Cookie Dough Gourmet Edible Cookie Dough: Red Velvet, Chocolate Chip, Triple Chocolate Fudge & Funfetti Cake Batter (Online)

Have you ever made cookies and considered just not baking them? Just sitting and eating the entire bowl with a spoon? Please tell me that you have. Raw cookie dough is a wondrous creation, and must be on par with -if not even better than- warm cookies straight from the oven. We're not meant to eat it though are we?  I mean, the dough contains raw egg, but I also guess if that if our aim is to make cookies, we probably shouldn't fall at the first hurdle and eat the dough. 

Cue Gookie Dough: the love-child of Olly and Anja, who say that they came up with the idea of creating tubs of gourmet edible cookie dough from their life long obsession with Willy Wonka. The tubs are available in four drool inducing flavours: red velvet, gooey chocolate chip, triple chocolate fudge and funfetti cake batter. They're designed to be kept refrigerated (with a shelf life of about a month) but can also be frozen. That's if your self restraint allows, of course. I was utterly excited when I received an email from Olly asking if I'd like to review their products and immediately accepted, starting to think up ways to serve up the Gookie Dough (that's if I wasn't to eat it straight from the jar). I love a good food brainstorm, but if you're feeling less creative there's plenty of ideas on their Instagram page.

Gooey Chocolate Chip

"Is there anything better than fresh golden chocolate chip cookie dough? With a generous portion of luxury Belgian dark chocolate chunks swirled in a silky, buttery Madagascan vanilla dough, the original handcrafted Gookie dough recipe is to die for!" 

The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of chocolate chips that were embedded within the dough. The batter was quite loose too, a similar sort of consistency to peanut butter or chocolate spread. A serving size is 75g (half a mini jar) and I chose to use it to top a protein cake in one of my late night snack bowls. 

The dough was tacky, and melted fairly quickly on top of the warm cake. As you can imagine it was very sweet, but it was also comforting too. The consistency of the dough is smooth, lacking the graininess of the cookie dough chunks that are commonplace in ice creams. I thought the serving size was a little generous as I found it quite sickly towards the end, but that just meant that there's more servings per tub. Bonus.

8/10

Funfetti Cake Batter

"Sprinkles make everything more fun and better right? Taking inspiration from the ultimate American childhood birthday cake flavour, this decadent and rich Madagascan vanilla dough is layered with handfuls of luxury Belgian white chocolate chunks. Just to make it ultra special, this party favourite is loaded full of rainbow crystal sugar sprinkles!"

If you've been reading this blog for some time you'll know that misleading names are a personal bug bear -despite being a marketing and advertising student. So let's get this straight, this flavour Gookie Dough was in fact a white chocolate version of the chocolate chip, there's not really any cake about it. I'll step down off my high horse now.

This time I sandwiched the batter between two Oatmeal & raisin flapjacked cookies, and I'm salivating just thinking about the combination. I used just 50g this time and loved the flavour and textural combination of the Gookie dough with the cooked cookie. If you decide to treat yourself to some Gookie Dough, I highly recommend that you try the pairing for yourself. 

9/10

Red Velvet

"Have you ever tried the world’s most famous & elegant cake flavour? Intertwining super moist, luscious red Belgian cocoa dough, and heavenly, creamy, melt in your mouth Madagascan vanilla frosting, this dough doesn’t disappoint when it comes to providing that signature light chocolaty flavour. It’s most certainly red velvet by name and red velvet by nature!"

There's no doubt about the flavour of this cookie dough given the colour of it. Red velvet is notoriously difficult to nail from both a colour and flavour point of view, so I was pleased to see that Gookie Dough had achieved at lest one of the objectives.

This time I decided to top my ice cream with some frozen Gookie Dough. However, I'm not sure if I didn't put it in the freezer for long enough (just an hour) but the batter didn't really solidify. I also didn't find that it had a particularly strong chocolate flavour, and although the swirls of vanilla frosting were evident in the appearance, they were lost in the resounding sweetness. It was tasty, but not the best flavour by a long shot.

6/10 

Triple Chocolate Fudge 

"Simply put, this is a choc-a-holic’s dream! Using not one, not two, but 3 different chocolate varieties, this fudgey 100% cocoa dough is heaped full of divine dark cocoa, Belgian milk chocolate fudge and white chocolate chunks. Prepare yourself for a chocolate coma!"

Coma me up. I needed a chocolate hit and decided to enjoy this flavour straight from the jar. Yes it was chocolatey, yes it was extremely sweet, yes it was sticky, and yes it was the ultimate in indulgence. It was a chocolate bomb and I felt it should be for reserved for really bad Monday evenings (or Sunday night blues).

Gookie Dough isn't for the faint hearted. It's made especially for us sugar addict. It's unique (as far as I'm aware) and I applaud Olly and Anja for their ingenuity. Gookie Dough is available in 150g mini tubs and 450g monster tubs. Prices start at £7.50 for two mini tubs and can be purchased directly from Gookie Dough's website. I really hope they consider creating peanut butter and snickerdoodle flavours in future....

Thank you for the samples Olly! 

NEW! Red Velvet, S'mores, Salted Caramel & Cookie Dough Cheesecakes (ASDA)

I walked into ASDA the other night to pick up some bread rolls and came away with four cheesecakes. How did that happen?! Please tell me I'm not the only one. Believe it or not, that was me holding back, there were many more new ones (take a look at the bottom of this post for photos of just some of the others I spotted). Anyway, I bought 4 of the 5 new individual ones for £1 each -key lime pie didn't appeal I'm afraid, even enough to take a photo. 

Cookie Dough
I really hoped this would be better than the last ASDA cookie dough cheesecake I reviewed just over a year ago. It certainly looked appealing, with a more substantial base this time around.

"Chocolate biscuit base with chocolate chip and chocolate cheesecake batters, with cookie dough, topped with chocolate sauce, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate buttons."

The cheesecake itself was pretty pants. It had that wobbly jelly like consistency that I find so off-putting in most supermarket cheesecakes. Flavour-wise neither the chocolate or chocolate chip batter cut the mustard either. The paler of the two didn't have many chocolate chips, neither did it taste of vanilla, or soured cream, just plain. Humf. The chocolate cheesecake wasn't much better either. 
As for the cookie dough, that was a bit lost too. In fact I only realised when I finished my slice that I hadn't even tasted it! Oops. Fortunately the chocolate bottom was ok, although a little on the dry and crumbly side.

5/10 

Salted Caramel 

"Digestive biscuit base topped with caramel cheesecake batter and salted caramel sauce, topped with milk chocolate malt balls and chocolate crispies."

At least the cheesecake itself was actually flavoured. Whilst it still wobbled, I enjoyed the treacly flavour (although I'm not sure how salted it truly was). 
The honeycomb balls on top were crisp, although admittedly they weren't up to Malteser standards.

I also enjoyed the base of this one. Sometimes you can't beat the original, and I greedily hoovered up every last crumb of digestive biscuit. 

7/10

Red Velvet Secret Centre 

"Red velvet base with vanilla cheesecake batter and a chocolate sauce centre, with red velvet topping."

Boy this was messy to retrieve from its pot, the cake crumb scattered everywhere! Also, can you call a cheesecake a cheesecake without a biscuit bottom? 

Another sub-standard cheesecake. I think ASDA must've used the same batter in this and the cookie dough flavour, for it had a similar a similar taste and consistency. The cake crumb was ok, but there wasn't much of it, and without the crunchy base there was a distinct lack of textural contrast. Not good. The 'secret centre' constituted a measly teaspoonful of runny chocolate sauce, the sort of stuff you'd use to top ice cream -again it wasn't particularly enjoyable. 

I'd give this one a miss if I were you.

4/10  

S'mores 
I really hoped that this cheesecake would fare better than the other new ASDA cheesecakes and the Tesco freezer burnt S'mores cheesecake I reviewed last year.

"Chocolate biscuit base with chocolate cheesecake batter topped and a chocolate sauce centre topped with a chocolate sauce and marshmallows."

This cheesecake was at least easier to remove from its case, revealing three distinct layers beneath the marshmallow topping.

The top layer was meant to be chocolate sauce, but it was set and tasted a bit like the odd wobbly chocolate puddings you find in all inclusive hotels on the continent -please tell me you know what I mean? I really wish that ASDA had used ganache instead.

The chocolate cheesecake was far from the best I've had; it was gelatinous and mild in flavour. As for the secret centre, I uncovered the same sorry state of affairs as I found in the Red Velvet. Gah, ASDA, you can do so much better than this.

I was grateful that the base was crunchy and actually made from biscuits! The chocolate flavour was rather good too, with a dark bourbon-esque element. C'mon guys, I'm looking for the silver lining here. 

6/10

Summary
What a disappointment ASDA, especially having bought and thoroughly enjoyed your outstanding White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecakes the weekend before. 

Just some of the other new cheesecakes spotted at ASDA..

I like the sound of the Banana Bonanza, but I fear it'll be just as bad as their other new cheesecakes. Please let me know what you think if you try any of ASDA's new dessert range!

Red Velvet Ice Cream (Tesco)

It's an extremely rare occasion when I lose my appetite. Yesterday was one of those days though, a chest infection took full force and I was grumpy and feverish. Eating became a chore (yes, even the pink pancakes I made for lunch) and I just wanted to curl up. After almost 9 years together, I'm fortunate that my other half knows how to cheer me up, and he did so by coming home with a tub of Tesco's new Red Velvet ice cream. Last May Tesco asked its Orchard members to vote for a new flavour of ice cream, but I wasn't expecting them to bring out four!

"Pink and white cream cheese flavoured ice creams swirled with a cream cheese sauce and red velvet sponge pieces."

What's pink cream cheese flavour? I wasn't sure, but I guess I'd find out.

The ice creams were attractively swirled and dotted with cake pieces. There was a gelatinous blob at one edge, which I assumed to be the cream cheese sauce - at least that's what I hoped it was because it didn't look very appetising. My scoop delved easily into the tub, uncovering bright red cake chunks throughout.

Now cream cheese is known for having a resonant tang, so that's exactly what I was hoping for. Sadly though it was more reminiscent of the cheaper ice cream normally labelled as vanilla (really meaning devoid of flavour). I asked Bert what flavour he thought the ice cream was, and he replied "raspberry, because it's pink" -which I hope says it all. It lacked the creaminess of more luxurious brands, and instead had the kind of consistency that makes me think of Carte D'Or (of which I'm not a huge fan).

I couldn't taste the cream cheese sauce either. It was completely lost against the sweet ice cream, and I wouldn't have known it existed had I not have seen it. Fortunately the cake bits were good, breaking up the texture with little fluffy morsels. Again, they weren't very flavourful, but at least they were pretty.

All in all, it's not a bad tub, but it's nowhere near Ben & Jerry's standards either. At £2 per 480ml it's worth a go if it takes your fancy though! Meanwhile I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the jammy dodger inspired "jammy ring" ice cream is better, stay tuned for the full review...

6/10

MyMuscleMug: Peanut Butter, Coffee, Chocolate Coconut & Red Velvet Protein Cakes (Online)

For the past few months now I’ve been following the journey of MyMuscleMug, a new British company specialising in healthy, high protein mug cakes. Emily spent six months painstakingly perfecting each recipe (although I can think of worse jobs!) before setting up the business in July 2016. Remarkably each MyMuscleMug contains more than 25g of protein, whilst being low in carbs and containing less than 200kcal. It sounds far too good to be true! Could a healthy cake with excellent macros taste yummy too? The images I kept seeing on Instagram looked mouth-wateringly delicious, but we all know that photos can be extremely deceiving. I held off ordering, but continued to salivate over the decadent pictures of gooey mug cakes appearing on MyMuscleMug’s Instagram page.

That was until the beginning of January when Emily announced the launch of two new flavours, and asked Instagrammers to guess the flavours for the opportunity to win them, so of course I entered. Luckily my entry of red velvet and chocolate coconut was correct and I was one of 10 lucky winners to receive the new cakes - hurrah. My resistance had subsided though, and I took the opportunity to pay for a sachet of the peanut butter and coffee flavours to be sent at the same time too.

The cakes come in individual 50g sachets, which is a bonus because it means that they fit through the letterbox. All the consumer is required to do is to pop the mix in a mug, add 100ml of milk, mix, add any toppings and microwave for 80 seconds or so. Simples.

Chocolate Coconut

As far as flavours go, chocolate coconut is not one that I would normally opt for (it always makes me think of the bountys left lingering in the Celebrations tub after Christmas). With that in mind I decided to try it first. I love the idea that you can customise your mug cake and so spent an embarrassing amount of time dreaming up concoctions that might complement the various flavours. I remembered that I had some choc shot in the cupboard and raspberries in the freezer so decided to cook the cake and adorn it once cooked.

I decided to make my first MyMuscleMug in a latte glass so that I could see the texture in the middle. Once combined with the milk I found the strongly scented chocolate coconut mix to be drier than expected, especially having made many banoffee beltsander-inspired cakes over the past few months. I licked the fork I used to whisk it with and instantly knew I was in for a real treat.

What I stupidly hadn’t accounted for was how much the cake would rise, and that the glass almost reached the top of the inside of my microwave anyway. After just 60 seconds I ended up with a cake volcano, oops. I ended up removing the latte glass early, despite realising that the cake was still gooey in the middle, but I just couldn’t bear to waste any more of it by popping it back in for the final 20 seconds.

Oof. It tasted so. Damn. Good. Think warm coconut fondant.

How was this healthy? How was this delivering 25g of protein? How did it taste so decadent whilst being so low in fat and sugar? It’s then that I realised that Emily must be a wizard. Must be! The raspberries and choc shot gave the cake some additional texture and elevated it into such a special dessert. Even writing about it is making me drool. Yum.

9/10

Red Velvet

It wasn’t long until the temptation to try another MyMuscleMug became too much to bear and so this time I reached for the other new flavour. I had decided to make this mix up in a shallow dessert bowl instead, kind of brownie style, and top I with fresh strawberries and a MilkyBar bear – after all the cake was healthy so I figured it was necessary to add some naughtiness, right?

As before, I licked the fork after mixing, but this time was met with a coconut flavour (it was then that I realised that all of the MyMuscleMugs contain coconut flour) and a very strong beetroot flavour. Now beetroot is one of only a couple of foods I really can’t stand (the other being liquorice). The mixture was an admirable bright red colour, and I say admirable because red velvets have become somewhat less bright since the disappearance of the e-number packed dyes that were once abundant in supermarket shelves. The big problem was, in order to obtain such a beautiful colour, the mix must’ve contained quite a bit of beetroot powder. I only hoped the flavour would subside once cooked.

Unfortunately for me it didn’t, and I really couldn’t get along with the earthiness of the flavour. For me the coconut and beetroot totally overpowered the chocolate and I was left wondering how the cake could be called red velvet, save for its brightness.

2/10

Peanut Butter

At this point I had really mixed feelings about the cakes. Would the peanut butter flavour taste of coconut, or worse, would it taste like the disgusting peanut flour used in Dr Zak’s peanut butter powder? Was it worth using the last of my Co-Op PB&J ice cream to go alongside it? After some deliberation I decided to take the punt, this time making it in a normal mug and adding a large spoonful of JimJam’s low sugar strawberry jam to the raw mix before cooking.

This time I managed to cook the cake for the full 80 seconds, which was when I saw it starting to peep out of the top. I tipped it out into a bowl, although the bottom was still fondant-like and was a little reluctant to leave the mug, but I loved the chocolate coconut one served that way so refrained from cooking it further.

Hurrah! Emily was back to her usual magic with this mixture. The peanut butter was flavoursome and although there was a hint of coconut in the background I found that it complemented the nuttiness really well -who knew? I felt rather proud of my concoction too; the warm jam-filled cake paired with one of the best ice creams I discovered last year was sheer genius (even if I do say so myself). Serious noms.

9/10

Coffee

Now coffee cake is one of my absolute favourite cake flavours. The only trouble is, more often than not, people like to include walnuts into the mixture. Gah. I just want a smooth cake goddammit! Stop shoving walnuts into my cake please, and my ice cream too whilst you’re at it (yes I’m looking at you Ben & Jerry’s with your Chunky Monkey). Also, whilst I’m moaning, why can you never find coffee muffins? Humf. The nut issue is the main reason that I rarely buy coffee cake, and there’s not much point in making it at home when Bert can’t stand coffee. It’s therefore perhaps needless to explain how much I was looking forward to my final MyMuscleMug, and decided that it needed a suitable ice cream to nestle alongside it. Mud Pie! Mud Pieice cream would work wouldn’t it?

Perhaps the most surprising element of the coffee MyMuscleMug is just how brave the flavour is. It’s not a mild, latte kind of flavour, and instead delivers the kind of caffeine-y kick that could even wake you up on a cold January morning. I was glad that I’d paired it with the sweetness of the ice cream for I can be a bit of a coffee wuss, but the resulting flavour was mind-bogglingly delicious and reminded me of another of my favourite desserts- tiramisu.

10/10

All MyMuscleMugs are available to purchase for £1.99each from mymusclemug.com, and I highly suggest you take advantage of the current 6 for £9.95 mix and match offer. The other flavours sound equally delicious too -I’m now dying to try the chocolate brownie, pumpkin spice and cinnamon swirl!

NEW! Red Velvet Filled Muffins (Tesco)

I doubt you're as sad as me. I've been patiently waiting for November to begin and for Tesco to release their Christmas lines. For the past two years the supermarket has sold Mince Pie Cookies and white snowman cookies, but this year they've gone down a decidedly less traditional route with the three new additions in their fresh bakery: Black Forest Cookies, Salted Caramel Filled Muffins and Red Velvet Filled Muffins. Now I'd wonder what on earth red velvet has to do with Christmas (and it's only the red hollies on the packaging that give the theme away) but I really can't talk as I often make a red velvet -gluten free- yule log for the big day. Plus, it's red velvet, I'm always game for red velvet.

At £1 for 4 sizeable muffins, the price can't be complained about either. I couldn't actually find them on Friday in my home town when I found the Merry Mince Pie Flapjacks, but did find them in another store yesterday-so keep looking if you don't have any joy at first.

"4 Red sponge chocolate muffins with cream cheese flavoured filling."

Their sugar dusting did little to conceal the poor flat tops (something I couldn't compute as the packaging didn't appear squashed) although I have to congratulate Tesco on the redness of the cake. The colour doesn't really show up very much in the photos, but I can promise you they had a red hue, and I appreciate how much more difficult the colour is to achieve now that it's so much harder to get hold of the super-artificial red food dyes. I noticed both the softness and the substantial weight of the muffin as soon as I picked one out of the pack; it was easy to slice in two, with a very close crumb and a fair amount of cream cheese filling. So far so good. 

The trouble was, red velvet can be so hit and miss. Sometimes it's bone dry, other times it's flavourless -and unfortunately these muffins fell into the latter camp. Had I blind taste-tasted the cake I'm sure I would've told you I was eating a dense Victoria Sponge. I mean, it tasted good, but it just wasn't red velvet and certainly lacked the chocolatey kick that I hoped for. 

The filling in the middle was super sweet and tasted almost like buttercream. The lack of characteristic tartness was evident, although unsurprising considering it actually doesn't contain any cream cheese (only cheese powder)! Say what?

I'm gutted, These are perfectly tasty little (albeit very sweet) muffins, but they miss the mark on two crucial factors:
1) For a festive muffin they're not very Christmassy
2) They're not red velvet!

Here's hoping the salted caramel fairs better...

6/10 

NEW! Limited Edition Black Forest Velvet Desserts (ASDA)

Way back in march (it really doesn't feel that long ago!) ASDA launched a line of new dessert pots. I tried and very much enjoyed the Rhubarb Jumbles and Afternoon Delights, whilst I was a little less impressed with the Honey Teasers. Since those reviews I confess I haven't bought any more, but only because they went up to their full price of £2 for two pots, and Gu's desserts have been on offer most of that time for the same price. C'mon who wouldn't choose Gu every time?

Anyway, this week I spied a few new additions to ASDA's dessert line up, and they're on offer to boot at £1.50 per pack. The one that I absolutely had to try straight away was these Black Forest Velvets:

"Dark chocolate mousse with morello cherry compote, chocolate flavoured biscuit crumb, red velvet sponge pieces, dark chocolate sauce and a sweet dusting."

I really didn't enjoy ASDA's new black forest muffins, so I really hoped that the supermarket would redeem themselves using of one of my favourite flavour pairings. The layers certainly looked impressive!

Carefully placed on top were two pieces of dark red cake drizzles with dark chocolate sauce. It's been so long since I've had a decent red velvet (yes I'm glaring at you Boots), but these tasted pretty darn good. Moist and chocolatey with a sour twist characteristic of the American cake, I wanted more! Please make and sell a red velvet cake made from this recipe please ASDA?

Underneath was the deep layer of mousse. It too didn't disappoint: rich and decadent, it reminded me of my mum's homemade pot au chocolat (save for the good glug of rum she always adds!). It was denser than most mass-manufactured chocolate mousses, but I prefer it that way.

Next up was the compote, and I was pleased to discover that ASDA had cleverly retained the cherries' tartness. So often companies decide to add so much sugar that they lose their sourness and turn them into the overly sweet berry that they're not. The sharp compote worked in perfect harmony with the sweet mousse on top and tantalised my tastebuds with the true flavours of Black Forest. Thank the Lord! 

Last but not least was the biscuity base. It was surprisingly and noticeably sweet given how dark and decadent the above layers were, and I can't help but think that ASDA might've been better using bourbon biscuits instead -but that's just nitpicking. 

It's safe to say that I really enjoyed these new Black Forest Velvets. My only suggestions on improving them would be to add more cake pieces (in the same way that the Rhubarb jumbles had the flapjack repeated half way down) and of course to use a less sweet biscuit for the base. I'm dying to try ASDA's new Loaded Millionaires' desserts next!

9/10 

Red Velvet Cake (Boots)

Today's my birthday and so it feels only right to write a cake review of one of my favourite cake flavours, the American classic Red Velvet.

You'd have thought that I would have given up on Boots' own-brand snack range by now. All of my finds so far have looked and sounded delicious, but have in fact tasted pretty rubbish. Remember their awful Cinnamon & Vanilla Popcorn, even worse Coconut & Pineapple Popcorn and disappointing Banoffee Flapjack? Well I hate giving up on anyone/anything, and seem to live in constant hope that they'll redeem themselves one day, so bought Boots' 'Delicious' Red Velvet Cake Slice (albeit with my fingers crossed).

The cake looked pretty with its creamy icing and red sprinkles. It wasn't the bright colour that I'd have liked it to be, but I felt I could forgive Boots as it's so much harder to get that vivid shade nowadays thanks to the stringent laws on the use of artificial colours. 

The knife cut through the cake easily thanks to its fluffy texture and soft icing. The cake was moister than expected, with a good even crumb structure... But, that's where the positives stopped.

Once again, Boots clearly haven't given enough thought to the flavours. The cake had a faint cocoa flavour, but it was so bland that it tasted more like it might have absorbed any lingering fridge smells. It really was that bad. 

The icing on top didn't improve matters either; surely a key characteristic of 'Red Velvet' is the tart cream cheese layer? Well, Boots forewent it altogether, instead opting for a 'white chocolate' buttercream. I'm a huge fan of white chocolate, so this shouldn't be a huge problem, but I couldn't remotely taste its inclusion... so I checked the packet and read that it only accounts for 1% of the ingredients! How pointless. 

3/10

Now, despite a FOURTH bad Boots review, I'm still tempted by their 'Cookie Dough Brownie' and Carrot Cake (yes, I'm a mug). 

Please get in touch if you've had any of Boots' cakes or snacks that actually taste as good as they sound!