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!

Rhokett Caramel Cheesecake (Waitrose)

There's a dessert that's been haunting me for ages.. a cheesecake that's been on my mind since I first discovered it whilst researching Rhokett 16 months ago. The rarely spotted caramel slices has been supposedly stocked in Sainsbury's stores across the country, but Hereford didn't even get a sniff. I once found them, but it was in an extra store on a trip to Birmingham, and at the time I didn't think they'd survive the journey home -plus I was sure they were going to crop up sooner or later*. I guess I was right, it was just much much later, and in a different supermarket: Waitrose. At £3 for two 100g slices they're on the dear side, but I recall thinking that the Belgian chocolate flavour were worth the money and so I hope these would be too.

"A winning combination from Rhokett that really delivers on that traditional texture, raised to the next level by the Belgian chocolate chunks and the smooth caramel sauce that have been swirled through the mix before baking."

They were beautiful slices, l give Rhokett that, however they were very fiddly to retrieve from the packet -so please be careful if you buy them. 

I expected a rich toffee tone to the cheesecake, so was utterly perplexed when I tasted it and was met with a similar cheesecake batter used in the chocolate slices. That's to say it was creamy with a slight sour tang, but it was completely devoid of the caramel flavour that I'd longed for. Humf. What I hadn't realised was that the sole source of the caramel came from the toffee sauce, but unfortunately there wasn't a huge deal of it, and it certainly wasn't the generous pockets of thick dulce de leche that I had concocted in my imaginings. 

Oh the plus side, the chocolate chunks were both aplenty and delicious -although I can't help but feel that due to the lack of caramel that fudge pieces may have suited the slices better. 

I was also pleased that I'd saved the biscuit base until last as it was the only part I thought that Rhokett truly nailed. Thick and buttery with a classic digestive biscuit flavour, it held together enough to make it from fork to mouth, but crumbled easily upon munching. It just wasn't £3 worth of biscuit base. 

7/10.

* I even ended up sending poor Nat (author of Lot-o-Choc) on a hunt for them before my train arrived into New Street station when meeting her in Birmingham last month.

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! Sicilian Lemon & Ricotta Cheesecake Slices (M&S)

Occasionally I find myself craving cheesecake that's not chocolate based. I know. Shocker. In fact I'm quite partial to the odd lemony pud -be it a drizzle cake, meringue pie, tarte au citron or cheesecake- but only if it offers a balanced juxtaposition of sweet and tart. It's for this reason that I'm fond of Gü's citrus cheesecake and steer clear of Aldi's version. The former is delightfully light and zingy whilst the latter is acidic and barely enjoyable. Given my recent experiences with M&S' Spirit Of Summer desserts I believed I could depend upon them to deliver a refreshing, summery cheesecake. 

"Sicilian lemon and ricotta baked cheesecake on a digestive biscuit base topped with a Sicilian lemon glaze and candies lemon peel."

At 110g each they were larger than your usual cheesecake slice, which especially pleased me as I'd only paid 95p for the pack because I'd been lucky enough to pop in at reducing time (I believe they're normally £2.75). 

The consistency of the cheesecake was surprisingly fluffy. It wasn't moussey like M&S' sunken Chocolate & Valencian Orange cheesecake, but it wasn't gelatinous like most other mass produced cheesecakes either. In fact, texturally the cheesecake was pretty damn perfect. It was just the flavour that ruined it. Instead of the sweet tang that I'd hoped for, all I could taste was the bitter lemon pith that you'll find if you ever zest a lemon too far. The resulting flavour wasn't great. I mean it was edible, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. 

Against the acidic cheesecake the flavour of the glaze was lost. I tried a little on its own, and it seemed fairly tasty, but it offered little in the way of redemption. Come on biscuit base! Please be better... 

But it wasn't. It was of decent thickness, I'll give M&S that, but what's the point when it was utterly soggy? I can't help but think that an amaretti biscuit would've worked well here, both in terms of flavour and texture. 

Oh dear M&S. 

5/10

NEW! McVities Banoffee Caramel Digestives (Waitrose)

Almost six weeks ago the best biscuit broadcast was made; McVities were set to release not just one, but two new caramel digestives. Hurrah! Apparently they weren't being subjected to any of this 'thin' nonsense either, and as a bonus McVities had opted for fabulous sounding flavours. Banoffee and coffee sounded right up my street -I'm guessing they must've read my cries for a full size cappuccino digestive 😉. 

The only trouble was... the new biscuits were playing an almighty game of hide and seek. I kept hunting for them, and even contacted McVities three weeks ago, who replied "the new coffee and banoffee caramel flavours will be in stores over the next few weeks and in major supermarkets over the coming months." Helpful. Cue the daily stalking of my local corner shops, which never prevailed. In fact it wasn't even me who found them, it was @productsinstores, who eventually discovered the banoffee variety in Waitrose yesterday. No exagerration, I was on my bike within ten minutes, I must've stunk of desperation. My local store had them in and thankfully, at £1.50, they weren't any more expensive than the standard caramels. Double win! 

"Milk chocolate digestives with a layer of banoffee flavour caramel."

I hoped that McVities had executed the banana flavour well. I mean banoffee caramel digestives sound delicious, and just the idea of dunkable banoffee pie was too good to resist. It's just that my recent experiences with banana biscuits haven't gone so well. Take the Party 'Jaffa cakes' for example, or these Julie's banana crackers that I brought back from Malaysia. Both were almost inedible due to the awful synthetic taste -although my dog seemed to enjoy the crackers. 

Thankfully McVities new biscuits didn't suffer the same fate. Yes the banana is synthetic, but it works well, reminding me a little of the flavour in Grenade's Banana Armour bar. The caramel layer is perhaps on the thin side, but there's enough of it to add texture to the wonderful wheat biscuit and to compliment the milk chocolate. 

 Despite not being a banana buff in the same way that I am, Bert adored these new biscuits too. In fact I might have to hide the rest of the pack....  I just wish Mars would be as brave and create a banana Twix. Anyone else with me on that?

10/10

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

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (M&S)

Last spring M&S went positively potty with a huge release of their Spirit of Summer range. Some of the goods have since been re-branded and retained under the normal labelling -such as the peanut butter cookies, which I wasn't particularly fussed on, much preferring the softer style of Grandma's or Lenny & Larry's. Other products have held on for dear life and, despite summer having been over months ago, can be found lingering in corners of the food hall. The Mud Pie & Key Lime Pie ice creams are two such items, although they've finally been reduced to clear this week.

I wrote a review of the Mud Pie last year so I thought I'd write up a quick review of the Key Lime Pie in case you're worrying about spending 75p on snapping up the 500ml tubs. I joke but I did briefly question my purchase actually, not because of the monetary element for once, but because I wasn't entirely sure how or if a lime ice cream could work. 

"Dairy key lime flavoured ice cream with key lime sauce (10%), digestive biscuit pieces (8%) and meringue pieces."

Hang on a second, shouldn't M&S have used ginger biscuits instead? 
...Although a quick google search later proved that Delia uses digestive biscuits, so maybe it's just me who uses gingernuts in citrus based desserts! 

Anyway, the pale green ice cream was fairly easy to scoop straight away, and I was only one spoon down before I uncovered a treasure trove of goods (biscuit chunks). That's what I like to see Marks & Sparks! The lime sauce wasn't so evident, but I could smell a strong zingy scent straight away. 

What a welcome surprise! The lime worked much better than expected as an ice cream flavour, with the zing counteracting the sweet creaminess wonderfully. It wasn't bitter either, which is always my fear with citric desserts, but was very refreshing on the palate (I imagine it would be particularly good after a curry). As for the abundant digestive pieces, they were crispy -but tasted more rich tea than digestive. Their crunch was gladly received, making the ice cream much more interesting to munch on, but I still think that ginger biscuits would have worked even better! Occasionally I would fall upon a pocket of sweetness coming from the meringue pieces, but they were subtle in their inclusion and wouldn't have been missed if omitted completely. 

The biggest shock with this Key Lime Pie ice cream was that even flavour fussy Bert liked it. I didn't tell him what it was before he tried it for fear that he would refuse to even sample it, but he actually said that he enjoyed it! Quelle surprise!

M&S' Key Lime Pie ice cream was an innovative and unusual addition to their 2016 line up and I'll be stocking up on tubs whilst they're so cheap. I'm also looking forward to seeing what they bring out this year... any ideas?

*Fingers crossed for banoffee pie.*

8/10

Easy Peasy Speculoos No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

Happy Boxing Day you lovely lot! Fingers crossed you had a somewhat enjoyable Christmas day, and I hope at least some of you woke up with a stinking hangover but a big smile on your face like I did. Admittedly our day was almost a disaster when I forgot to serve up the pigs-in-blankets, but fortunately I remembered them whilst we were all still eating and they hadn't turned to charcoal in the process. 

Of course every family have their own traditions, and in the (almost) 9 years that Bert and I have been together we've formed our own little rituals: there's the Christmas Eve PJs (passed down from my family), the no presents until after lunch rule (his family -that one took some getting used to) and the homemade Christmas cheesecake (my own tradition). For the past 6-7 years I've religiously made said cheesecake on Christmas Eve as an alternative to the Christmas pud, and every year it changes, but it always ticks two boxes: very chocolatey & very boozy. 

Poor Bert isn't the biggest chocoholic (hence why we're such a good team, he never raids my chocolate stash) and is tee-total.  He also hates Xmas pud, but has obligingly munched his way through years of cheesecakes including white chocolate & Baileys, dark chocolate & Cointreau and milk chocolate & Amaretto. This year though I decided to make a cheesecake based on what he loves (especially after the Mince Pie Danish debacle) so opted for a Biscoff inspired cheesecake. I popped a pic of it up on Christmas Day and received so many requests for the extremely simple recipe that I thought I'd make a change from my normal review posts to pop it up... 

N.B I can't take credit for this recipe as it's a very slight amendment from Jane's Pattiserie's, which can be found here.

Makes 8 individual Gu ramekins- but can be easily amended to suit.

Ingredients: 

Biscuit Base

•  110g Digestive Biscuits
•  110g Lotus Caramelised Biscuits
•  110g Butter

Cheesecake Filling

• 360g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 tsp Caramel flavouring (I used Dr Oetker's)
• 70g Icing sugar
•  200ml Double Cream
• 190g Crunchy Biscoff Spread/ Favorina Spiced Biscuit Spread

To Decorate

• Lotus Caramelised Biscuits

Method

1. Melt the butter in the microwave (10-20 secs should do it)
2. Blitz the biscuits into fine crumbs using a blender/food processor, and mix in the melted butter. Press into 8 ramekins.
3. Whip together the cream cheese, caramel flavouring, icing sugar and Biscoff until smooth using an electric whisk.
4. Add the cream and whisk slowly until thick enough to stay on an upturned spoon. 
5. Spread the mixture over the bases and chill in the fridge until you can't resist their call!
6. When serving, pop 1/2 a Lotus biscuit on top

Et voila! Simples... 

Maple Syrup and Salted Caramel Cheesecakes (LIDL)

My poor fiance works a crazy amount of hours  over three different shift patterns -mainly to pay the mortgage whilst I swan off to uni and  part-time job. One week he works a series of night shifts, then day shifts, then afternoon shifts. This week it's afternoons week, which means that he's away over dinner time. But why does this matter? Well it means that during those shifts I'm on the hunt for tasty, easily transportable desserts to pack in his lunchbox. Last week I made the trip to Lidl to stock up on my staple Skyr pots, when I noticed it was U.S.A week and they had some themed fresh goods -including these curious sounding Maple Syrup and Salted Caramel Cheesecakes. The pots were individual, lidded (easy transportation) and came in a 3 pack for 99p, so I picked them up to try this week. 

"3 Mini cheesecakes with a salted maple caramel topping and biscuit base."

You may have gathered by now, I'm a huge Maple syrup and salted caramel fan, but admittedly I've never had them together before.  I wasn't sure how the combination would work, or indeed how yummy the cheesecakes would be, given how pants supermarket potted versions normally are. 

Each dessert had a decent ratio of each three layers, although I soon discovered how runny the top syrup was.. The amber topping was also translucent, allowing me to see peaks of creamy coloured cheesecake beneath.

The flavour was just as strange as imagined. There were the characteristic deep maple tones, and sweetness of caramel, yet it lacked the buttery richness of a true caramel sauce. The saltiness was also forgotten about -I'm sure it was just used in the title to make it sound more on trend. The looseness of the sauce also meant that it was no mean feat keeping it on my teaspoon! 

The cheesecake beneath was lighter than a proper baked cheesecake, although the mousse-like fluffiness did work well. The sourness was also lacking, which is a shame as it was really needed to counteract the sweetness of the syrup above. 

A thick, crumbly biscuit base greeted me at the bottom. Considering that these cheesecakes were meant to be American themed, I'm surprised that LIDL chose to use the traditional British Digestive (which I hear is very hard to track down in the USA). It was a shame really, and gave the cheesecakes a far less genuine flavour -although I'm not sure how authentic I was expecting them to be considering how cheap they were!

If they sound good to you, I'd pop down to LIDL ASAP -it's now 'Italian week' but they may have some lingering on their shelves- otherwise you'll have to wait until American Week crops up again! 

7/10 

NEW! Dulce De Leche & Honeycomb Cheesecake (M&S)

Is cheesecake a summer dessert? I'm not so sure. Every year I make a cheesecake for Christmas, normally flavoured with chocolate and a liqueur of some description. M&S must think it is seasonal though as they've branded it as part of their new Spirit of Summer range. I don't know why I'm moaning really, cheesecake (like ice cream) is eaten in my house year-round, and I always welcome the opportunity to try a new one.

"Muscovado baked cheesecake with a smooth dulce de leche caramel sauce & chocolate coated honeycomb"

I love the way Marks and Sparks serve these cheesecakes as a mini version of the standard size ones. Fortunately it was easy to remove the dessert from its protective sleeve -thanks to the thoughtful packaging. The chocolate balls on top weren't evenly distributed but I used that to my advantage, and chose the slice with the most -in the name of the blog, obviously.

The honeycomb balls on top were, in fact, mostly chocolate. They melted away in the mouth with the slightest hint of crunch, and were good quality, tasty little morsels.  

I'm not entirely sure whether the caramel sauce (which supposedly accounted for 9% of the dessert) referred to the slightly darker top layer, or if it was supposed to be rippled through the cheesecake -but either way I couldn't find it. Unlike ASDA's new millionaires cheesecake, there was no pool of it lurking in the centre, so I was left a bit puzzled. 

Luckily, the cheesecake itself saved the day; packed full of rich, sweet, caramel flavour and simply delicious. The texture lacked the gelatinous wobble that is commonplace amongst supermarket cheesecakes, and instead was the right balance between light and stodge. 

I found the base of this exotic sounding dessert to be somewhat underwhelming. Instead of opting for something unusual (as I have come to expect from M&S puds) the company chose to use traditional digestive biscuits. I mean, as far as standard biscuit bases go it was pleasant, but perhaps using Biscoff-style caramelised biscuits would've elevated this cheesecake onto the next level. 

The new dulce Le leche & honeycomb cheesecake from Marks & Sparks is tasty, and at £2.20 (on offer) it's not badly priced either. The trouble is, I don't think it's the best of its kind on the market, and to be honest the Sainsbury's chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake is yummier. 

7/10

NEW! Gold Edition Müller Corner (Tesco)

It's been a while since I last reviewed a Müller corner, and the last one was rather special. I always look forward to the company's regular releases, so I was pleased to discover their latest selection of gold, Olympic themed yogurts. There are two flavours available in a multi-pack (which Katherine from Grocery Gems reviewed last month) and one single serve pot:

"Toffee shortbread flavour yogurt with milk chocolate coated & decorated digestives."

Toffee has to be one of my favourite yogurt flavours, so I was looking forward to trying this new addition to Müller's range. 

I was shocked to see how few gold digestive balls there were when I pulled back the lid. It's been a while since I last had a crunch corner, but I'm sure that they're usually more full than this? With no exaggeration the partition was less than 1/2 full -how disappointing Müller.

The yogurt tasted rather odd. I don't buy Müller Lights very often because I'm not keen on the gelatinous texture or artificial taste, and it's something I've never experienced that with their full-fat range before. The jelly-like consistency was off-putting, but the taste didn't pull it back either. Sure there was a strong toffee flavour, but it was followed by an unusual synthentic sweetener aftertaste that ruined the yogurt. What have you done Müller?

The saving grace came from the meagre supply of chocolate digestive balls. They looked rather stunning with their golden dusting, which was very similar to the coating of Galaxy's golden eggs. Thankfully they were crunchy with a well-rounded biscuit flavour, and would have much rather a pot of them on their own -without the distasteful yogurt.

As you may have gathered, I'm really not a fan of the new Gold Edition Müller Corner, and won't be buying it again. Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

4/10

NEW! McVities Caramel Digestive Teacakes (ASDA)

McVities Caramel Digestives. One of the best British biscuits money can buy, with their robust wholemeal biscuit base, oozy caramel and chocolatey top -surely they are the epitome of tea-dunking perfection. I'm a bit of a McVities fan in any case, one of my first reviews was of their caramel slice in fact, a wonderful creation that has become a weekly staple in our house. With that in mind, imagine my glee upon spying their new Caramel Digestive Teacakes in ASDA today, priced at £1.

 

'Caramel flavour mallow on a wholemeal base covered in milk chocolate and caramel flavoured sprinkles.'

The pack contained 8 teacakes, which were as light as expected, and looked very attractive complete with perfect domes and caramel embellishments.

 

The casing cracked nicely, but it didn't taste particularly chocolatey, as the caramel elements beneath and above it had caused the flavours to fuse. I didn't have a problem with the caramel-chocolate hybrid however, as the combination worked well together -and after all the chocolate was never meant to be the star of the show.

 

The marshmallow shone through, billowy soft with a powerful flavour that was reminiscent of the delicious Cadbury Caramel ice cream. The experience was truly melt-in-the-mouth and I'd have quite happily eaten a bag of the caramel marshmallow by itself.

The biscuit base was a bit of a let down however, it was soft and lacked the bite that I expected. It wasn't unpleasant, and I'm sure if I'd have thought of it as a cake-like layer that I'd simply commented on its deliciousness.

Gosh, my review reads as if I didn't like the McVities Caramel Digestive Teacakes, and that's simply not true. I did enjoy them, they were just a little different to my expectations and I thought that the combination of flavours was pretty spot-on... I'd buy them again.

7/10

NEW Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie Müller Corner

How did I miss this new corner when reviewing Müller's new limited editions last month?

 Raspberry + Cheesecake + Brownie + Yogurt = Could it sound any more appetising? 

With so many components would Müller pull it off? 

"Cheesecake flavour yogurt with a raspberry layer and digestive & chocolate brownie pieces."

The yogurt was surprisingly good, and almost made me jump up and down with glee at the surprisingly rich and creamy tanginess of it that genuinely resembled cheesecake. The raspberry sauce was extremely sweet - more like jam- and despite not being quite as tart as I would have liked, worked well with the yogurt.. The brownie pieces packed a powerful cocoa punch for such small little cubes, and the digestive biscuits offered further texture to this wonderful little dessert. 

The components perfectly complemented each other, resulting in my favourite Müller product to date- it's safe to assume that I'll be making the most of this limited edition whilst it lasts! 

10/10

Caramac Breakaway Biscuit Bars

Caramac has a warm place in my heart; it was the treat my dad always used to buy for me when I was younger. As a child I relished the sickly sweet caramel flavoured bar, but as an adult browsing the confectionary aisle I'm only interested in either the milk or white chocolate, forgetting entirely about the retro Caramac. 

That said, McVities Gold bars are often a lunchbox staple in my house, and I find the combination of syrupy caramel coating and crunchy biscuit enclosed within a much better balance. 

This year, there have been two new Caramac flavoured releases: Caramac buttons (which I've only seen once and have regretted not buying ever since) and the Breakaway biscuit bars. 

In my opinion it's a good choice of addition to the Breakaway range, as I'm not normally tempted by them. The chocolate biscuit bar is a saturated market, and with delicious products such as the cookies & cream Kitkats and toffee Penguins, I think of Breakaways as being bland and boring by comparison. 

So Nestle, you've caught me, and ever a fan of nostalgic treats I decided to give these Caramac Breakaway Bars a go. 

They are smaller in size than the McVities Gold Bars, but have a nice even coating.  I tried not to compare the two products, but I found I couldn't help myself. 

As I bit into it, I found it difficult to distinguish the Caramac. The biscuit is a good digestive, but I found it actually overwhelmed the coating- which is a lot thinner than that of a Gold bar. I tried my hardest to nibble the topping off, so that I could feel the warmth from the pleasant memories I had eating Caramac as a child, but they failed to reach me. 

I'm sorry to say, but I found this to be a poor mans Gold bar, and I'll return to McVities with my tail between my legs! Although, if I spot the rare Caramac buttons in the future I won't hesitate to buy them.

4/10