BelVita Breakfast Soft Bakes Chocolate Filled (Sainsbury's)

It's not just Nature Valley who've brought out new 'breakfast' biscuits in the last couple of weeks.  On a side not I still don't know why they're called breakfast biscuits. Do any of you actually eat them or breakfast? Please drop me a comment and let me know. Anyway, the other key player in that market -Belvita- have surreptitiously released two new filled soft bakes in chocolate and strawberry flavours. The did, of course, release the soft bakes range two years ago, but Belvita have obviously decided it's time to give them an uplift. Admittedly I'm more of a Nature Valley girl - but then I'm addicted to oats- however it's Belvita that are bought more often in this house.

And that is because of Bert. He just loves biscuits. Where I can't resist the call of chocolate, he's more into sweets and biscuits. In fact he actively avoids the biscuit aisle in the supermarkets because he knows he won't be able to resist munching his way through an entire pack once it's open - which is why the pre-portioned 'breakfast' biscuits are handy. That and the fact that he's either at work or working on the Landy - so is forever eating out of his lunchbox. So they're handy. For Bert, the Yogurt filled and original Belvitas weigh supreme. The yogurt ones because of the taste, the original because there's four in a pack and they therefore feel more substantial.

"Soft baked biscuits made with wholegrain cereals and a chocolate hazelnut flavour filling (15.6%) and added vitamins and minerals."

Anyway, it was him I picked up these new filled soft bakes for, however I ended up tucking into them first - probably because I bought the chocolate flavour. Sorry Bert. Just for info, I found them in Sainsbury's for £1.50, however I believe they're now in Morrisons too. 

The biscuit was every bit as soft as it promised to be, although not so much that it fell apart in the pack. The smattering of oats was a pleasant sight, as was the golden hue. Breaking it in half revealed a fair amount of spread-like filling. 

Omnomnom. It was cakier than a cookie -and far removed from your standard biscuit- but I really liked it. In fact the consistency reminded me of a nutrigrain, although it was moister than that. As hoped, the chocolate filling was reminiscent of Nutella, although weirdly there's not any nuts in the actual ingredients. That shouldn't really come as a surprise seeing as Belvita comes under the Mondelez banner, and they're notorious for not including nuts in their nut flavoured products (such as the peanut butter Oreo ice cream sandwiches, and atrocious peanut butter Dairy Milk Oreo). 

Despite the lack of actual hazelnuts, I was impressed with these biscuits and went back for the strawberry flavour, so stay tuned for a follow up review of them! But most importantly, what did Bert think?....

"They're nice, but they're not big enough."

There you have it. 

8/10

Belvita Tartine Milk & Honey (Poundland)

I love Poundland, the unpredictability of their range of stock pleases me, and you never know what you might find!

I discovered these Tartines by chance in our local branch the other day; they caught by eye because I buy a lot of the Belvita's breakfast biscuits, yet I'd never come across this product. The packaging looked similar to that of the Belvita Tops, except they came in a milk & honey flavour that us Brits aren't privy to.

 

 

As with the other Tops, the pack contained 5 packs of three biscuits. Visually they weren't any different to their British counterparts, except for the creamy coloured pools that adorned each Tartine.

 

 

If you haven't tried the range before, I'll briefly fill you in: wholegrain biscuits, roughly about as thick as a digestive that supposedly release carbohydrates over 4 hours to keep you feeling fuller for longer. These Tartines follow the same recipe, and I am pleased to report that they both snapped and dunked well.

 

The only difference to the UK version was the milk and honey flavoured topping, and boy it was good! It was soft and creamy, with a genuine natural honey flavour that was remarkably similar to the local honey I use to cover my hot cross buns with.

 

I enjoyed them so much that I'd even go as far to say that I preferred them over the choco-hazelnut Tops, and as a chocoholic that's a pretty big claim! I'm heading straight back to Poundland today with the hope that I can find them again before they disappear into the Worldly abyss.

 

Belvita PLEASE release them in the UK too!

 

8/10

Belvita Soft Bakes Chocolate Chip

Belvita released these soft bakes back in August, but given how saturated the biscuit/cookie market is, I wasn't too excited by them and haven't bought them until now. They come in a box of five biscuits and Tesco stock three different flavours: golden grain, red berries and chocolate chip.

Of course I chose the chocolate chip, and when I unwrapped it, the biscuit was thicker than I was expecting. It was oval in shape and was abundantly adorned with miniature dark chocolate nibs which permeated the entire bake. 

It's soft and chewy like a fresh bakery cookie, with little puffs of cereal which add an extra textural dimension. The chocolate is rich, and complements the sweet biscuit wonderfully. It's quite satisfying to eat, and although I wouldn't eat it instead of breakfast, It's a perfect mid-morning/afternoon energy boost.

Belvita, you've pleasantly surprised me with this line- I'll certainly be buying them again!

8/10