Mid October I posted a review of Cadbury's new Winterful Layers of Joy pots, and received a comment from 'Eball TheWay' which concerned not using the 'C' word until "at THE VERY EARLIEST November." I imagined that Cadbury wasn't the C word and so I've been biding my time, trying to wait as long as humanly possible (for me anyway) before publishing my first CHRISTMAS themed post. There. It's done now. I've uttered the magic words. Not that you can ignore it anyway! My local Morrisons has been stocking mince pies since August bank holiday weekend -that's not an exaggeration. August is too early -even for me- but it's Bonfire Night today, and seeing as our ASDA has a 10ft Christmas Tree in its foyer proudly displaying the number of sleeps left until the big day -only 49 FYI- it's high time to embrace the festivities!
Graze's new Mince Pie flapjack got me in something of a tizzy this week. Emma is a brilliant (non blogging) snack hunter, and posted a story onto her Instagram account a few days ago of this new treat that she found in boots.
Mince pies? Love them! Flapjacks? Love them! Graze? Love them!
Winners all round. Except, could I find them anywhere? Could I heck. Cue the daily searches (and pestering) in the local Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury's, WHSmith, ASDA, and Tesco Express. I was on a mission. After three days of non-stop hunting, I gave in yesterday and asked my sister to buy and bring me one from Cardiff (we're meeting up for lunch today, I'm not quite that obsessed).
Lo and behold! I then spotted them only an hour later in the larger out-of-town Tesco whilst looking for the new Red Velvet filled Muffins to serve as a consolation prize. Hurrah! I might've squealed a little with excitement (much to my mince pie hating fiance's bemusement).
"Rustic rolled oat flapjack with dates and festive spice."
Dates are the only fruit in the Merry Mince Pie Flapjack, which I find a little odd considering that mince pies usually contain a plethora of dried fruit including sultanas, raisins and currants as well as Bramley Apple and candied peel. Still, I hoped the 2% 'festive spice mix' would be all the Christmas I needed.
As usual, the Graze flapjack comprised of three chunks. The texture was perfect: crumbly but with just enough moisture to hold the oats together. The spices were evident both from the colour of the flapjack and strong festive scent.
Biting into the flapjack I entered mixed spice heaven. The mixed spice Schwartz shaker in my rack is well used -I just love it on baked apples and in plum porridge. The abundance of the flavours permeated through the flapjack, giving a slight Mince Pie edge. There were also some sizeable date chunks embedded within the oats, which pleasantly broke up the texture every now and then.
Whilst I enjoyed every last morsel of Graze's Merry Mince Pie Flapjack, I'm not sure that it's the most accurate representation of the traditional Christmas Pastry. It has got my cogs going however and I'm left wondering whether I could recreate a better likeness by incorporating pastry chunks and real mincemeat into a classic flapjack recipe -I shall keep you updated!
As for Graze flapjacks, lemon drizzle is still my absolute favourite (a definite 10/10) and I implore you to try it if you haven't already.
8/10.
I was always one of those girls in the office who sniggered at the suckers who'd been duped into subscribing to Graze. The trouble is, I wasn't aware of what I was missing out on, and as they say "ignorance is bliss." I would have quite happily remained in my naïve state if it wasn't for Graze's recent-ish inclusion as part of the Boots Meal Deal. The lemon drizzle flapjack called to me, followed by the newer Cocoa & Vanilla protein flapjack. By the time I was nabbing my sister's peanut butter pretzel punnet from her I realised that I needed to sign up.
I was savvy though, and made full use of Graze's selection process to 'bin' all the healthy and/or savoury treats in favour of the naughtier punnets that I've jealously spotted popping up on Instagram. My first Graze box was a winner! Six heavenly looking treats that begged to me munched -or Grazed- upon pronto.
In normal weirdo Amy fashion I opted for the punnet that I thought I'd enjoy the least first, saving the best pack until last.
Banana Bread
I knew how good my Graze box was when the first box open contained one of my favourite flavours of cake. The miniature square was not much more than a mouthful, but at only 55cals would be the perfect solution for cake deprived slimmers.
I can't pretend that this was the best banana cake I've ever had, after all nothing beats fresh banana bread still warm from the oven. As a mass-manufactured treat it was pretty good however, and the inclusion of chopped hazelnuts and dates did ensure enough moistness.
7/10
Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack
I had actually meant to retrieve the summer berry flapjack instead, but in my dozy late evening state I opened this flavour before I realised what I was doing.
This treat didn't disappoint. As with the lemon drizzle flapjack the texture was perfect -soft, squidgy and sticky enough to hold it together without leaving a mess on my fingers. The cinnamon and apple came through in equal measures, mimicking the taste of my mum-in-laws homemade apple crumble. Oaty perfection.
9/10
Sticky Toffee Pudding
As suggested I warmed this up in the microwave, and as un-suggested I enjoyed it for dessert drowned in a giant pool of Ambrosia's new Deluxe Salted Caramel Custard. Just like the banana bread it was a dieter's portion, and it tasted like a 'light' version too. The gooey cake texture was lacking, but the toffee sauce was delicious. A so-so punnet, one that'll probably be 'binned' from future Graze boxes.
6/10
Summer Berry Flapjack
I don't think you can beat Graze's flapjacks. My fourth flapjack from them to date, and a lovely flavour too. The berry infused cranberries were packed with flavour, injecting fruity bursts into every mouthful. As I've come to expect the texture was on point too.
8/10
Banoffee Dippers
I've gone on and on about my love for all things banoffee, so it is perhaps unsurprising that I'd saved this punnet until almost last. It was worth the wait too: the shortbread was beautifully buttery and crumbly, but it held together enough to survive a good dunking in the toffee side. The dip was in fact so good that I ended up scooping out every last ml with my finger. Very unladylike I know.
9/10
Belgian Speculoos
I had to hoard this one, partly because I'd heard such great things about it, and also because Nibs (Nibbles 'N' Scribbles) didn't think I'd be able to resist it. I must admit that it was trying at times, ignoring my urges to rip open the pack of cinnamon pretzels and cookie dip, but I did it! Do I get a medal? No? Oh well. There was ample supply of dippers, which I excitedly stuck into the dip. I was welcomed with a beautifully crisp pretzel and naughtily scrummy speculoos. If you've ever tried Biscoff spread you'll get the gist... and if you haven't, why on earth not? It's incredible stuff.
The only trouble I found was that the ration of dip:dippers was way off. Normally with these style pots I run out of the former before the latter, but by the time I was finishing the punnet I was having to put up with meagre spread scrapings on the pretzels. More sir. Please sir.
8/10
Summary
Well, if you're even considering signing up to Graze I suggest you do so to avoid missing out for any longer -just make sure you edit your likes to ensure you end up with punnets you're likely to enjoy! If you're still not sure whether you want to commit, then you simply must try their Lemon Drizzle Flapjack (which is now available in most major supermarkets) I think it's still my favourite.
I regularly pick up Graze's wonderful Lemon Drizzle flapjack as part of my Monday Boots meal deal (courtesy of o2 priority). I'd go as far as saying that I can single handedly thank Graze for rekindling my love with the citrus fruit, so much so that I recently opted for Gu's lemon cheesecake* over any of their chocolatey puds -shocking right? With that thought in mind, imagine my excitement therefore when I spotted a new chocolate flapjack from Graze in Boots this week (well, cocoa but same difference). I had to try it at once! But then, I paused. It was a protein flapjack, and my experience of them thus far has been less than pleasant...
Hmm. Do I risk a bad flapjack over one that I know I love? Of course I do!
"Whole British oat flapjack with cocoa, vanilla and protein crispies."
As usual, the flapjack was split into three equal chunks. I couldn't smell any cocoa, which was odd considering how pungent the lemon is in their drizzle flapjack.
I bit into it, and realised that this was no ordinary flapjack. There were big and crunchy (soy protein) pieces embedded throughout which meant it was less moist and squidgy than what I was used to. At first I was a little non-plussed: the chocolate flavour wasn't particularly strong and the texture was different to what I expected. Never again I thought, it's back to the lemon drizzle next week..
But then, somehow, I got my head around the fact that, yes, it was different -but that doesn't necessarily equate to bad. When I dropped the term 'flapjack' from the front of my mind, I started to enjoy it, and I mean really enjoy it. The cocoa flavouring gave the treat a more hot chocolatey taste, although I couldn't detect the vanilla. The combination of textures made me think of a Rice Krispies' Square + Flapjack hybrid; It was really quite delicious!
I won't always choose this new flapjack above the lemon drizzle flavour, but I definitely will have it again. I don't eat a lot of meat so sometimes it's useful to get a bit of extra protein in, and at 9g per flapjack I can think of worse ways to top up!
My experience of Graze has been so good that I'm actually considering signing up. Are any of you subscribers? What are the best boxes?
9/10
*Also marvellous and perfectly refreshing!
So it turned out that I was looking in the wrong place in my B&M store. Whilst the Hersheys Snacksters were situated with the sweets, the Reese's variety were by the tills -silly me. Anyway, I hastily picked up a couple of packs of the peanut butter version in the hope that I'd love them as much as the Hershey's.
Just as before the pot was split in two: one side contained 9 Graham Cracker dippers, and the other the chocolate spread. I hadn't actually realised until I got home that it wasn't pure peanut butter and was a peanut butter flavoured chocolate spread instead.
At once, a joyous peanut butter and chocolate fusion hit my taste buds. Sickly sweet, but comforting, I enjoyed the smooth dip against the bland cracker biscuit. My feelings started to change however as I munched my way through the pot, as soon the nuttiness was lost against the chocolate. I actually found it much more cloying than the chocolate spread alone, and by the end I couldn't handle any more sweetness, so was glad to finish.
I can't help but think that this would have been a much yummier snack if Hershey's had used their Reeses peanut butter instead of the chocolate version. Oddly enough, the night before I tried the Reese's snackster my sister offered her peanut butter pretzel graze box to me, and whilst I enjoyed it, it was just too healthy.
I'm more of a naughty peanut butter kind of girl, and favour the spreads that have had plenty of salt and sugar to them -or chocolate, honey and banana if you remember my PB Crave review! Reese's peanut butter ranks high amongst my favourites, and I'd love to have a snack pot that uses it. Until then, I'll have to create my own with a bag of salted pretzels and a side of PB.
6/10
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