I don't think that any of us have quite got over the atrocious "peanut butter" Oreo Dairy Milk; It was an absolute insult to us nut butter lovers. I even refused to buy the mint version of the Oreo Dairy Milk on the back of my disgust, despite reading raring reviews on it, and enjoying the actual biscuit mint flavoured Oreos. I also didn't fancy buying a 100g mint chocolate bar when I'm not the biggest mint chocolate fan. Sometimes the combination reminds me all too much of toothpaste, and other times it's the refreshing hit that I crave. Kind of like Mars bars - I just have to be in the mood. So when I found this single serving 41g bar in Tesco last week, I put my reservations to one side and took a punt on the minty, biscuity, Cadbury chocolate bar.
"Milk chocolate with a mint flavoured filling (36%) and biscuit pieces (14%)."
I still expect to see the old cube shaped segments when opening a bar of Dairy Milk. Do you experience the same thought, or am I just getting older (back-in-the-good-old-days-esque). I was pleased however to find that each bubble contained a generous amount of filling, which was a less ludicrous shade of green than mint Aero, and jam packed full of cookie pieces.
The overall flavour was pretty good. As per the Oreos, the mint was well balanced - not knocking into Aquafresh territory but standing it's own against the milk chocolate and cookie biscuit pieces. As for the chocolate, it's been so long since I last bought a Dairy Milk that I can't acurately comment on whether it's the same stuff used in the unadulterated bars. All I can say was that it had that undeniable Cadbury taste.
The cookie pieces were wonderful. They were the only aspect that I enjoyed in the [don't make me say it again] "peanut butter" Oreo bar, and they worked well once more - but this time the filling around the biscuit didn't grate on me. They were perfectly crunchy and added welcome texture, as well as a touch of added flavour depth from the cocoa which had the added bonus of breaking up all the sweetness.
Then it dawned on me. I know why I was enjoying the bar so much. It reminded me of Viscount biscuits. Do they even still exist? As a child they were the holy grail of party food, I guess because they were the closest snack one could get to the Christmas luxury biscuit selection boxes*. Talking of which, If you didn't grab the foil covered ones first, there's something wrong with you.
Next time I'm craving mint chocolate, I'll probably choose this bar over an Aero. Cadbury's milk chocolate might've gone downhill, but it still beats Nestle's every time.
8/10
My ice cream buying ban lasted two weeks. That might not sound like much but considering that I was buying tubs/packs on a daily basis I'm rather proud! It's the special offers that draw me in, and so ultimately I'm blaming Cadbury and/or Sainsbury's for me falling off the wagon. I know, I know, I'm an adult and should probably be accountable for my actions. Anyway, back to the matter in hand. I spotted these new ice cream sticks on the same trip I found the Peanut Butter Oreo ice cream sandwiches, but avoided temptation for two primary reasons:
1. They were full price at £2.50 per pack
2. I wasn't a fan of Cadbury's Fudge Medley Bar.
At £1.50 though, the curiosity won (I'm sure I'll end up 6ft under with the cat one day).
"Hazelnut Ice Cream with a Chocolate Mousse Centre, Covered in Milk Chocolate with Freeze Dried Raspberry Pieces and Digestive Biscuit Crumb."
Hazelnuts, chocolate, raspberry & digestive biscuits are all foods I love, and they should harmonise; but then that's what I thought about peanut butter, chocolate & Oreo and yet Cadbury managed to royally muck that combination up. The 90ml sticks looked pretty at least!
I was surprised and tentatively impressed by the chocolate casing, which did bear resemblance to Dairy Milk (albeit the cheaper Easter Egg stuff). As for the raspberry pieces, the taste of them were almost completely lost. Only two nibbles rendered any tart fruitiness, which was a shame seeing as the combination was rather good. The digestive biscuit pieces were also unrecognisable. Sure, there was a gritty texture to the chocolate casing, but even the best biscuit connoisseur would be hard pressed to determine exactly what it might be.
Fortunately the hazelnut ice cream was the stick's real saving grace. The flavour was every bit as nutty as I'd hoped and the texture was creamy. It was perhaps a little on the soft side for my personal preference, but it stayed put and didn't melt too quickly.
Sandwiched between the two pillars of hazelnut ice cream was the chocolate section, which provided some confusion. The front of the box described it as a mousse, whilst the regulated product name on the back labelled it as ice cream. So which was it?
Either way it was pretty poor. Chocolate ice cream can be so hit and miss, and it seemed that Cadbury didn't bother even aiming for the mark with this one. Considering that their chocolate mousse's are well flavoured, I'd hoped that they'd be able to pull off a decent attempt at an ice cream/mousse. This tasted no different to the Tesco chocolate ice cream* I'd had the night before though.
Again I've found myself moaning quite a bit about a product that I did in fact enjoy. Would I buy them again? No, considering they're called 'luxury' I'd much rather have M&S' Belgian milk chocolate & hazelnut ice creams.
6/10
*in their Neapolitan soft scoop no less, check me out with my retro food!
My fridge is full of chocolate, like ridiculously so. It's the same with ice cream in my freezer, yet I can't stop myself from buying more whenever as spot something new or at a bargain price. Perhaps I should start up a freakshake cafe from my kitchen, or maybe I should leave my wallet at home more often. Despite my exhaustive supplies, the news that Cadbury was releasing two new Oreo themed bars filled me with excitement, then dread. Why dread? Well firstly because I knew I'd end up on a ridiculous treasure hunt and wouldn't rest until I found them, secondly because I really didn't need any more chocolate,and lastly because I just knew that Cadbury would mess the opportunity up. Yet still the search began...
Home Bargains. B&M. Poundland. ASDA. Morrisons. Sainsbury's. Tesco.
No luck, but then I was told by the lovely Tiff on Instagram and @eveningtreats that they'd found the bars in Home Bargains. My heart sunk. My local branch seemingly rarely stocks the yummy items that many people find in the discount store. Rather than give up hope I desperately returned to store on Sunday. I might've danced in the aisles when I spotted both the Mint and Peanut Butter flavours, before picking up the latter and kissing it (much to Bert's embarrassment).
If you remember, I mentioned my disinclination towards mint chocolate when I reviewed the new Oreos last year. Whilst I was pleasantly surprised by the biscuits, I still decided to restrain myself and only buy the peanut butter flavour, even though they were both just 99p each.
This isn't the first time I've mentioned the dissatisfaction amongst us peanut butter addicts caused by British Peanut butter Oreos. Whilst our American cousins are treated to cookies stuffed with the real deal, we are given a paltry smattering of fake peanut spread. I mean why on earth would anyone make a peanut butter product that doesn't even contain peanuts? It's not even a rare occurrence either, take Saturdays' review for example. Despite Both Oreo and Cadbury being owned by the same giant corporation, Mondelēz, I prayed that the originally British firm would be more sensible and wouldn't try and palm us all off with some crappy fake stuff.
"Milk chocolate with a peanut butter flavoured filling (35%) with biscuit pieces (12%)."
One look at the ingredients and I knew I'd be disappointed. Not one mention of peanuts, just flavouring. The only hint of any nuttiness was the "may contain nuts" warning, which appears on just about anything and everything. I wanted it to contain nuts Cadbury, as does everyone else, that's why we're buying it! Gah.
Snapping the bar revealed a good sized filling. It's perhaps not as prominent as that in the standard size Dairy Milk Oreo bars, but that can't be helped due to the flatter shape of the segments.
The milk chocolate is one of the waxier, cheaper types that Cadbury tend to use in their combination bars these days. It doesn't annoy me as much as it once did, but it's certainly not of the quality the Cadbury were once proud of.
As for the filling, it's creamy by pretty much the same flavour used in the British Oreos. That's to say it's awfully sweet, and infinitely less authentic than the filling of a Reese's cup (which I ate at the same time for comparison purposes 😉). The biscuit pieces were a welcome touch however, and added crunch to the otherwise silken bar.
Humf. Why can't Mondelēz understand that us Brits know and love our peanut butter just as much as the Yanks? Is it a cost issue? If so, I'd gladly pay more for the real deal. I just don't get it. I certainly won't be buying it again.
2/10
Way back in March, a line of 'new' massive 300g bars cropped up in Cadbury's expansive range under the 'Big Taste' branding. If it wasn't for B&M selling the Toffee Ganznuss (check out One Treat's review here) it might not have been quite so bleeding obvious that Cadbury's new owners Mondelez had just transplanted some of their existing Milka lines into our British chocolate. I wasn't particularly fussed on the bars at the time anyway, not least because of their size, but more because I crave different bars on different days. I guess you could say I have chocolate commitment issues. Anyway, last week I finally spotted a standard size 'Big Taste' bar in WHSmith and decided to give it a go. Both the Toffee Whole Nut and the Oreo bars were marked half price at 50p -seriously, who pays £1 for just over 40g of Cadbury Chocolate?
"Milk chocolate with a toffee flavour filling (32%), Hazelnuts (10%) and Caramel (10%)"
The thin bar comprised of 6 little segments, which were so easy to snap that they'd already broken on the way home. I was a little taken aback when I bit into the first chunk; where was all the chocolate at? If I'm buying a Cadbury bar then I expect a decent amount of chocolate... well.. I used to anyway. What chocolate there was tasted like the inferior quality, waxier stuff that the company tends to rely on more and more -humf.
Luckily the toffee filling and thin layer of caramel was pretty good, perhaps creamier and not as buttery as expected, but still yummy. The whole hazelnuts nestled in each segment had also retained their crunchiness, offering a welcome contrast against the otherwise smooth textures.
I can't say that I'll be buying more of the Toffee Whole Nut bars, and I'm certainly glad that I never forked out for the giant size version. It's just not special enough Cadbury, so I'll stick to the Dairy Milk Tiffin instead ta.
6/10
Chocolate. Raisins. Biscuits. All delicious in their own right, but together? Utter perfection. I've previously written about my love for tiffin (remember the disappointing Hobnob's Tiffin Slices?) and remember -and miss- Cadbury's take on the classic combination. Mondelez announced earlier this year that they have decided to remake the bar for a limited time only, which got me rather excited! But then I realised that it probably wouldn't taste as good as I recall, particularly seeing as the new bosses of the once iconic British chocolate company seem impervious to resist meddling with Cadbury's tried and tested original recipes. That said, I still bought the 95g Tiffin bar as soon as I spotted it in ASDA at the non-offer price of £1.49 (which disgruntled me somewhat seeing as all of Cadbury's other 100g-ish size bars were discounted to £1).
"Milk chocolate with dried grapes (12%) and biscuits (8%)."
I really hoped that this new bar would taste like the Dairy Milk of days gone by, rather than the greasy "chocolate flavoured creme" used in the newish Medley bars.]
It delivers. More or less. The Dairy Milk may not be to the original recipe, but at least the chocolate tastes like the individual bars -rather than the cheaper, waxier sort that Cadbury/Mondelez employ in their Easter Eggs.
The dried grape (are they raisins or sultanas?) offer fruity little bursts. They're not in ample enough supply to make their way into every nibble, but crop up every now and then. The biscuit pieces are crisp, although the pieces are too small to be able to really taste. I didn't mind this so much because the chocolate should always be the star of the show, and Cadbury have rightfully made it so.
Cadbury's have released a bucketload of new products this year, but their limited edition Tiffin bar is certainly my favourite and I hope it's here to stay. It's really just a better quality (and less chunky) version of a raisin and biscuit Yorkie, so if you like them then I suggest you try Cadbury's new offering.
Now, if only Galaxy would hear my plea for a tiffin themed Duet bar, I'd be one happy lady!
9/10
