NEW! Aunt Bessie's Custard Ice Cream Review (Iceland)

Where does the ice cream industry venture next I wonder?

Gradually we've been seeing more alternatives to our favourite frozen treat. Frozen yogurt has been gracing our shelves for a few years now, but last year saw a boom in vegan variations made by dairy free alternative manufacturers Alpro, as well as frozen custard from the ambient rice pudding and custard kings Ambrosia*. Aunt Bessie's did a fair bit of diversifying last year too, what with their fresh tarts, frozen brownie pie and twin packs of trifle-style frozen desserts -which can't have been very successful as they seem to have been discontinued pretty swiftly. The company also dipped their toes into the ice cream market with two traditional British dessert flavours: Jam Roly Poly & Custard and Rhubarb Crumble*. Aunt Bessie's hadn't released a plain custard ice cream flavour though until this month.

Priced at £1.50 in Iceland for a 500ml tub the ice cream was affordable, and so I picked up a pot with an brainwave to enjoy it with hot homemade crumble..

"I've whipped up a delicious Custard flavoured ice cream to go perfectly with my tasty fruit pies, crumbles and sponge puddings. Now it's over to you. Simply scoop and serve with your favourite Aunt Bessie's dessert, any day of the week."

Of course being completely chocolate obsessed I couldn't just make any old crumble, and so instead made a chocolate, hazelnut & pear crumble (made with JimJam's low sugar spread). My other half isn't a pear fan so I made him a speculoos & apple crumble instead using Lidl's Spiced Biscuit spread (currently reduced to just 74p per jar FYI). Whilst the crumbles were baking in the oven I took the opportunity to open the tub of Aunt Bessie's frozen ice cream.

Well, I wasn't expecting that! What an, um, unusual shade of yellow. The eery flourescent-ness of it reminded me of the Bird's custard sachets actually, but I have to admit it was a little off putting. Maybe tone down the colourings a tadge eh Bessie?

The ice cream was very soft, too much so, as it became very tacky after only a minute and difficult to cleanly scoop (not that I'm the most elegant scooper at the best of times). 

The first spoonful was delicious. I love custard and can quite happily eat Ambrosia straight from the tin, and my enjoyment didn't wane from it being even colder. A couple more mouthfuls later though, and the custardy-ness of it faded leaving a bog standard cheap supermarket 'vanilla' ice cream. Thank goodness for the delicious crumble I had alongside, eh?

Meh. Next time I want custard I'll have custard, and the rest of the time I'll stick to better flavours of ice cream. 

6/10

*As always, One Treat was hot on the ice cream case, and you can check out her reviews of Ambrosia's Frozen Custard here, Aunt Bessie's rhubarb crumble ice cream here and jam roly poly & custard ice cream here. 

NEW! Aunt Bessies Mini Yorkshire Puddings (Tesco)

You may have gathered that I have a very sweet tooth, hence all of the reviews of ice cream, chocolate and cake. Today I'm bucking my trend however, with a savoury post about an old classic with a new(ish) twist. I say new, but Aunt Bessies mini yorkshire puddings have been around before. In fact, one of my all-time favourite childhood dinners was 'Tidgy Puds' and baked beans -I'm a classy girl!

I can't pin-point when 'Tidgy Puds' disappeared from supermarket shelves, but I was super excited to see their return (despite the new, more sensible name!). I bought the pack of 30 mini yorkies from Tesco for £1.50, and haven't seen them stocked anywhere else yet.

"I've selected the simplest and finest ingredients to make my mini Yorkshires. Now it's over to you. Simply pop in the oven for 4 minutes to add a little bit of fun to your kids' meal, or enjoy as a light bite with your favourite fillings. They're even perfect for canapés."

Ok, so they're meant to be for children or for parties, but for me they were calling to be served by the plateful, filled with Heinz' finest cheesy beans.

The cooking guidelines are simple, simply pop them in the oven from frozen on 200°c/ Gas mark 6 for 4 minutes -just enough time to microwave my Heinz!

The yorkies looked very cute. They're not all the same shape and size either, which somehow made them homely and therefore all the more appealing. As promised they were hot in four minutes, and ready to be adorned with their beany glory!

Yum. Yum Yum. I challenge you to come up with a more comforting dinner than this! The yorkies were perfectly crunchy on the top yet retaining a slightly doughy bottom -just how I like them. The batter soaked up the cheesy bean juice, and the combination of flavours was a match made in heaven. Instantly, memories of coming in to dinner after an afternoon's tree climbing and bike riding entered my mind, and I enjoyed every morsel with a grin from ear to ear.

I imagine that these mini yorkshire puddings would also be delicious filled with warm cocktail sausages as toad-in-the-hole-style canapes, or served up with Sunday lunch. After all, more yorkies = a better roast, don't you agree?

Have you got any better ideas on how to serve yorkshire puddings?

9/10