NEW! Sicilian Lemon & Ricotta Cheesecake Slices (M&S)

Occasionally I find myself craving cheesecake that's not chocolate based. I know. Shocker. In fact I'm quite partial to the odd lemony pud -be it a drizzle cake, meringue pie, tarte au citron or cheesecake- but only if it offers a balanced juxtaposition of sweet and tart. It's for this reason that I'm fond of Gü's citrus cheesecake and steer clear of Aldi's version. The former is delightfully light and zingy whilst the latter is acidic and barely enjoyable. Given my recent experiences with M&S' Spirit Of Summer desserts I believed I could depend upon them to deliver a refreshing, summery cheesecake. 

"Sicilian lemon and ricotta baked cheesecake on a digestive biscuit base topped with a Sicilian lemon glaze and candies lemon peel."

At 110g each they were larger than your usual cheesecake slice, which especially pleased me as I'd only paid 95p for the pack because I'd been lucky enough to pop in at reducing time (I believe they're normally £2.75). 

The consistency of the cheesecake was surprisingly fluffy. It wasn't moussey like M&S' sunken Chocolate & Valencian Orange cheesecake, but it wasn't gelatinous like most other mass produced cheesecakes either. In fact, texturally the cheesecake was pretty damn perfect. It was just the flavour that ruined it. Instead of the sweet tang that I'd hoped for, all I could taste was the bitter lemon pith that you'll find if you ever zest a lemon too far. The resulting flavour wasn't great. I mean it was edible, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. 

Against the acidic cheesecake the flavour of the glaze was lost. I tried a little on its own, and it seemed fairly tasty, but it offered little in the way of redemption. Come on biscuit base! Please be better... 

But it wasn't. It was of decent thickness, I'll give M&S that, but what's the point when it was utterly soggy? I can't help but think that an amaretti biscuit would've worked well here, both in terms of flavour and texture. 

Oh dear M&S. 

5/10

The Treat Collective (Online)

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a lovely lady called Jo, who told me about her company: The Treat Collective. As you might've gathered, I have a passion for discovering independent and small-batch manufacturers in the U.K, and so when I found out that The Treat Collective is a subscription service who collates sweet treats from independent British manufacturers and sends them directly to your door once a month, I gladly accepted her kind offer of a sample box. 

A few days later I received a parcel, which I assumed might be the Treat Collective box, but when I opened it I discovered a present inside. You see the box inside was wrapped in lollipop gift paper. It wasn't my Birthday. Surely this couldn't be The Treat Collective...?

But it was! This box really did embody the company's name. I felt utterly spoilt when unwrapping the parcel, and again when I lifted the lid on the box inside. 

Wow! What a joyful collection of goodies! I spotted the cute little gummy bears, the artisan fruit & nut chocolate, the cute citrus sweets... then spied The Grown Up Chocolate Company's wonderful 'Perfectly Buttery Peanut Cups', before my eyes rested on Nellienoo's CARAMAC FUDGE. Ahem. I might've been a tad excited. Normally in subscription boxes theres one or more item that I wouldn't have chosen myself, but I was looking forward to each and every item in this parcel. 

Also included in the box was a handy guide to the companies included within The Treat Collective box, which was a really nice touch. I absolutely love the idea behind this company. If you also like to discover the Best of British confectionary then I highly suggest you head over to their website where you can sign up to receive a monthly treat box for the reasonable sum of £24.00 per month. 

10/10

Thank you to Jo for the sample Treat Collective box. Reviews of the individual items will follow on my Instagram feed, so keep your eyes out! 

NEW! Mars Choc Brownie Review

Theres a new Mars bar in town! Well. I say new, but is it really? Mars Choc Brownie certainly sounds new, but it also sounds eerily similar to the Mars Triple Choc and the Xtra Choc. Are they just rehashing the same bar under different guises? Quite possibly. It didn't sound much different...

The press releases for all three bars went as follows:

2011 Triple Choc: 'tasty chocolate nougat and delicious chocolate caramel, covered in thick milk chocolate'.

2015 Xtra Choc: 'extra chocolatey taste from delicious chocolate caramel and tasty chocolate nougat encased in a thick chocolate coat' 

2017 new Choc Brownie: 'thick chocolate nougat with indulgent dark caramel”, covered in Mars chocolate, to create a “new twist on a chocolate classic”.

Ahem. In any case, I miss the discontinued Xtra Choc, so set out on a mission to find the Choc Brownie at the same time as the new McVities banoffee caramel and coffee* caramel digestives! The new Mars bar was  reportedly launched on the 22nd of May (once again, thanks to @productsinstore for the heads up) but I couldn't find it for love nor money. In the end I harassed my poor corner shop so much that they eventally got them in. Hurrah! It's therefore worth checking your corner shops, although I've seen reports that four packs are in Bargain Buys and PoundWorld (just not in Hereford PoundWorld).

Slicing it in half revealed the distinct Mars layers of milk chocolate (35%), nougat (37%) and caramel (28%) in completely different hues to the standard bar. 

The nougat and chocolate was as expected, indifferent to the Xtra Choc bar, but sweet and scrummy nonetheless. Described as dark caramel I'm unsure whether the gooey layer was meant to taste of chocolate seeing as there was already so much chocolate in the bar. To me it had tones reminiscent of black treacle and was unlike that used in the Xtra Choc bar - but perhaps that was my wishful imagination. 

I enjoyed the Mars Choc Brownie and will be sure to buy more once I've made my way through my extensive chocolate collection! Just be warned - it's a bar for those in dire need of a sugar hit. 

My only gripe is that surely the team at Mars could be more creative than rehashing the old limited editions. Given the variety in flavours of nougat style protein bars, surely Mars could bring out something more creative! It wouldn't even have to be as different as the wonderful Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Smart Bar or Banana Carb Killa -although chocolate bar versions of both of those bars would be great! A peanut butter, white chocolate or mocha Mars Bar would suffice!

7/10

* which I still haven't found yet, so please get in touch if you find them!

Reflex Nutrition Chocolate 3D Protein & Mug Cake Recipe (CNSport)

I've been gradually getting to grips with the different types and brands of protein powders on the market. There's one brand than I feel I can undoubtedly trust to deliver high quality, and that is Reflex Nutrition. For those of you who aren't convinced, hopefully the knowledge that their powders are made at their dedicated Science Park facility here in the U.K and that every batch is tested might go some may to persuade you that nutritional excellence is at the very heart of Reflex's ethos.

 This time I'm reviewing their 3D protein, which is 'the only time-release protein powder to contain Native Whey Protein, Micellar Casein and Egg White Protein in the world' in a 45:45:10 ratio. It's designed to deliver a comprehensive combination of protein to aid both during a workout and in recovery. Reflex's 3D protein contains 360kcal, 80g of protein, 6.5g of carbs (just 0.4g sugars) and 1.6g of fat per 100g. Technically it sounded wonderful, but let's be frank: it's got to taste good too. 

And it does. It doesn't have a super rich chocolate flavour, but it's pretty damn tasty. Given the graduated release of the protein in this powder, I tend to use it in my proats before a workout. 

I've also mixed with it skyr and enjoyed it semi-frozen on hot days and used it to make cakes to munch before bed too. In fact, I've had many people asking how I make my mug cakes, so here's the recipe -which is a slight amendment to the one that Nat gave me (thanks Nat).

Protein Mug Cake Recipe

• 25g Reflex 3D protein
• 10g Coconut Flour
• 1 egg white
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp Xantham gum
• 50ml milk (I use dairy but I imagine that almond would also work)
• A splash of chocolate salted caramel Jordan's skinny syrups.

Simply mix all of the above in a mug/bowl and microwave for 70ish seconds (I have to do it by eye as my microwave doesn't have a digital timer). Then top it with whatever you heart desires... or your macros allow!

9/10

A huge thank you to Reflex for the protein! 3D protein is available from Reflex's website, CNSport and most good sports nutrition retailers.

NEW! McVities Banoffee Caramel Digestives (Waitrose)

Almost six weeks ago the best biscuit broadcast was made; McVities were set to release not just one, but two new caramel digestives. Hurrah! Apparently they weren't being subjected to any of this 'thin' nonsense either, and as a bonus McVities had opted for fabulous sounding flavours. Banoffee and coffee sounded right up my street -I'm guessing they must've read my cries for a full size cappuccino digestive 😉. 

The only trouble was... the new biscuits were playing an almighty game of hide and seek. I kept hunting for them, and even contacted McVities three weeks ago, who replied "the new coffee and banoffee caramel flavours will be in stores over the next few weeks and in major supermarkets over the coming months." Helpful. Cue the daily stalking of my local corner shops, which never prevailed. In fact it wasn't even me who found them, it was @productsinstores, who eventually discovered the banoffee variety in Waitrose yesterday. No exagerration, I was on my bike within ten minutes, I must've stunk of desperation. My local store had them in and thankfully, at £1.50, they weren't any more expensive than the standard caramels. Double win! 

"Milk chocolate digestives with a layer of banoffee flavour caramel."

I hoped that McVities had executed the banana flavour well. I mean banoffee caramel digestives sound delicious, and just the idea of dunkable banoffee pie was too good to resist. It's just that my recent experiences with banana biscuits haven't gone so well. Take the Party 'Jaffa cakes' for example, or these Julie's banana crackers that I brought back from Malaysia. Both were almost inedible due to the awful synthetic taste -although my dog seemed to enjoy the crackers. 

Thankfully McVities new biscuits didn't suffer the same fate. Yes the banana is synthetic, but it works well, reminding me a little of the flavour in Grenade's Banana Armour bar. The caramel layer is perhaps on the thin side, but there's enough of it to add texture to the wonderful wheat biscuit and to compliment the milk chocolate. 

 Despite not being a banana buff in the same way that I am, Bert adored these new biscuits too. In fact I might have to hide the rest of the pack....  I just wish Mars would be as brave and create a banana Twix. Anyone else with me on that?

10/10

NEW! Cadbury Chocolate Muffins (Tesco)

A few weeks ago it was National Doughnut Week and I reviewed the new Cadbury Caramel Muffin. Today it's apparently National Doughnut Day and so it seems only right to review the other new Cadbury muffin. I mean, the caramel one was so good that it would have been rude not to buy a pack, wouldn't it? Especially whilst they were still on offer in Tesco. 

"Muffin with mini milk chocolate buttons (5%), chocolate icing (9%) and chocolate filling (10%)."

What happened to that icing? It's a bit skew-wiff isn't it? Never mind, at least one side would be super chocolatey at least! 

Oh, it wasn't just the topping that was wonky. Slicing the muffin in half revealed one side that was almost completely devoid of filling...Look for the silver lining... which meant that I could appreciate the muffin's flavour separately. Will that do? 

The muffin was incredibly soft and light though, and although I preferred the toffee tones of the caramel version, it was still delicious. The buttons were too small to be noticeable however, and without the caramel to distract the situation this became more of an issue. 

Given the abundance of icing on one half it was harder to ignore the quality issues of the chocolate this time around. Let's be clear, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't the sort of chocolate you'd want to eat a bar of -and that's what it felt like I was doing in some bites. 

On to the chocolate filling. Thankfully it was fairly good. When I bought the muffins I prayed that it wouldn't have a drizzly sauce consistency, and it didn't. Instead it was more like a soft chocolate spread, and although it wasn't luxurious or creamy like ganache, it was sweet and sort of homely. 

Although I've complained a fair bit in this post, I'd happily have these muffins again. Oddly enough Bert completely disagrees with my thoughts on these muffins and preferred them to the caramel. He's not a huge chocolate fan though so I'm not sure whether that tells you anything or not.

7/10.

Coles Cookie Dough and White Chocolate & Almond Spreads (Poundstretcher)

I'd like to start out by apologising to those of you who've seen me post up photos of these spreads on Instagram. I've been promising to review them for a couple of weeks, so here it is at last! If you saw this particular post yesterday you'll have seen from the state of my current collection  that I didn't really need to buy these spreads, but I'm a sucker for something new and/or interesting. Cookie dough spread? Sold. White chocolate and almond spread? Sold. Especially as Tesco have discontinued their amazing finest chocolate and almond spread! Also, these Coles tubs were an absolute steal at 79p for 350g, although I did waver at the time ... would cheap equate to nasty? 

It seems that Coles are well known in Australia -where the spreads were sold* though- and given the reaction on my Instagram from many sad Ozzies about their discontinuation, I hoped I was in for a treat! 

Cookie Dough Spread with Crunchy Biscuit Bits

Would this be like the wonderful raw cookie dough from Gookie Dough? Or like a spreadable version of the chunks in Ben & Jerry's? Perhaps it would be more like 

I've been wondering recently why we don't have an Oreo spread. We have Oreo everything else it seems, and a vast array of chocolate bar themed spreads, so I'm fairly sure Mondelez must have it in the pipeline. 

The spread was chocolate coloured and littered with gritty dark pieces. I'd say the flavour was more like cookies and cream given that it was mild and milky. To be honest, I was disappointed with it -especially as I read on the ingredients lust that the biscuit bits are meant to be cinnamon flavoured. As a chocolate spread it didn't really deliver and it wasn't a patch on Gookie Dough either. Meh. 

5/10

White Choc Spread with Roasted Almond Bits

Now I haven't had a white chocolate spread before. I'm aware that many of the supermarkets sell their own branded white chocolate spread, but I haven't bothered buying of them. 

I was much more impressed with this flavour than the cookie dough. It's milky and very sweet, but this time the flavour is evident. It's not as creamy as the Milkybar desserts, but it melts easily and is really quite scrummy. The almond pieces add a nuttiness to the flavour which I really enjoyed too. The tubs are certainly worth picking up; especially at 79p!

8/10

*although they're actually made in The Netherlands!