NEW! Waitrose 1 Chocolate & Salted Caramel Mousses

My sister was coming to stay yesterday evening and I was about to head to M&S to pick up a Dine in for £10 meal deal when I thought I'd check their 'menu' online. Oh. The desserts looked pretty lacking. I mean, the Millionaire's desserts are well worth a try if you haven't had them before, but I really fancied something different. I chanced a look at Waitrose's website and found that this weekend the upmarket supermarket is also offering a similar deal. For £10 you can have a main, side, bottle of wine (or box of chocolates) as well as a choice between many starters or desserts. This makes it a good option if you've got less of a sweet tooth, but let's be honest -for me- it's always going to be dessert.

As part of the offer, Waitrose have included their two wavy shaped mousses that form part of the '1' range. I've been eyeing these mousses up for a while, but there was no way in hell I was prepared to pay £3.99 for the privilege of trying them. I mean, they looked good, but they're hardly groundbreaking, are they? Just for info, and incase you're not as pudding obsessed as I am, the other flavour available is limoncello and raspberry. I was temporarily tempted by the lemony flavour, but when the choice was between lemon and chocolate? A no-brainer I'm afraid.

"Belgian chocolate mousse with a salted caramel centre, chocolate sponge base and topped with a chocolate sauce."

What the...? How the badger are you meant to retrieve these things from their plastic casing? If any has any better ideas than the only solution I came up with, please drop me a comment. I ended up using a combination of a knife under the cake bottom, and my fingers to wiggle the mousses out -of course leaving an inelegant finger print on both sides. Oops. I hoped my sister wouldn't spot the grooves of my digits on the side of her dessert, and instead would focus on the pretty glittery topping. 

"Ooh, they're gold..." she cooed. Phew.

The chocolate mousse was rich and light. Less so than the likes of an aero mousse, but that's unsurprising considering that whipping cream and dark chocolate (20%) are the top two ingredients. The resulting flavour is a chocoholic's dream, tasting of ganache but without the resulting heaviness. 

Disappointment hit however when I found the puddle of caramel in the centre. I was hoping for a generous, oozing trove of salty-sweet treasure, but instead I found a jot of thin, toffee sauce. Hmm. Another 'salted' caramel that really didn't live up to expectations. As for the chocolate sponge base, I can only imagine that it was created as a base to move the desserts with, for it was wafer thin and therefore added very little -if anything at all- to the dessert. 

As far as chocolate mousses go, this one is rather good. Is it worthy of a £3.99 price tag? Absolutely not. Is it worth buying with the ranch steak, pommel frites and bottle of Italian red for £10? You betcha. 

8/10

NEW! The Grown Up Chocolate Company Chocolate Cups (Online)

For some people tea solves everything. For me it's chocolate. I can't go without my daily fix and have had the pleasure of discovering some utterly fabulous British chocolatiers since starting this blog. One such organisation is The Grown Up Chocolate company - the people behind the wickedly good White Chocolate Praline Wonder Bar and Fruit & Nut Hunky Dory. If you haven't had the pleasure of trying their chocolate, you're missing out. Their mission is to reinvent nostalgic chocolate bars, exaggerating their deliciousness by using luxury ingredients and adding extra indulgences. Unfortunately nowhere locally stocks their bars anymore, so you can just imagine my excitement when The Grown Up Chocolate  Company contacted me and asked  if I'd like to try some of their new products. Hell yes. Ahem. I mean yes please! The new range deviates from the chocolatier's usual bar format with a selection of different filled cups, and they all sounded delicious... 

Gorgeousely Gooey Caramel Truffle Cups

"Six chocolate cups filled with a mini caramel truffle and soft runny caramel in praline."

Two types of caramel in one chocolate? The Grown Up Chocolate Company know how to spoil us. Oof. It was an ingenious combination too- I mean just check out that inside shot...

The caramel was deliciously rich and silky, oozing out of its cup in an enticing fashion. The salt crystals on top heightened the taste sensation too, ramping up the flavours  by juxtaposition. I was tempted to eat all six in one go, but I also desperately want to eek out the pleasure of enjoying the cups. I'll be savouring these. My only complaint is that it wasn't easy to distinguish a flavour difference between the caramel truffle and runny caramel.

9/10

Heavenly Whole Hazelnut Praline Cups

Praline is difficult to beat. The combination of hazelnuts and chocolate is one of my absolute favourites and so I was looking forward to these cups. The only problem was that they each contained a whole hazelnut; and as I've mentioned before, I'm not a huge chunky nuts in chocolate fan. 

"Six deliciously smooth praline cups with whole hazelnut and crispy rice crunch."

Slicing the cup in half revealed the hazelnut as promised, surrounded by the praline layer, followed by the crispies, all  surrounded by chocolate. 

The quality was undeniable; the chocolate silky and praline rich. I wasn't particularly keen on the extra crunchiness from the rice crisps though, the praline was delicious by itself, and I thought the crips overcomplicated things slightly. I also thought that a white chocolate coating would have provided something a little different in this milk chocolate range. My complaints make it sound like I didn't like these cups, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I adored the flavours, it's just the texture that wasn't quite spot on for me. 

7/10

Spectacular Speculicious Praline Cups

How many times have I banged on about my love for the spiced biscuits recently? I must be boring you by now, but I hope that some of you share my love for all things Speculoos. Spiced chocolate is something of a rarity though and I was beside myself with excitement about the creation of something so utterly scrumptious sounding. 

"Six spectacular cups filled with sumptuous warm spice praline encased in creamy milk chocolate."

I had imagined that the praline would taste predominantly of cinnamon (like Biscoff spread or biscuits) when in actual fact it contained a combination of mixed spices including cinnamon, ginger and cloves - making the flavour more similar to what you might expect in mince pies or hot cross buns. At first this confused my tastebuds, but I soon started to appreciate the harmony of spices with the milk chocolate and the depth of flavour this provided. Again, I think white chocolate would've provided a more interesting palate but perhaps it would've made the cups too sickly. Either way, the speculicious cups are unusual, moreish, and a must try for spice lovers. 

8/10.

Perfectly Buttery Peanut Cups 

Jeez Louise. Just the idea of souped-up Reese's is enough to get me drooling. You guys know how much I love the American brand but I think we can all agree that their products are not exactly the best quality. Could the Grown Up Chocolate Company reinvent one of my all time favourite wheels?

"Building on our most popular bar the Superb Salted Peanut Caramel this pack has six perfect peanut praline and caramel cups decorated with sea salt, enrobed in rich milk chocolate."

I'm trying very hard not to swear here. Shall we say "sit the bed" instead? Honest to god, these were mouthfuls of heaven. Remember how much I enjoyed the Kingdom peanut butter bar and the Montezuma's Eggs? Well the praline was just as delicious in these Grown Up Chocolate's cups... but the inclusion of a separate layer of liquid treasure elevated them to the next level. Somehow the caramel didn't overtake the peanut butter (as is so often the case) but rather complimented it. The salt crystals on top were a wonderful addition, breaking through the sweetness in the most welcome of ways. Does chocolate get any better than this? 

10/10.

Thank you to The Grown Up Chocolate Company for the scrumdiddlyumptious samples. You can order their new cups directly from their website for £1.99 each, otherwise many of their products are available to buy from Ocado, Booths and selected BP garages. You can find your nearest stockist here. Review to follow of the salted peanut caramel bar.

NEW! Creative Nature Protein Flapjacks (Online)

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to receive some of Creative Nature's new protein flapjacks, you know, the ones I mentioned in my review of their superfoods bars? The flapjack flavours sounded spectacularly good too, and seeing as their superfoods bars reminded me of nakd, I thought these might pose similarities to Trek protein flapjacks bars.

Like Trek flapjacks they're made from cold-pressed fruit, are vegan, gluten and dairy free. In contrast they're smaller (40g compared to 50g) contain a mixture of vegan proteins (soya and pea instead of just soya) and contain about a third less calories, whilst delivering only about a gram less protein. 

Apple pie

Is there anything more comforting than warm apple pie (or crumble) with custard? Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that a raw protein bar is in danger of replacing the classic dessert, but surely it can't hurt to have a healthy snack with similar flavours to tickle your tastebuds when hunger strikes between meals. 

Can you see how packed full of seeds and protein crisps the bar was? It smelt incredible too with both the Apple and cinnamon emanating from the bar. It was soft, and the aromas translated into the taste. For me there wasn't enough oats to quantify it being called a flapjack, but it was certainly tasty! 

Macros per 40g bar: 152kcal P8.1/C:20.0/F:3.5

8/10

Salted Caramel 

The flavour is everywhere isn't it? So it makes sense that Creative Nature bring out their new bars in salted caramel too. 

Unfortunately whilst the texture was good, the flavour wasn't as fabulous as I'd hoped.Granted the fruity bar was sweet and had a welcome salinity to it that worked well, it just didn't scream of gooey, buttery caramel. Perhaps that's unsurprising given that it's vegan and raw. 

Macros per 40g bar: 152Kcal/P:8.4/C:19.0/F3.7

6/10 

Cacao orange

Of course I saved the chocolate flavour until last, and used it to top some chocolate flavoured skyr and served it with raspberries as part of a pre-bed treat. 

The flavour in the bar comes from a combination of cocoa fibre, cocoa butter, cacao beans and natural flavourings. It was tasty too; there was a kind of rustic feel-good quality to the chocolate which was complimented by the tangy orange. It wasn't overly sweet, but it was far from bitter either. 

Macros per 40g bar: 151Kcal/P:8.0/C:18.0/Fat3.9

9/10

If you fancy trying these protein flapjacks them please pop on over to Creative Nature's website where you can find your nearest stockist and/or place an order! As ever, a huge thank you to Creative Nature for the samples!  

Gianni's Limited Edition Peanut Butter Cones (ALDI)

June will mark a full year of hunting for ASDA's peanut butter cones. They've still not arrived in sleepy old Hereford, Humf. How dare the supermarket produce such a treat and then keep it from my greedy paws? Sure, there's plenty of peanut buttery ice cream sticks out there (such as M&S' new Belgian Milk Chocolate & Peanut, ASDA's Peanut Butter & Salted Caramel, of course not forgetting the disappointing double peanut butter Magnum) but we're stuck with Cornetto's so-so 'Peanut Butter Love' when it comes to pre-made cones. Of course I make my own with the Co-Op's PB&J ice cream, Jude's peanut butter chocolate ripple and with the last of my Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cookie Clutter stash (FYI stock up if you love it as it's been discontinued), but sometimes I'm lazy and just fancy a pre-made cone -especially as they often have a chocolate nib at the bottom to look forward to. 

Anyway, I peered into ALDI's freezers yesterday and saw that their summer range is in. The new ice cream range includes plenty of sorbet-ice cream mixes (much like Waitrose's blood orange and chocolate pint last year), as well as some interesting looking Gin & Tonic and Prosecco lollies. Most exciting however were the two new cones: Eton Mess and Peanut Butter!

My brimming chest freezer was instantly forgotten and a pack of each went straight into my basket, especially as they were just £1.39 for four. You'll have to come back for my review of the Eton Mess cones I'm afraid, I just couldn't wait to tell you about the peanut butter ice creams. 

At 110ml they're a decent size. The ice cream was smattered with peanut pieces and a small amount of chocolate. I was pleased to see that the ice cream was flecked in colour (unlike the peanut butter Oreo) and saw that as a good sign that it might actually taste like peanut butter. 

"Peanut butter ice cream in a biscuit cone, with chocolate flavoured coating, rippled with sea salted caramel sauce, topped with chocolate flavoured coating and peanut pieces."

And it did! Hurrah! It came through extremely well, tasting both bold and natural. The ingredients list claims that the peanut butter (which makes up 6% of the ingredients) used is simply made from peanuts and sea salt, so it can't be bad quality and that's apparent in the flavour. If I was to be pernickety, I'd admit that the quality of the ice cream base was far from the best I've tasted. it was soft and airy but lacked the creaminess of premium brands. 

A little way down the cone I came across a huge pocket of salted caramel sauce (as I had with the rhubarb in Tesco's new cones -perhaps they're manufactured by the same company). To be honest I'd all but forgotten about the sauce, but it was pleasant -despite lacking any salinity and tasting more like toffee than rich Dulce De Leche. So often when companies choose to combine peanut and caramel in ice creams, the caramel overpowers the peanut flavour. However, this was only momentarily the case in this cone, for once the pocket was eaten there wasn't much more of the sauce to be found. 

This sounds slightly odd to mention, but I really noticed how crispy the waffle cone was. There's nothing more irritating than biting into a soggy cone, but ALDI have provided a really thin and biscuity cone here. It was one of the best I've had in a while. 

Hurrah! A success. I already can't wait for my next Gianni's. Peanut-butter-holics head to ALDI post-haste!

9/10

NEW! Häagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Ice Cream Bars (ASDA)

There's one flavour of Häagen-Dazs that appears to be the clear favourite amongst fans, and that is salted caramel. As a recent newbie to the world of HD, and still an avid fan of Ben & Jerry's, I couldn't see how this could be so amazing. I mean it's just a caramel ice cream with caramel brittle. Surely it can't compete with B&Js incredible Karamel Sutra? I mean it doesn't have the chocolate ice cream, nor the chocolate chunks, let alone the almost-orgasmic caramel core. 

Yet I inadvertently ended up trying a mini tub of H-D's salted caramel when I bought their new caramel collection (for the speculoos flavour), and was struck dumb. Eating my words in conjunction with every mouthful, I found myself revelling in the sheer indulgent creaminess. Then I discovered the salt caramel brittle and my world slipped off its axis. It's unbelievably good: salty, sweet, soft, yet crunchy. If it's not part of your life at the moment, you need it to be.  

After that singular experience I found my original indifference towards the new H-D sticks polarised. I now needed to try their Salted Caramel sticks, ASAP. Luckily ASDA have them on offer for £2 for 3 bars, so I didn't need to remortgage the house either. 

"Our signature salted caramel ice cream enrobed in a rich Belgian chocolate coating for a truly indulgent treat."

I couldn't tell whether the chocolate coating was milk or dark from either the description or its colour. I soon realised that it wasn't very thick though when I tried to snap a small segment off for the photo and a whole side came off! 

The ice cream was every bit as delicious as I remember it being in the mini tub. I love the contrast in textures, and the luxuriousness of it is undeniable. Unfortunately the chocolate wasn't my cup of tea, it was darker than a milk chocolate* and very thin. I would've much rather a thicker coating made from milk chocolate studded with the caramel brittle. Now that might be enough to convert me to H-D for life. 

As it stands, these are delicious bars, but I just about prefer the tub version of H-Ds salted caramel ice cream. Perhaps I should try the white chocolate and almond bars next time... Have any of you bought them yet?

9/10

*but probably no darker than Bournville, I just don't like dark.

NEW! Warrior Crunch Salted Caramel Bar (CNSport)

A few weeks ago I was in my favourite sports nutrition shop, CNSport, talking to owner Conor who told me about a new bar that I had to try. He said that it was the best bar he'd ever tried -given his job, he knows what he's talking about- and gave me a couple to review. Salted caramel sounded good to me, and although I had never heard of Warrior before, I was more than happy to give it a go. Lo and behold, within a few days the bar started popping up all over instagram, with plenty of positive comments. Shall we see what the fuss is about? Oh go on then...

"Warrior CRUNCH bars are the result of over 12 months of research and development, working 24 hour days to blend a high protein, low carb, healthy nutritional profile into something that gives you the true "candy bar" experience. 

CRUNCH bars are packed with 20 grams of healthy protein, encased in a layer of gorgeously gooey caramel, and wrapped in delicious chocolate."

At 64g, they're a good size bar with a low sugar content. Macro-wise they stand at:
Fat - 11g/ of which saturates - 6.1g
Carbohydrates - 24g/ of which sugars - 2.3g/ of which polyols - 20g
Protein - 20g

But lets be honest, the taste needs to be good in the ever-evolving world of protein bars! 

It looked like a standard chocolate bar, although the caramel had escaped through the bottom and seeped everywhere. I'm glad I was eating the Warrior Crunch bar at home, it would have made a right mess otherwise.

Cutting into the bar revealed the distinctive tiers of filling. Don't they look good?

It tasted damn good too. In fact I'd liken it to a Toffee Crisp! Warrior have you really unwrapped the iconic chocolate bar and repackaged it with your branding? The caramel was as gooey as my sticky hands suggested, with a good salinity to it. The chocolate casing was also fairly good too, and whilst it might not be up to Cote D'or's standards, it certainly hit the spot. The crisps that studded the outside were plentiful and added the promised crunch. As for the central protein nougat, it was chewy but soft enough to avoid the dreaded jaw-ache. 

But, could and would the bar be improved by a short blast in the microwave?

I hope that answers your question. Of course it was. If you've ever microwaved a Carb Killa (and if you haven't, why on earth not?) then you'll know what to expect. The bar becomes more like a dessert than a sports supplement -and please, lets not forget that's what this is.

Warrior, I salute you.

9/10

Thank you to Conor for the samples!

NEW! Red Velvet, S'mores, Salted Caramel & Cookie Dough Cheesecakes (ASDA)

I walked into ASDA the other night to pick up some bread rolls and came away with four cheesecakes. How did that happen?! Please tell me I'm not the only one. Believe it or not, that was me holding back, there were many more new ones (take a look at the bottom of this post for photos of just some of the others I spotted). Anyway, I bought 4 of the 5 new individual ones for £1 each -key lime pie didn't appeal I'm afraid, even enough to take a photo. 

Cookie Dough
I really hoped this would be better than the last ASDA cookie dough cheesecake I reviewed just over a year ago. It certainly looked appealing, with a more substantial base this time around.

"Chocolate biscuit base with chocolate chip and chocolate cheesecake batters, with cookie dough, topped with chocolate sauce, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate buttons."

The cheesecake itself was pretty pants. It had that wobbly jelly like consistency that I find so off-putting in most supermarket cheesecakes. Flavour-wise neither the chocolate or chocolate chip batter cut the mustard either. The paler of the two didn't have many chocolate chips, neither did it taste of vanilla, or soured cream, just plain. Humf. The chocolate cheesecake wasn't much better either. 
As for the cookie dough, that was a bit lost too. In fact I only realised when I finished my slice that I hadn't even tasted it! Oops. Fortunately the chocolate bottom was ok, although a little on the dry and crumbly side.

5/10 

Salted Caramel 

"Digestive biscuit base topped with caramel cheesecake batter and salted caramel sauce, topped with milk chocolate malt balls and chocolate crispies."

At least the cheesecake itself was actually flavoured. Whilst it still wobbled, I enjoyed the treacly flavour (although I'm not sure how salted it truly was). 
The honeycomb balls on top were crisp, although admittedly they weren't up to Malteser standards.

I also enjoyed the base of this one. Sometimes you can't beat the original, and I greedily hoovered up every last crumb of digestive biscuit. 

7/10

Red Velvet Secret Centre 

"Red velvet base with vanilla cheesecake batter and a chocolate sauce centre, with red velvet topping."

Boy this was messy to retrieve from its pot, the cake crumb scattered everywhere! Also, can you call a cheesecake a cheesecake without a biscuit bottom? 

Another sub-standard cheesecake. I think ASDA must've used the same batter in this and the cookie dough flavour, for it had a similar a similar taste and consistency. The cake crumb was ok, but there wasn't much of it, and without the crunchy base there was a distinct lack of textural contrast. Not good. The 'secret centre' constituted a measly teaspoonful of runny chocolate sauce, the sort of stuff you'd use to top ice cream -again it wasn't particularly enjoyable. 

I'd give this one a miss if I were you.

4/10  

S'mores 
I really hoped that this cheesecake would fare better than the other new ASDA cheesecakes and the Tesco freezer burnt S'mores cheesecake I reviewed last year.

"Chocolate biscuit base with chocolate cheesecake batter topped and a chocolate sauce centre topped with a chocolate sauce and marshmallows."

This cheesecake was at least easier to remove from its case, revealing three distinct layers beneath the marshmallow topping.

The top layer was meant to be chocolate sauce, but it was set and tasted a bit like the odd wobbly chocolate puddings you find in all inclusive hotels on the continent -please tell me you know what I mean? I really wish that ASDA had used ganache instead.

The chocolate cheesecake was far from the best I've had; it was gelatinous and mild in flavour. As for the secret centre, I uncovered the same sorry state of affairs as I found in the Red Velvet. Gah, ASDA, you can do so much better than this.

I was grateful that the base was crunchy and actually made from biscuits! The chocolate flavour was rather good too, with a dark bourbon-esque element. C'mon guys, I'm looking for the silver lining here. 

6/10

Summary
What a disappointment ASDA, especially having bought and thoroughly enjoyed your outstanding White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecakes the weekend before. 

Just some of the other new cheesecakes spotted at ASDA..

I like the sound of the Banana Bonanza, but I fear it'll be just as bad as their other new cheesecakes. Please let me know what you think if you try any of ASDA's new dessert range!

NEW! Cadbury Caramel Choc Tarts (ASDA)

New Cadbury products are popping up all over the place at the moment. Of course there's the new Oreo bars, as well as a new giant Peanut Caramel Crisp bar, but there's also a number of Cadbury licensed products too. Only yesterday I spotted the new Cadbury muffins in ASDA (I appreciate that the Co-Op have been selling them for a few months now) as well as the new Choc Tart range at £1.50 per four pack (50p cheaper than Tesco). 

The new pastry based treats are available in Crunchie, Flake, Mini Eggs and Caramel, which all vary slightly in terms of their fillings. Whilst I realise that it would have been more seasonal to opt for the Mini Egg tarts, it was the combination of layers in the Caramel version that appealed most to me. 

"Delicious chocolate flavoured brownie topped with a caramel flavour fondant, baked in a delicate chocolate pasty case with a caramel layer & topped with a milk chocolate with a soft caramel centre." 

It's like a chocoholic was asked to reinvent Mr Kipling's Cherry Bakewell tarts. The components are all there, they've just been naughtified*. It's not just the flavours that are naughty either; remember the boobie buns? Surely these have got to be the tittie tarts?

The "delicate" pastry cases were extremely crumbly, and didn't like being sliced into. I needed to show you what the innards looked like though so I persisted in my mess making. All layers were present and complete, and in decent ratios too! 

Chocolate pastry is difficult to do well, and Premier foods (who make the tarts) haven't really pulled it off. Sure it's crumbly, but the cocoa dries the mix out which means that the butteriness is all but lost. That said, Bert really enjoyed his pastry, so maybe you will too! 

As for the chocolate brownie, it too was dry, lacking the fudginess of a fresh home baked version. Fortunately the Caramel sauce beneath and fondant atop it went somewhat to rectify the issue and prevented the brownie from sticking to the roof of my mouth. On the plus side both the caramel elements were pretty tasty! 

I then had an idea: why not heat the second half? Especially as I was eating it for dessert with ice cream** and Bakewells can be served warm. 

Genius. Pure genius. The Choc Tart transformed from something I wouldn't bother buying again to a treat I'll look forward to enjoying again! The Caramel sauce seeped into the pastry whilst the fondant melted over the brownie, resulting in a much less claggy combination of textures. The flavours also enhanced once warmed - double bonus. 

As an ambient snack these are unexciting, so I highly recommend that if you're planning on trying them that you also heat them up and serve them with a scoop or two of ice cream!

Cold: 5/10

Warm: 8/10 

*will someone please tell the Oxford English Dictionary to add that one in please? And yes, I agree, no food is naughty.

**Oppo's salted caramel was the perfect match.

NEW! Ben & Jerry's Topped: Salted Caramel Brownie, Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough & Strawberry Swirled (ASDA)

The news hit two days before I went away: Ben & Jerry's were treating us (once again) with three brand spanking new flavours, and in a different style too. The new Topped tubs have a chocolatey layer above the ice cream and all three flavours sounded insanely good. As always, ice cream princess Ms One Treat was straight off the mark and I eagerly awaited her reviews from the other side of the world. Whilst she praised the new flavours she wasn't blown away, but I'm afraid to admit that it didn't hinder my excitement to try them for myself. Frustratingly Ocado has been the only place to purchase them from until this week, and seeing as the online supermarkets refuses to deliver to us country bumpkins, I had to wait it out. Monday was the day! Instagram filled with pictures of the Topped tubs in ASDA, and so I made a beeline on the way home.

£4.80 a tub. Ouch. Fortunately for me, Ben & Jerry's kindly invited me to a launch event a few months ago, and when I told them that I couldn't make it they sent me a couple of vouchers for free tubs and I've saved them for new tubs that aren't on promotion.

So which to choose? I'm embarrassed to admit that I dawdled for a good few minutes, pondering between the three before phoning a friend (I.e calling Bert) and asking his opinion. He chose the chocolate and strawberry tubs, but then I remembered that One Treat recommended the cookie dough as the best of the bunch and once again I was baffled. It was like choosing between my children.

Then I was struck by a brainwave! I remembered it was the 13th of February, and I could have bet your bottom dollar that Bert hadn't bought me a valentine present. All three made their way to the till, thanks Bert!

Salted Caramel Brownie

"Vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl (11%), chocolate brownie pieces (3%), chocolatey chunks (3%) and chocolatey topping (9%)

The thick layer on top had a ganache-like density and shine to it, with plenty of dark coloured chocolate ampersands dotted about. Digging into it was fairly easy though, and I found the ice cream beneath to be one of Ben & Jerry's softer styles (much like the Sofa So Good). There was noticeably less chunks in it than I've become accustomed too of late, and the sauce was almost infused within the ice cream.

The taste was good though, and whilst I'd ordinarily never buy Ben & Jerry's for their vanilla flavours, it was yummy and allowed the caramel sauce to shine through. The brownies that I found, although far and few between (there's just 3% brownie in this compared to 7% in Sofa So Good) were up to scratch -moist and chewy as they reliably always are in B&J's tubs. The topping was the star of the show though, for it is in fact a chocolate and hazelnut paste and tastes rather like a nutella inspired ganache. It's thick and silken and complements the ice cream wonderfully. I only wish there were layers of it as opposed to just a topping! 

8/10

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough
Despite being a blatant chocoholic, I'm very fussy when it comes to chocolate ice creams. It's a fine line on when they become just too sickly and I didn't particularly enjoy my last pint of Ben & Jerry's Blondie Brownie. That said I'm utterly addicted to their Chocolate Fudge Brownie Wich's and couldn't be more pleased to see that they've made a come back in multi-pack form this year.

"Chocolate ice cream with a caramel swirl (10%), chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough (3%), chocolatey chunks (3%) and chocolatey topping (9%)."

The uppermost layer used in this tub is the same as used in the Salted Caramel Brownie Topped, a thick chocolate hazelnut paste with chocolate ampersands -which all stuck themselves to one side of my tub.

(Yep I was greedy and had both the Chocolate Caramel cookie Dough & Salted Caramel Brownie at the same time. The brownie is on the left and the cookie dough on the right).

The chocolate ice cream didn't disappoint, and I loved the addition of the caramel swirl. I recently tried Baskin Robbins' chocolate peanut butter ice cream (one of the best ice creams I've ever had!) and this reminded me of it. It's almost like a Rolo in ice cream form. Even better was the cookie dough pieces which broke up the texture and added a gritty biscuit flavour, nom nom nom. Again the amount of 'extras' was lower than usual, but I didn't seem to mind so much thanks to my state of chocoholic bliss. 

9/10

Strawberry Swirl

Why we can't get Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake in pint size tubs I'll never know. It's the only reason I buy the multi-packs of 100ml tubs (and only when they're on offer for £2.50 in Tesco). Ben & Jerry's seem to forget that a fruity ice cream is delicious when done right, although they seem to be rectifying this having brought back One Sweet World, and now this Strawberry Swirl, hurrah. 

"Cream ice cream with strawberry (13%) and marshmallow (7%) swirls, shortbread chunks (3%), with a white chocolate flavour topping (9%) and white chocolatey chunks (1.5%)."

Oooh, the white chocolate topping looked extremely inviting, and once dug into revealed a pale creamy coloured ice cream beneath. The topping was firmer than the hazelnut based one, shattering into shards upon impact. A pretty pink swirl pervaded throughout the ice cream, although the marshmallow was less obvious.

Mmmm. Delicious! I'm a huge fan of white chocolate and raspberry and/or strawberry in any form, so using it in Ben & Jerry's luxuriously creamy ice cream was always going to be a winner for me. The white chocolate was just as creamy and sweet as I'd hoped and melted in the mouth easily. Perhaps there could have been more strawberry sauce, or indeed it could have done with being a strawberry ice cream to bring the flavours into a better harmony, but I still absolutely loved this tub. The shortbread chunks were buttery and crumbly, and should make any Scot proud. 

I really really miss the Baked Alaska tubs, but Strawberry Swirled is a very good compromise!

9/10

Oppo Salted Caramel Healthy Ice Cream Review (Co-Op)

Last month I published a review of healthy ice cream producer Oppo’s mint chocolate swirl. Whilst the nutritional values and lower sugar nature of their tub was attractive, I still wasn’t convinced by the high price point (or the trek across town to buy a tub). The brand’s products are still part of a half price promotion on Shopmium however (details on the app and how to get your free Lindt bar here) so Bert took the opportunity to use his voucher to purchase a tub of their salted caramel ice cream.

As far as flavours go Bert will always normally opt for the caramel/toffee/honeycomb varieties, but he’s also a traditionalist and wasn’t sold on the promise of great-tasting healthy ice cream. I can’t say I blame him as it’s usually the fat and sugar elements of food that make treats so irresistible.

"Nature's caramel.
Charlie knew there had to be a healthy salted caramel ice cream. But creating one without caramel (i.e. sugar!) was not easy. Oppo's salted caramel is made using the Peruvian lucuma fruit. This fruit gives our ice cream a smooth maple taste, quickly chased by a rounded caramel flavour which is then enhanced with a pinch of rich mineral sea-salt."

Unlike the mint tub, this pot contained an ice cream much more in-line with the colour I was expecting. It was even harder to scoop though, with unsightly strips the best I could manage before manhandling it into the cone.

However the most important aspects -taste and texture- were on point. Whilst I complained about the grainiess of the mint chocolate Oppo, their caramel flavour was much smoother (albeit not a patch on Jude’s devilishly delicious full fat & sugar tubs). Despite the lack of sugar the caramel was just sweet enough, harbouring a back-note of saltiness that earned its title.

For anyone watching their sugar intake or looking for a low-calorie or low-sugar ice cream fix (and aren’t on a tight budget) then Oppo just might be your answer. Personally I expect that I’ll stick to my ‘naughty’ (God I hate that term when used with food) tubs unless I spot Oppo on offer again. Ice cream guru One Treat loves this tub though and travels miles to pick up tubs, so please read her review here.

8/10