Bizarre Maple Bacon Chocolate (The Chocolate Smiths)

A couple of Mondays ago I received the best kind of parcel a girl could wish for: a surprise delivery of chocolate. It wasn't just any chocolate either, oh no, it was a lovely packet of goodies from The Chocolate Smiths! Now I hope you'll remember my introduction to the entirely handmade Chocolate Smiths' range, but if not then please feel free to check out my review of their Birthday Cake bar here. 

Of course, given that Easter Sunday has been and gone the eggs won't be obtainable again until 2018, however I hereby promise to publish a review of them in Lent next year*. The Maple Bacon Bar is still available however, so let's press on...

"Not a morning person? Neither are we - but we’d definitely rise and shine for this! Bacon flavoured milk chocolate with a little butterscotch, topped by creamy maple flavoured white chocolate and sea salt. A sweet and savoury delight for any time of day!"

As you might recall, I've recently got my head around savoury-sweet combinations thanks to M&S's cheese hot cross buns (which I filled with bacon and ketchup). This impulse purchase in Malaysia of a cheddar cheese filled mocha chocolate cake was also surprisingly tasty...

My dad thinks I've lost the plot and is just about to disown me for my newly discovered liking, but I'm more open-minded than he is 😉 and as such was really excited to try The Chocolate Smiths' Maple Bacon Bar! 

The tablet had snapped in transit, but still looked rather attractive with its combination of milk and white chocolate. I could smell a slight bacon-y scent, but it was mild. The sweet chocolate scent was stronger.

Biting into the bar, my tastebuds embraced the wonderfully confusing melange of flavours. The salt hit first, then the smooth creaminess of the chocolate, followed finally by a beautiful smoky flavour. The depth was both interesting and delicious. I had wondered if the bacon could or would work with the chocolate, but it's genius, and now I finally understand why Nigella hails it 'the unholy union' in her recipe for bacon brownies (which I admittedly previously thought of as revolting, but now must give a try).

For those of you wondering, the bacon in this bar doesn't come from meat but is a bacon oil flavouring, similar in taste to that used in Frazzles. This means that the chocolate is also suitable for vegetarians. Now this might seem odd. Perhaps you're thinking: Surely you don't you want to taste bacon if you don't eat meat? But of course many vegetarians give up meat for ethical reasons and indeed some research suggests that bacon 'is the gateway to meat for vegetarians'. Why would Quorn invest in making meat-flavoured Mycoprotein products otherwise? I'll get off my high horse now. In essence it's a delicious combination for both carnivores and vegetarians. 

My only qualms are that the maple flavoured white chocolate is a little lost against the milk chocolate (I think a higher % of white chocolate would work better), and that the bacon flavour isn't present in every square -but maybe I'm simply a greedy pig for bacon, does that make me a cannibal?

Do you think you're brave enough to try the Maple Bacon Bizarre bar? If so, make sure you pop on over to The Chocolate Smiths' shop where you can purchase any three (100g) Bizarre bars for just £10.50! What are you waiting for? Go go go! 

9/10

Thank you The Chocolate Smiths for my parcel of goodies! 

* but here's a teaser... they're awesome!

FlapJacked Mighty Muffins: Maple Pumpkin, S'mores and Apple & Cinnamon (Online)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about FlapJacked's Buttermilk Protein Pancake & Baking Mix and also promised to review their Mighty Muffin range. Today I'm reviewing 3 of the 6 flavours -so you'll have to come back again to find out how the peanut butter, chocolate, and peanut butter & chocolate flavours fare. But first, let's get to grips about what Mighty Muffins are all about...

"FlapJacked Mighty Muffins are a delicious, certified gluten free, protein packed and high fibre muffin developed with scrumptious flavour, balanced nutrition and convenience in mind. Bursting with pockets of flavour in every bite, Mighty Muffins pack 20 grams of protein and 240 calories in each serving (1 container). The patented probiotic GanedenBC30 has been added to help you support immune health as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Simply add water, microwave for up to 1 minute (time will vary depending on the power of your microwave) and you have a delicious meal or snack on the go."

Gluten free, high in protein and scrummy to boot? Surely not. 

Maple Pumpkin
As usual I opted for the flavour that I thought I'd like least (although they all sounded good to me). I peeled back the lid to find a fair amount of powder, before adding 60ml of water using the provided container as suggested. 

As I stirred the mixture my nostrils were greeted with an array of spices which instantly made me even hungrier; it's a good job I didn't have to wait for this cake to bake in the oven! My microwave took a little longer than the advised 60 seconds to make the muffin peak out the top of the tub (but it is only low watt).

I was still too eager to eat my muffin and soon found that it was still gooey in the middle - but I pretended it was supposed to be a fondant. The flavours were really delicious though, maple and pumpkin are underutilised in the UK, and I loved the combination of spice and sweet. I wasn't expecting the little crunchy maple bits in the muffin either, but enjoyed the contrast in textures.
Maple Pumpkin Mighty Muffin was every bit as scrumptious as FlapJacked promised, and it's certainly a treat I'll happily enjoy over and over again.

9/10

S'mores 
This time I knew the drill: I added my water and mixed, before attempting to give my muffin a sufficient amount of time in the microwave.

The S'mores muffin was packed full of chocolate chips and marshmallow pieces. The cake had a fluffy texture this time (thanks to my patience), but I found that without the spice that the protein flavour was much more prominent. I primarily use whey protein to bake with and haven't ever tried Pea protein before. All of FlapJacked's products are made using a combination of both. It didn't taste bad, but it certainly wasn't your usual sponge cake flavour. 

6/10

Apple & Cinnamon

I was in need of some comfort food after a long day yesterday, so opted for cake and ice cream for pudding. This was much healthier than it sounds though, thanks to the Mighty Muffin's low sugar and fat content and OPPO's low sugar content. Is my healthy halo glowing yet? I think not.

The heavy dose of cinnamon in this cake was scrummy, although now I'd detected the protein taste in the S'mores muffin I couldn't ignore it in the background of this flavour too. The combination of warm cinnamon cake with ample apple pieces and salted caramel ice cream was wonderful though, and I felt like I was eating a hug in a bowl. Serious noms.

8/10

Flapjacked's Mighty Muffins are available to purchase from their website, where you will receive 10% off by using the code AMY10.

If you want to be in with the chance of WINNING 6 Mighty Muffins AND a Protein Pancake Mix amongst many other goodies, please enter my instagram competition.

Thank you to FlapJacked for the samples!

Maple Syrup and Salted Caramel Cheesecakes (LIDL)

My poor fiance works a crazy amount of hours  over three different shift patterns -mainly to pay the mortgage whilst I swan off to uni and  part-time job. One week he works a series of night shifts, then day shifts, then afternoon shifts. This week it's afternoons week, which means that he's away over dinner time. But why does this matter? Well it means that during those shifts I'm on the hunt for tasty, easily transportable desserts to pack in his lunchbox. Last week I made the trip to Lidl to stock up on my staple Skyr pots, when I noticed it was U.S.A week and they had some themed fresh goods -including these curious sounding Maple Syrup and Salted Caramel Cheesecakes. The pots were individual, lidded (easy transportation) and came in a 3 pack for 99p, so I picked them up to try this week. 

"3 Mini cheesecakes with a salted maple caramel topping and biscuit base."

You may have gathered by now, I'm a huge Maple syrup and salted caramel fan, but admittedly I've never had them together before.  I wasn't sure how the combination would work, or indeed how yummy the cheesecakes would be, given how pants supermarket potted versions normally are. 

Each dessert had a decent ratio of each three layers, although I soon discovered how runny the top syrup was.. The amber topping was also translucent, allowing me to see peaks of creamy coloured cheesecake beneath.

The flavour was just as strange as imagined. There were the characteristic deep maple tones, and sweetness of caramel, yet it lacked the buttery richness of a true caramel sauce. The saltiness was also forgotten about -I'm sure it was just used in the title to make it sound more on trend. The looseness of the sauce also meant that it was no mean feat keeping it on my teaspoon! 

The cheesecake beneath was lighter than a proper baked cheesecake, although the mousse-like fluffiness did work well. The sourness was also lacking, which is a shame as it was really needed to counteract the sweetness of the syrup above. 

A thick, crumbly biscuit base greeted me at the bottom. Considering that these cheesecakes were meant to be American themed, I'm surprised that LIDL chose to use the traditional British Digestive (which I hear is very hard to track down in the USA). It was a shame really, and gave the cheesecakes a far less genuine flavour -although I'm not sure how authentic I was expecting them to be considering how cheap they were!

If they sound good to you, I'd pop down to LIDL ASAP -it's now 'Italian week' but they may have some lingering on their shelves- otherwise you'll have to wait until American Week crops up again! 

7/10 

NEW! Maple Crunch Doughnut (Krispy Kreme)

There's many benefits to living in one of the most rural counties in the country. For example there's the quietness, the greenness, the generally slower pace of life and low crime levels. Then there's the downsides; the tractors that cause many a fit of road rage, the failing infrastructure (there's one bridge across the river that splits the city and no bypass) and of course the lack of Krispy Kreme & Hotel Chocolat within an hours drive.

Now the last point could in fact be viewed as a positive one, for it means that I'm not often tempted to spend vast amounts of money on the new & delicious looking seasonal treats in either store.

Still, a work trip to Birmingham yesterday on the train left enough time between connections to pop into Krispy Kreme and treat myself to one of their new doughnuts. I love a good Krispy Kreme, and indeed the last one I had was in place of my birthday cake back in March. Certainly a long enough wait!

You might be surprised that I didn't opt for the Reese's PB&J or Nutella filled doughnuts, and that it was the gold flecked Maple Crunch that called to me instead. Let me explain for why. I adore maple syrup, more so than the golden variety or honey, and it just about pips caramel too (unless we're talking about the core in Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra -nothing beats that). Its deep, woody flavour balances out its sweetness, and I'm forever wishing that the UK would embrace the Canadian syrup more.

"Hand-dipped in maple icing and sprinkled with maple flavour crunch and a sparkle of gold dust."

I can assure you that the doughnut looked even more impressive lined up on the shelves in the Krispy Kreme. Before it underwent a slight (but unavoidable) battering on the journey home, the icing was smooth and proudly displayed a generous dusting of golden flecks.

I won't be moving home soon as. I've decided that I'm glad there's no KKs  or Tesco with doughnut cabinets closer to home. The doughnut was soft, fluffy and light despite the characteristic deep fried flavour penetrating the sweet dough. As for the maple icing, it was every bit as flavourful as I'd hoped, and was thick enough to coat the ring without making it too sickly*.There was a slight crunchiness to it, and admittedly a tad more would've made the texture slightly more interesting. Even so it was pretty damn fabulous. 

If you need further convincing, check out Nib's review of the Maple crunch and S'mores doughnut here. 

9/10

*I would still suggest that the doughnut is best enjoyed with a big mug of coffee -which is why I trekked it home & resisted munching it on the train home.

R Bar Flapjack Protein Bars: Cherry Almond, Apple & Blackberry Crumble & Maple Syrup (Cardiff Sports Nutrition)

A couple of months ago I received a lovely parcel full of goodies from the team at Reflex Nutrition. Inside the box was the protein coffee (which I loved and am now addicted to, check out my review if you want to find out more) and a box of each flavour of the new R Bar Flapjacks. I have to admit that I was super excited by the flavours, all of which appealed to me. 

I was informed at the time that Reflex's primary drive with the flapjacks was to produce a quality product in terms of being nutritionally sound. It was never intended to be a confectionary type bar, instead Reflex say that their "protein flapjacks offer unrivalled quality, incorporating nutritionally uncompromised ingredients. Each bar contains 18g protein, 7g fibre, 21g low GI carbohydrates, and just 2g sugar to keep you sustained before and after your training." If you want any more information on the thought process behind the flapjack bars, please pop over to their blog.

The first thing I noticed when I unwrapped the bars, was just how little they looked like traditional flapjacks. I had a horrible flashback to the PhD peanut butter bar at the beginning of the year, and hoped I could stomach them better.

Fortunately, all of the bars are soft, although they taste much more like traditional protein bars than traditional flapjacks. I much prefer them once warmed through in the microwave for 20 seconds -the same way I like my Quests & Carb Killas. My biggest issue is that the flavours in the Cherry Almond and Apple & Blackberry bars aren't very strong at all, meaning that they disappear somewhat against the more prominent taste of the milk protein. I appreciated that the fruit flavour comes from real freeze dried fruit, but it accounts for only 1% of the ingredients, so it's unsurprising that it lags behind. The Cherry Almond bar is also slightly oily to the touch, but it didn't taste greasy in the slightest. 

My absolute favourite bar by a country mile is the maple syrup, which was far bolder in taste. I love this bar warm, and it's one that I really look forward to. As far as macros go, the R Bar Protein Flapjacks are a winner, and as a bonus they're 'clean' and very filling after a good work out. You can buy them from any reputable sports retailer, my favourite being Cardiff Sports Nutrition (where you can buy them for just £1.49 per bar). 

Maple Syrup: 8/10
Cherry Almond: 6/10
Apple & Blackberry Crumble: 5/10

*A huge thank you to Reflex for sending me the samples to review. 

NEW Cocoa Filled Breakast Biscuits & Maple Syrup Granola Bars by Sainsbury's

I went on a rare shopping trip to Sainsbury's to find the Christmas Pud Nakd Bar that I reviewed yesterday, and couldn't resist browsing the aisles to see if they have anything interesting and/or different to what I normally find in Tesco or ASDA. I came across Sainsbury's 'new' own-brand cereal bar range which are currently on offer at £1 per box. Given how wonderful I think ASDA's peanut butter granola bars are, I thought I'd give a couple of their products a try.

Maple Syrup Granola Bars

If you look at the packet of Nature Valley's granola bars you'll notice that they are manufactured in Spain which also happen to be the place of origin for the Sainsbury's maple syrup bars; this led me to believe *hope* that the 'own-brand' was actually Nature Valley in disguise.

However, when I unwrapped the bars I realised that I'd made a silly mistake, because although they follow the same format -2 biscuits in one pack- and are a similar amount of calories, they are very different in consistency: the Sainsbury's bars are completely solid and lack the signature crumbliness of Nature Valley. This means that they're much tougher to munch on, and I was exceedingly grateful for the great big mug of coffee I had to dunk them in. Once dipped, they did soften, and the maple syrup flavour came through perfectly.

6/10

Cocoa Filled Breakfast Biscuits

Sainsbury's have also released two varieties of  'filled' Breakfast Biscuits: Cocoa and Coconut & Yogurt. Whilst the coconut would have been my preferred choice (particularly because it's much more unusual) it was unfortunately out of stock. Given my love of chocolate I picked up the Cocoa flavour anyway.

I've always wondered why Belvita haven't yet added a chocolate filled breakfast biscuit to their range. The cocoa biscuit sounds nice- but it's the cocoa filling that I like! When I bought this pack, I was of the impression that the chocolate filling would be enveloped by the biscuit outer. I've got to stop making preconceptions because I was utterly disappointed when I unwrapped the bars and found them to be just like the Belvita bars- with a chocolate layer sandwiched between two biscuits.

The biscuits are made from wheat, rye and barley and are suprisingly sturdy. They are quite tough to break and don't have a huge amount of flavour- reminding me of a particularly thick cheese cracker. In contrast, The cocoa layer was soft and gooey with ample chocolate flavour.

They tasted more healthy than the new PiCK UP bars I reviewed last week- but they're nowhere near as tasty. Perhaps they just need some caramel!

4/10

Crispy Bacon & Maple Syrup Portlebay Popcorn

I'm down to my last three bags (and favourite sounding flavours) now from the sample box that Portlebay Popcorn sent: Cinnamon Swirl, Cappuccino and the cause of today's review- Crispy Bacon and Maple Syrup. I love bacon frazzles, and I imagined this popcorn to taste similiarly. As with the Wasabi popcorn, the sweet element coming from the maple syrup (which I also love in it's own right) fazed me slightly... I just can't imagine pouring syrup onto bacon like the Yanks do.

When I opened the bag, I was greeted with a dusty orange coloured popcorn. I could smell hints of bacon, but the aroma most prominent was that of the syrup. This was also reflected in the taste, and although I could detect the smoked bacon element, the sweet maple was definitely more overpowering. I didn't believe that a ratio favouring Maple Syrup over bacon would work well, but once again Portlebay have turned my preconceptions on their head- the salty bacon tang balanced the sweetness out perfectly.

I absolutely loved this Popcorn, which I'm over the moon about because it's one of two flavours that our local Boots stock, meaning I can enjoy it again and again. I'd recommend trying this product if  you're either a maple syrup fan or a sweet and salty popcorn kind of person.

9/10

New Limited Edition Maple Syrup Müller Rice

It's that time of year again when Müller alter their product ranges. Last week I reviewed one of their Müller Light additions- Key Lime Pie, and today it's the turn of the new limited edition flavour Müller Rice- Maple Syrup. It's a bit strange to see this flavour advertised as the new limited edition, because until a few months ago it was part of their core range in a six-pack with Apple Strudel flavour Müller Rice. I really loved both of those flavours and I was gutted when they dumped it in favour of the 'red berry' six-pack which contains strawberry & cherry. 

In any case, I'm pleased to see that Müller have reintroduced a Maple product, because I love the taste of  the Canadian syrup; which I mentioned before when reviewing the new porridge by Quaker.

Müller Rice are a versatile dessert choice because you can enjoy them either hot or cold- and I like them both ways- but today I ate mine straight from the fridge. The rice was lovely; thick and perfectly creamy, which makes it feel more indulgent than it actually is (bonus)! There was a generously thick slick of syrup at the bottom, which although is clearly not of the highest grade, has the deep and decadent familiar Maple tang. I'm not sure if this new product has exactly the same recipe as before, but I am really pleased it's returned.

This flavour replaces the salted caramel rice pots, which I liked a lot, but fortunately for me I like the Maple even more so I shan't miss it too much. Please please please bring back Apple Strudel now Müller! In the meantime though, I have finally tracked down and bought a few of the new Apple Strudel Müller Lights, which I shall review over the coming days.

9/10

New Maple Syrup flavour Quaker Oat So Simple

It's getting rather nippy overnight now- there's the familiar tussle in our house over the central heating thermostat, and the shops are filled with festive goodies. That means it's porridge season (I eat it year round though, shh) and time for Quaker to release a new addition to their extensive range of porridge sachets. 

This year it's Maple syrup, a flavour I adore. Müller rice's new limited edition flavour is also maple syrup (although it's not really new because it used to be part of their range in a six pack with apple strudel - which I'm praying they also bring back). I'm hoping this is a new trend and that other retailers will branch into maple syrup.

I opened my sachet and poured my milk using the handy guide on the packet which removes all the faff. I whacked it in the microwave for the stated two minutes and awaited my warm breakfast. The first thing I noticed was the lack of smell. I know that sounds a bit odd, but there's a lovely aroma of sweet syrup that fills the house enticingly when cooking their golden syrup porridge.

The porridge had thickened up nicely when the two minutes were up, and I was pleased to see it hadn't bubbled up and over the bowl either. Again, I couldn't smell any maple syrup.

I tucked in, and felt the familiar warmth and comfort that porridge provides, with a lovely sweetness.. But no caramel undertones- none of the lovely richness that comes from a good old glug of Canadian syrup. I continued through, hoping that maybe the flavouring just wasn't mixed in enough, and that at some point I'd hit a pocket of Maple, but I didn't. The occasional spoonful tasted slightly more sweet than others, but nothing to get excited about.

The porridge did the trick and warmed me up nicely ready for a long day of studying, but I  couldn't help feeling more than a little let down by Quaker. I'm hoping that it was just a bad packet, and that my next attempt will be more successful. I'd be really interested to hear if anyone else has had the same experience as me?

3/10