyable. 

The banana mousse was entirely artificial in flavour, and although it was reminiscent of foam banana sweets, the aftertaste was slightly chemically. I wish Greggs had thought to inject a little toffee sauce into the centre too, because although the icing was caramel flavoured, the synthetic banana was the far more prominent of the two flavours and so to me it wasn't really true to the classic dessert. 

I did however enjoy the little crunchy balls on top, which reminded me of the Muller Crunch Corners. Sure it would have been nice to have some digestive crumbs (as per a banoffee pie) but I guess they'd have gone soggy and so I think Greggs might have made a wise choice. 

To be honest, I probably won't bother with this doughnut again. Hats off to Greggs thought for constantly innovating their range (as opposed to KKs barely veiled attempts to disguise their rereleases as new products). 

7/10

NEW! Go Ahead Banana Flavour Fruit & Oat Bakes (ASDA)

It's been quite a while since I reviewed any of the Go Ahead products, namely because they don't appear to have released any since the cookie bites last year. In recent weeks though the company have launched some new lines. There's the dippers in chocolate almond (which sound delicious) and salted caramel flavours, which appear to be somewhat like lower calorie versions of the nostalgic KP dipper pots (which I wish I could still find the toffee ones of) or the Nutella/Reese's snack pots.  There's also new Cocoa & Hazelnut and Cacao & Orange 'Goodness Bars' which look like Nakd rip-offs. Its none of these new products that have got me interested though, instead it's a new flavour of an existing product: a banana flavoured fruit and oat bake. You should know by now that if it's labelled as banana I'm there. I found them in ASDA for £1, which I didn't think was bad value at all. Bargain banana bakes? Yes please. 

As with the Go Ahead! Cherry Bakewell Pud Bars, these come in three almost segments. They're also only 124kcal each, and are fairly low fat -although they do contain a whopping 9.4g of sugar per 35g bake. 

'Golden baked bars with a delicious banana flavoured filling'.

The pastry round the outside was just as I remember, not firm enough to be tart-like but not soft like a Kellogg's nutrigrain either. It's not the casing that we're interested in here though really, is it? 

For me, banana flavour falls into three camps:

1. Natural
2. Foam banana artificial (sweet but pleasant)
3. Chemical artificial (not pleasant). 

Unfortunately the jam, although moist and sticky, landed slap bang in the middle of number three. It came as a surprise that the flavour reminded me of the banana in both the Party banana Jaffa cakes and the Co-Op's banoffee brownies seeing as it does actually contain banana puree.

Ok the new bakes might not have been quite as bad as the jaffas, as they are at least edible, but they don't hit the spot for me and I won't bother with them again. 

4/10 

NEW! Banoffee Brownies (Co-Op)

I'd vowed not to by any more baked goods. My cupboards are brimming with all kinds of biscuits, and I've recently started baking again (which I'm thoroughly enjoying). I thought I was doing well with my oath, even not giving in to my doughnut cravings (largely caused by The Tandem Bakery's Instagram feed).  My self-restraint caved completely though this week when I saw a story by the lovely Emma (@EmmasFood) which featured banoffee brownies. I hope you agree this constituted a cake emergency, although I did manage to abstain from heading to the Co-Op in my pyjamas that evening, and indeed managed to wait until I was on my way home from the gym the next day. 

"Banana and toffee flavour chocolate brownies topped with salted fudge pieces."

The pack cost £1 and included 8 square brownie chunks. Despite them being sat with the fresh cakes they had a reasonably long shelf life of about a month. Upon opening the bag I was greeted with a rich cocoa aroma, followed by a lingering artificial banana scent.  Uh oh. I hope that wasn't a precursor for a chemical taste. 

Unfortunately it was. On the positive side the brownies were soft in the middle, with a decent squidge and deep cocoa flavour.  Sounds great, right? Except for that damn banana. It wasn't even a pleasant foam banana sweet or milkshake kind of flavour; it was nasty and synthetic. I can't even see banana mentioned in the ingredients list. How can some companies get it so wrong? At least McVities got it right. 

What a shame! If only the Co-Op had chosen to use real banana instead of some artificial flavourings to make these brownies. They had so much potential. I guess I'll just have to make my own....

4/10

Wheyhey Banoffee Protein Ice Cream Review (Tesco)

Everyone seems to be finding ice cream bargains in their local Tesco recently. Apart from me. The only thing I've discovered reduced in the freezer section (until today) is a packet of McCain Smiles for 84p. Now I appreciate I can't grumble at a bag of happy potatoes but I'd rather find a pint of B&Js for less than a squid (as per the many rightfully boastful Instagram photos I've spotted). Today however I found a healthy supply of Wheyhey Banoffee individual ice cream tubs adorning yellow stickers. Now I can only presume that they'd been reduced because they'd been sent to a store that doesn't usually stock them as Tesco have only recently started stocking Wheyhey. At £2 per 150ml tub I usually wouldn't bother buying them, but seeing as they were reduced, new, and banoffee flavoured, I bought a couple to try.

Haven't heard of Wheyhey yet? Well according to their website "Wheyhey is the world's first and best selling protein ice cream." The company was founded in 2012 by two best friends, one of which was a GB basketball coach, the other a fitness model. They created Wheyhey with the intention of creating an ice cream that does you good.* In fact their tagline is: The ice cream that loves you back. Aww. 

Anyway, I've moaned before about the lack of banana ice creams on the market (thank heavens for B&J!*) so I was happy to see Wheyhey's choice of flavour. The ice cream is made from whey isolate and contains 20.1g of protein per 150ml tub (Kcals: 149 F:4.3g C:11.8g). It contains no added sugar, artificial sweeteners (wheyhey use xylitol instead) and is gluten free. Sounds good, but is it too good to be true?

What a flipping odd consistency. I've never attempted to scoop a gluey ice cream before. It stretched and stuck to the scoop whilst melting before my eyes. I'd have to be quick with this one. 

Or just grab a bowl as it really wasn't going to hold.

Psssht. That's not ice cream. It's not even as good as the protein 'fluff' I make with Reflex's protein powder. It's just a semi-frozen shake. What the badger? I'll give it one credit: the flavour was clearly banoffee, and I could taste both the banana and toffee. This was all well and good until the nasty whey flavour hung around in the background. Not good. I can bear the taste of whey in a bar, but not in my ice cream -where it really doesn't belong.

I actually felt liked I'd wasted my calories and my money. I mean for IIFYM the macros are decent, but the Wheyhey tubs are expensive if I was out and about (and desperate for a protein fix) I'd rather have a shake -especially as they tend to be cheaper. 

I can't say I'll bother with these again. 

4/10


*...Sounds familiar... 
**Good lord, I'm utterly obsessed. Is B&J-aholics anonymous a thing yet?

UFIT Drinks (Most Supermarkets)

At the end of January I received a message from the owner of UFIT drinks, asking if I'd like to try a sample box of their products to review. Having seen their humorous "a great tasting protein drink for active-ish people" marketing campaign*, I was already intrigued and so gladly accepted. A day or so later, said parcel arrived containing three standard sized ready to drink protein shakes, and one of their PRO50 mega shake. 

So who are UFIT? They say:

"We are a team of protein enthusiasts and industry experts with over 20 years of nutrition industry experience. After building multiple successful brands and products we decided to assemble our own team of passionate and knowledgeable protein lovers and launch a range of our own, delicious protein drinks. UFIT was the result!"

Chocolate 
As it turned out, the chocolate shake's best before date was the day after I received the parcel (although the other flavours had much longer). The 310ml bottle contained 22g of protein and no added sugar. The drink looked rather similar to the For Goodness Shakes version that I reviewed  at the beginning of last year, although there was a few lumps lurking at the bottom of this one -not great.

Lumps aside, the taste and thickness was pretty standard. It's a reasonable shake, and if you're on the go and stuck for a chocolate hit without the fat or calories, you can't go wrong with a UFIT chocolate shake 

Macros: kCal: 170: P22/C11/F3.2

6/10

Iced Latte
UFIT have got some stiff competition on the protein market. Not only have protein giants Grenade launched their own coffee (which I haven't heard great things about),  but SCIMX have just released a 30g protein carton and Reflex also have a brilliant protein coffee (which contains 25g or protein).

Now I do enjoy a good milky sweet iced coffee, so I was looking forward to trying UFIT's version. Again, the 310ml bottle contained 22g of protein, but this time it was lump free. Happy days. Taste wise it's almost as good as Reflex, but it does contain more fat and less protein. It's a tasty drink though, and it's sweet despite the lack of added sugar. Tesco stock it and it's cheaper than the other protein brands, so it's handy to grab on the go. I also found that it made decent proats too!

Macros: kCal: 173 P:22/C10/F2.1

8/10

Banana
Now I love a good banana milkshake, in fact it's my favourite flavour. Is it awful that a McDonald's banana milkshake still fills me with joy? Banana is oddly far and few between when it comes to pre-made protein shakes though. 

Oh, that's disappointing. The flavour was lacking. I was hoping for a full on whack of real banana or foam banana, I don't really mind which, but found that instead UFIT have produced a wishy-washy flavour that well, didn't wash with me. Unfortunately it's not one I'd buy again.

Macros: kCal 176/P: 22/C:10.7/F3.2

6/10

Vanilla PRO50
This product was the one that baffled me the most was this vanilla 500ml bottle. There's plenty of debate about how much protein your body can utilise in one go, with this Men's Health Article suggesting that between 25-30g is the optimum amount per mealtime. With this in mind I decided to half the bottle and drink it over two days.

Crikey, the flavour was damn good. The vanilla was my favourite UFIT by far, reminding me of runny Ambrosia custard -yum! It tasted just as good warmed up for 2 mins in the microwave too. The macros were good too, with each half bottle 250ml serving coming in at: Kcal:164/P:25/C:8.6/F2.6. The trouble is, if I'm drinking only half in one serving, then I'm keeping it at home, in which case it's cheaper to make my own shake with my protein powder.

However... UFIT have recently brought out a 310ml vanilla flavour bottle, which I certainly will buy when needing a protein fix on the go!

9/10

A huge thank you to UFIT for sending me the samples!

Grenade Carb Killa Banana Armour (CNSport)

If you're into fitness and supplements there's no doubt you'll be au fait with Grenade's Carb Killa bar range. The company is going from strength to strength and in the last few months Grenade have extended the line with a whole host of new flavours. In fact just today they launched their new bar: Peanut Nutter. Who else is crazy excited? I know I've been dying for them to bring out a bar flavoured with my favourite foodstuff for ageeeees. In the meantime, I thought I'd write up a review of their recently released Banana Armour flavour.

"High protein bar with a banana flavoured centre and caramel layer coated in milk chocolate with sweeteners."

Only yesterday I mentioned about my love of chocolate (spread) with banana, so this was a bar that I was particularly eager to get my chops around. In fact poor Conor (of CN Sport) had to put up with my daily pestering for a good few weeks whilst he tried to locate stock of them in the U.K. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with Carb Killas, I'll fill you in. Quite frankly they are the undisputed kings of delicious protein bars. Despite tasting more like chocolate bars, they contain a high protein content (at least 22g per bar) and pretty low carbs (the highest carb content is in the White Chocolate Mocha, which contains 15.3g per 60g bar). Pop a Carb Killa in the microwave until it starts to melt and you've got a treat that will rival most  -and beat some- high st chocolate bars.

In usual Carb Killa fashion, the bar comprised of three distinct layers: the chewy but soft protein base filled with soy crispies, topped with the gooey caramel and surrounded with chocolate. So far my favourite Carb Killas have been the white chocolate ones, so I was eager to see how this compared. 

As with the other bars in the range, this was a bar that was soft enough to eat at ambient temperature, but became oh-so indulgent when melted. The banana flavour was strong but artificial, in a foam-banana kind of way, however I love the sweets so enjoyed the taste! The chocolate was pretty good, although the white chocolate still reigns supreme in my eyes. As for the caramel, it was as good as it is in all of Grenade's bars -chewy and sweet- despite the lack of sugar. I always enjoy the crunchiness of the Carb Killas, and of course this was no different. 

Another winning bar from the guys at Grenade, now to find a Peanut Nutter bar or 10!

9/10

Banana Armour Macros: 217kcal P:22.7/ C14.8/ F8.3

NEW! Festive Menu Chocolatey Banoffee Pie (McDonalds)

I don't make a regular habit of eating at McDonalds, but as soon as their Christmas menu was announced I knew I'd have to make a trip there for my Thursday train dessert night.

There's apparently been a public outcry at the loss of their mincemeat and custard filled Festive Pie" this year but, to be honest, it didn't phase me as id never even bothered to try it. The replacement was far more exciting in my books anyway. I've spoken many a time on this blog about my love of Nutella & banana toasties (as well as my obsession with anything banoffee: peanut butter, biscuits, flapjack, muffins, whey protein, rice pudding...you name it!) so you can imagine my glee when I heard that McDonalds were going to be selling warm chocolatey banoffee pies. This week has certainly been the coldest yet this season, and so I was really looking forward to my treat after lectures last night -especially as I was going to cycle the 2 miles home when I got to the other end at 10pm!

I ordered using the new touch screen menus (since when has McDs been so fancy?) and paid the £1.19 for my chocolatey banoffee pie. Isn't almost everyone scarred from burning their tongue on their hot apple pies as a child? It was certainly something that came into mind when waiting for my order to appear at the collection point.

"A hot crispy pie filled with a thick Banoffee sauce and a delicious chocolatey sauce."

I needn't have worried though, by the time I'd left the fast food restaurant and popped across to the station, the pie was still just about warm  and nowhere near scalding temperature -a good job considering I'd got blisters on my lip thanks to my impatience with molten custard the night before. The train was late and so I got stuck in right there on the platform (hence the awful photos, sorry)! It was smaller than I remember the apple pies being -doesn't everything seem to have shrunk nowadays though?- but just as golden and crispy as ever.

The flaky pastry tasted primarily of oil, although I didn't mind it as it brought back nostalgic memories. The pie was well filled, with two different coloured fillings, which I assumed represented the separate chocolate and banoffee flavours.

Both sauces were yummy in an oddly comforting fashion. The banoffee was more like a sweet banana than actual toffee, although it actually tasted completely natural (I think I expected something reminiscent of foam sweets). As for the chocolate, it wasn't up to Nutella standards, but was thick, gooey and had a good -albeit very sweet- cocoa flavour. Both flavours worked in harmony, and some bites offered more of one sauce than the other, which made it all the more interesting to eat.

The taste, warmth and texture leans towards the perfect winter pick me up; exactly what I needed when starting to flag and in need of a sugar bomb. McDonald's Chocolatey Banoffee Pie isn't the most refined snack, but it is good old fashion junk food at its finest. If you're a chocolate and banana fan it's well worth trying a warm pie before they disappear after Christmas.

8/10

Reflex Nutrition Chocolate Diet Protein & Banoffee Instant Whey™ PRO (Online)

When Reflex first contacted me at the beginning of the summer, I had only just returned to exercise after a lengthy period away from the gym but I realised that I would need to increase my protein intake inline with my new weight training regime to support muscle growth. I started off with bars and have gradually established a range of bars that are pretty damn good. I choose between them depending on my needs for the day, normally White Chocolate & Raspberry Ripple R-Bars if I require a soft, tasty & nutritious bar away from home and Mocha Carb Killas if I need a sweet protein hit. I've also found that pre-made shakes are a simple way to get protein in (especially in the morning or if I'm in a hurry) and you can't get better than Reflex's Protein Coffee.*

I've recently got to the point now where I wanted to check out the real deal, the Whey protein powders that kind of intimidated me when I started working out again. Luckily Reflex kindly sent me a tub of both their chocolate flavoured Diet Protein and Banoffee flavoured Instant Whey™ PRO to try.

Chocolate Flavoured Diet Protein

Now I'm not on a weight loss diet, but I am trying to tone up and build muscle, so I was interested in discovering the benefits of Reflex's Diet Protein. Their proud of this product, and rightly so, considering the intensity in which they believe in delivering only the very best in sports supplements. 
The benefits of Reflex's Diet Protein include:

• It's the only diet whey shake to contain 3,200mg of patented Clarinol® CLA per daily serving
• CLA dose in line with Double Blind Placebo Controlled Studies
• No Chinese unbranded CLA which is found in nearly all competitor products
• Lifetime Guarantee
• EU Sourced Grass Fed undenatured Milk and Whey Protein
• Free From Soy Protein
• Free from GMO ingredients
• No added sugars
• 50,000,000 friendly bacteria spores per 50g
• 150mg green tea extract per 50g
• 250mg L-Carnitine L-Tartrate amino acid per 50g

If you want to discover more about why Reflex's Diet Protein is so special, please read their blog here.

But does it taste good? Surely there's no point in having a premium product that tastes revolting. One of the reasons I put off trying powders for so long is that my other half used them when we first met (almost 9 years ago) and used to have to drink his shake with a banana because the taste was so bad. I really hoped I wouldn't have to suffer the same!

Thankfully not. Whilst the chocolate shake didn't taste like a Frijj milkshake, it was pretty damn good and had a better taste than most other pre-made protein shakes I've tried. 

I have become addicted to the diet protein though, just used in a different way -or should I say whey ;) ?

Proats

I now can't start my day without a bowl of porridge made with Reflex's chocolate diet protein, and this is how I make them:

• 45g oats 
• 300ml milk
• 25g Diet Protein
• 1x portion of fruit  (frozen cherries or fresh pears are my favourite).

Microwave the oats and milk for 2-3 mins until bubbling, add the fruit & microwave for another 30 secs. Top with the powder, a little boiling water, and give a good stir. It's heaven in a bowl, NOT GRAINY, and perfect before a morning workout. 

9/10

Banoffee Instant Whey™ PRO

Unlike the diet whey, the  Instant Whey™ PRO doesn't contain Micellar Casein. The Instant Whey is Reflex's leading high protein powder, and as always the company goes above and beyond to deliver the very best. The benefits include:

·         Use of Native Whey

·         No Soy

·         EU sourced

·         Grass fed

·         Instant Whey™ PRO delivers a high level of protein at 80% where the main ingredients include whey isolate which has an unchallenged reputation.  This isolate incorporates native whey, which is made using a process that keeps far more of the important amino acids in place.

·        Every single batch is tested to guarantee its protein content with the results published on our website.

Now, I'm a HUGE banoffee fan, so I really hoped the flavour would be on point. As soon as I peeled back the lid on the tub I was met with a delicious aroma that smelt like the beautiful baby of both Butterscotch and Banana Angel Delight (the two best flavours). 

Again, the shake tasted rather good -although I prefer the thickness created by adding milk instead of water. The whey is sweet enough to avoid adding syrups too -always a bonus. Proats are also easy to make with this whey, although I slightly prefer the texture achieved when using the Diet Protein.

I've been busy dabbling with a few recipes too, and here are my absolute favourites: 1 of which must be made and eaten at home, the other I can take to uni with me for an afternoon treat.

Single Serving 'Beltsander' Peanut butter and Banoffee Blondie
This recipe is an adaption of the Beltsander Brownie.

• 25g Banoffee Instant Whey PRO
• 50g milk (I use dairy)
• 5g Banana Nesquik
• 10ml Jordan's Skinny caramel syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 heaped tsp peanut butter 

Mix the first five ingredients together until it forms a smooth batter. Add the dollop of peanut butter into the middle. Microwave on high for 90 seconds(ish). Ewat whilst still warm and enjoy! The peanut butter goes all gooey, and it'sabsofreakinglutely incredible. For info, the Diet Protein doesn't work with this recipe due to the casein. 

Chocolate Banoffee Protein Cupcakes

This recipe is an adaption of Nat's white chocolate and banana protein cake -her creations are genius, so give her a follow if you love a good protein creation (and food porn in general)! 

• 150g Skyr (I use a pot of Lidl's plain Milbona)
• 40g Reflex Banoffee Instant Whey PRO 
• 60g oat flour (I just blitz oats in the blender)
• 1 large banana (approx 150g)
• 2 egg whites
• 20ml Jordan's Skinny Caramel Syrup
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40g Dr Zak's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Peanut Butter

heat oven to 200c/ 180 fan Whisk the first six ingredients together until smooth. Half fill 8 muffin cases with the batter. Dollop 1 tsp Dr Zak's into the middle of each, top with the remaining batter. Bake for approx 25 mins until golden brown. I love these, and at approximately 111kcal per cupcake (including the peanut butter) it means I can easily eat 2-3 in one sitting! 

I've also made the mix in a loaf tin without the hidden centre and sandwiched it with Dr Zak's instead. 

Macros per cupcake/ quarter cake mix sandwiched with 10g Dr Zak's:

Kcals 221 / P19.8 / C21.5 / F5.7 

Note: This recipe does work with the chocolate whey, but the cake is slightly more dense (but equally delicious when covered in Sweet Freedom's choc shot!).

10/10

All of Reflex's protein tubs are available to purchase on their website, and they've currently got some super savings as part of their November offer. Go check them out! 

As ever, a massive thank you to Reflex for the samples!

*Before you start thinking that Reflex are paying me to praise them, I'd just like to reassure you that they're not, and I'm always honest in my reviews (I wasn't overly keen on their Apple & Blackberry R-Bar for example). Reflex have just got exceptionally high standards!

Ben & Jerry's One Love (Sainsbury's)

As I was sat munching on my dessert last night, I realised that I'd broken the promise that I'd made to review Ben & Jerry's One Love, so this Sunday I decided to rectify that. Now for those of you who're clued up with all things Ben & Jerry's, you'll already know that is in fact a re-brand of the old 'Satisfy My Bowl' -which came out in 2014 but ended up in the graveyard along with my beloved PB&J core and Baked Alaska, boo. Still, not all of you will have had it the first time around, and some of you may have not had the latest edition either, so I'll give you my thoughts anyhow. 

"Banana ice cream with caramel (9%) and cookie (6%) swirls and chocolatey peace signs (4%)."

The ice cream was a quick melter (much like the coffee flavoured 'One Sweet World' released at the same time). I could immediately spot the biscuity swirls rolling through the ice cream, as well as a few dark chocolate coloured peace signs dotted about once I dug in. 

I scooped some into a waffle cone and soon realised just how sweet the banana flavour was. It wasn't as artificial as Nesquik banana milkshake, nor was it a natural banana flavour either, but it did fit the bill and was pretty tasty. The trouble was, the cookie swirls added an extra sugariness to the already sweet ice cream, pushing it into the realms of being slightly too sickly. Fortunately the peace signs offered a slight bitterness thanks to their darker nature -I do wish that Ben & Jerry's would use real chocolate though instead of a composite made from fat reduced cocoa powder.

As far as I'm aware, Ben & Jerry's are the only mass manufacturer of banana ice cream (please feel free to correct me in the comments box) so I'll keep buying it for that reason alone. One Love doesn't unfortunately come close to my top three favours though, I need more chunks nowadays B&J!

7/10

NEW! The Foodie Market Hike Bars (ALDI)

A few weeks ago I got the chance to pop into ALDI with my other half, but only because he was on the search for new tools that were part of their weekly 'special buys'. God only knows why he needs more tools when he's got a garage full of the things, but then I guess I can never explain why I need new pyjamas or socks either -I just do, ok? 

Anyway, we were queuing up at the till (yes I know, where else would we queue?) when I spotted these new Hike bars. Their brightly coloured packaging informed me that they're gluten free, low in fat, high in fibre and protein packed. At 59p per bar I decided to try both the berry and banana flavours. 


Berry Hike

" Fruit bar made with gluten free oats and dried raspberry pieces."

Admittedly the Hike wasn't much of a looker, but then these kind of healthy bars never are. It immediately made me think of Natural Balance Foods' Nakd and Trek Bars, as well as Tesco's (very good) knock-off Banana Bliss bars. Although firm to the touch, the bar was malleable, which I saw as a very good sign. 

Taste wise the bar tasted primarily of dates, with very little of the berry flavour to back it up. This is unsurprising given that dates make up 23% of the Hike, compared to a pretty pathetic 1.5% of dried raspberry pieces. The sweetness was also apparent -not an issue for my sugar addicted tastebuds I'm afraid- but it might be worth considering that the 55g bar contains 16.5g of (naturally occcuring) sugars if you're trying to be healthy but cut down on your intake.  It was pleasant, and a good handbag staple, but nothing to shout about. 

Macros per bar: 168Kcal P: 10.5/C: 24.8/F:0.7

6/10

Banana Hike

" Fruit bar made with gluten free oats and dried banana pieces." 

Ok, so if you've ready any or many of my reviews before, you'll be already aware -and probably bored- of my infatuation with all things banana. With this in mind, you'd be right in guessing that it was the banana Hike that really took my fancy out of the two.

Again, the bar was rather the ugly duckling, but I could immediately smell an authentic ripe banana scent as soon as the wrapper was off (the berry version had no noticeable aroma). This Hike was soft enough to bend too.

What a totally different experience! This bar was well flavoured, with a lovely cinnamon spice that complemented the banana wonderfully. Banana is so often badly thought out in snacks, often it tastes overwhelmingly artificial (jaffa cakes) whilst other times it's just not strong enough (M&S and Hotel Chocolat can you hear me?). Fortunately ALDI have got the flavours in this Hike bar bang on the mark, resulting in a bar that makes me imagine what a freshly baked banana flavoured oat and raisin cookie would taste like. Again, it's high in sugars too -although slightly less than the berry flavour at 16g per 55g bar. I really enjoyed the banana Hike and will make sure I pick more up next time I'm being taken (read dragged) on a tool hunt. Just for info, I think it's even better than Nakds, Treks, and Tesco's version and warming it up serves to enhance the flavours. 

Macros: 169Kcal P:11/C: 24.8/F:0.8

8/10