Mrs Freshley's Cinnabon Cinnamon Mini Donuts

If you follow me on instagram you might've seen that I've recently discovered long life doughnuts. Yes. Doughnuts that you can keep in your cupboard for that moment when the cravings strike. Of course they're not a British creation (one day hopefully Mr Kipling will jump on the bandwagon) but for now we'll have to make do with importing packs of Mrs Freshley's from the states. God bless America. 

You can find my insta-review of the Mrs Freshley's Crunch mini donuts here, but this was the pack I was more like excited about...

I feel that cinnamon is essential to life's happiness, especially cinnamon buns (again, if you follow me on instagram you'll know that cinnamon bun Sundays are back thanks to a recent IKEA trip). A real Cinnabon is on my foodie bucket list, but mini Cinnabon donuts sounded like a good option to tide me over until I can visit America (or London most likely). 

As with the Crunch version, this pack contained six mini ring donuts -but this time they were leaden with a heavy cinnamon coat. Yes, not dusting, coat. This means they're a little messy to eat, but that didn't bother me in the slightest.

Again the texture was like a doughnut-cake hybrid. Despite their long-life status* they're remarkably soft, although the Cinnabon donuts were slightly more crumbly than the Crunch versions. The cinnamon made them a winner in my books though, and the ample covering ensured for a sweet, spicy hit with every mouthful. 

These mini donuts are morsels of joy for fellow cinnamon loving sugar junkies!

8/10 

*they didn't have a BB date on them, so I don't know how long-life they are!

NEW! Cornetto Honeycomb Crunch (Tesco)

Cornettos. Are you a fan? I have to admit that I tend to prefer the supermarket branded versions. It's not largely down to price either, as boxes of Cornettos are often on offer for £1. It's actually because Walls have been particularly lazy when it comes to innovating their famous cones. Sure there is the 'Peanut Butter Lovers' cone -which is quite frankly an insult to us peanut butter addicts- but, even if it was nice it's not as inventive as Iceland's rhubarb and custard, banana and peanut or toffee apple cones. I wasn't particularly excited by these new honeycomb Cornettos either, but seeing as both Bert and I love honeycomb ice cream and they were on offer in Tesco (currently £1.50 per four pack) I thought I might as well give them a bash.

"Honeycomb flavour ice cream in a wafer cone (12%), with chocolate flavour coating (5%), with a core of caramel sauce (5%) topped with a chocolate flavour disc (11%) and sugar pieces (2,5%)."

I'll give it to Walls, the chocolate disk makes for an attractive ice cream. The trouble is, it doesn't taste all that great. The chocolate isn't real chocolate, it's a dark composite that has an easy melt -but that's about the only plus point. Yes, the sugar pieces added a little texture, but surely it would have been better to use little chocolate coated honeycomb nuggets instead*.

On to the ice cream and it was pretty low-quality. It was soft set and made from reconstituted skimmed milk, meaning that it lacked the quality of premium brands. On the positive side, the flavour was butterscotch-y, although the ice cream used in both the Crunchie and Daim sticks beat this new Cornetto hands down.

The caramel sauce wasn't anything special either -especially when you compare it to the stuff Ben & Jerry's use in their Karamel Sutra and Blondie Brownie pints. It's sweet, but thin and more like a generic toffee flavour ice cream topping than the buttery stuff in Ben & Jerry's -which makes me groan with joy. 

If you're a honeycomb fan then stick to the Daim or Crunchie sticks. If it's the cone you're after then I suggest you fill your own with Ben & Jerry's or buy any of the supermarkets' own brand toffee cones if you want to save your pennies.

6/10 

*note to self: I must find out if ASDA still sell bags of them next to the chocolate raisins. 

NEW! Mr Kipling Trifle Cake Slices (ASDA)

Does anyone have a dislike for Mr Kipling? It seems to be one of those favourable brands that doesn't seem to get a lot of stick. Maybe that's because they make cake, and everyone in their right mind loves a bit of cake. Thankfully Mr Kipling are helping to mix things up a little with some terribly British summer editions to grace your afternoon tea. I was pleased to see that they haven't just rehashed the old editions this year (although the cocktail fancies are back) but have brought out a new cake slice and tart. The Eton Mess tarts do appeal -and I'm sure I'll get round to buying them soon- but it was the trifle slices that initially caught my eye. 

There's something about trifle that makes me cringe a little, perhaps it's the sad Bird's mix one that's always hanging around on Boxing Day and beyond, gradually looking more and more worse for wear. Maybe it's the thought of my nan's one which was always left at birthday parties in favour of the chocolate cake. What am I getting at here? The trifle is classed as a British classic, yet it's often the poor, retro sibling of the more decadent desserts. It's nice to see Mr Kipling giving it some love, I guess. They've been making the trifle bake wells for a while, but how on earth do you transform fruit, jelly, sponge, custard and cream into a cake slice? 

"Strawberry flavour sponge with a raspberry flavour filling (12%), topped with decorated custard flavour icing (26%)."

They're funky little slices, and although the more ecologically friendly among us might disagree, the individual packs make them easier to eat on the go because, lets be honest, who has the time to sit down the aforementioned afternoon tea? 

To me, the strawberry sponge tasted like watermelon flavoured sweets. Very odd. I expected a milkshake flavour (like their milkshake cake slices) but it didn't really taste wither of the standard strawberry artificial flavour or of fresh fruit. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the sauce in the middle against the cake, but the resulting texture was fairly moist so I can't complain about it either. As for the custard icing, it was neither here nor there -It was just a standard sweet icing. 

Now I felt a little let down by the slices -despite not knowing what to expect- but Bert really enjoyed them. At £1 for 6 from ASDA, the Trifle cake slices aren't likely to break the bank so are worth buying if you're intrigued by them. 

6/10

NEW! Go Ahead Banana Flavour Fruit & Oat Bakes (ASDA)

It's been quite a while since I reviewed any of the Go Ahead products, namely because they don't appear to have released any since the cookie bites last year. In recent weeks though the company have launched some new lines. There's the dippers in chocolate almond (which sound delicious) and salted caramel flavours, which appear to be somewhat like lower calorie versions of the nostalgic KP dipper pots (which I wish I could still find the toffee ones of) or the Nutella/Reese's snack pots.  There's also new Cocoa & Hazelnut and Cacao & Orange 'Goodness Bars' which look like Nakd rip-offs. Its none of these new products that have got me interested though, instead it's a new flavour of an existing product: a banana flavoured fruit and oat bake. You should know by now that if it's labelled as banana I'm there. I found them in ASDA for £1, which I didn't think was bad value at all. Bargain banana bakes? Yes please. 

As with the Go Ahead! Cherry Bakewell Pud Bars, these come in three almost segments. They're also only 124kcal each, and are fairly low fat -although they do contain a whopping 9.4g of sugar per 35g bake. 

'Golden baked bars with a delicious banana flavoured filling'.

The pastry round the outside was just as I remember, not firm enough to be tart-like but not soft like a Kellogg's nutrigrain either. It's not the casing that we're interested in here though really, is it? 

For me, banana flavour falls into three camps:

1. Natural
2. Foam banana artificial (sweet but pleasant)
3. Chemical artificial (not pleasant). 

Unfortunately the jam, although moist and sticky, landed slap bang in the middle of number three. It came as a surprise that the flavour reminded me of the banana in both the Party banana Jaffa cakes and the Co-Op's banoffee brownies seeing as it does actually contain banana puree.

Ok the new bakes might not have been quite as bad as the jaffas, as they are at least edible, but they don't hit the spot for me and I won't bother with them again. 

4/10 

NEW! Reese's Crunchy Cookie (Online)

There's a new Reese's Cup in town. Well there's kind of two, if you count the British and American markets separately. You see, the Reese's Pieces Cups are now available to buy from Sainsbury's, but there's also a brand new variety Stateside: Cookie Crunch. 

As a huge fan of the American mini Reese's filled Oreos (please, don't insult my tastebuds by suggesting that the British ones are anything other than disgusting) I was looking forward to trying the new cups, but I'd promised myself that I wouldn't buy any more chocolate. Then one night when the insomnia was driving me utterly crazy, I consoled myself by placing a 2am order with American Fizz. Damn it. I kicked myself even harder when the parcel arrived with an item missing and half of the snacks broken and/of battered. American Fizz have truly gone downhill.

Anyway, the pack contained two crunchy cookie filled cups, which appeared no different to the standard cups. I found myself wondering if the crunch would be as disappointing as it had been in the Reese's crunchy cups and toenail cups -sorry, pieces cups. 

Ooh. Look at that slice through! There were plenty of Oreo-esque pieces to be seen in the standard orange coloured centre. Texturally Reese's delivered on its promise at long last too: the cups were crunchy, with an odd -but enjoyable- grittiness. 

Unfortunately, the cocoa biscuit flavour overshadowed the peanut butter. I shouldn't complain I suppose, as they are meant to be cookie cups, but as a peanut butter lover I felt the ratio was slightly off. For this reason, I imagine king sized versions of the cookie cups would be incredible as they always have a greater filling ratio. To be honest I always find the King Size Reese's products to be superior anyway! I'm still not sure they'd beat my favourite white chocolate Reese's cups though.

The crunchy cookies are an unusual peanut butter cup and at least Reese's have more successfully brought the cookie element into their core range more successfully than KitKat. They're worth a try, but I'd recommend waiting until the king size Crunchy Cookie cups make their way to British shores.

7/10 

NEW! Neo Ice Cream Cones (LIDL)

It's 'Taste of America' week at Lidl, which means that there's all kind of peanut butter treats on offer, as well as foot long microwaveable hotdogs (complete with bun and sauce) and some Oreo themed treats. Oreos aren't Oreos in Lidl though, they're Neos. At least they're a little more subtle than Aldi with their cheeky rip offs, ahem, anyone for a Domio yogurt or Hike bar? Anyway, I was intrigued by their Neo ice creams, as both Bert and I are fans of all the Oreo ice creams (sandwiches, sticks and cones).

"67.5% vanilla flavoured ice cream with 6% biscuit pieces in 16% wafer cone coated in 5% chocolate flavour glaze, coated with 3% chocolate flavoured biscuit pieces."

They certainly looked the part! 

They just didn't taste the part. Unfortunately the ice cream tasted of reconstituted skimmed milk, lacking the creaminess that I'd hoped for. The cone wasn't great either. The dark shade insinuated that it would taste bourbon-y like the Oreo cones, but instead it had a mild cocoa flavour. My cone was also soft towards the bottom, although Bert tells me that his was completely crispy. There wasn't enough Oreo/Neo in them either, as the ice cream itself was plain throughout, and the 3% biscuit crumbs didn't make much of an impact.

At £1.49 for four they're no cheaper than the real deal (which are part of a 2 for £3 deal in Asda, £1.50 in Sainsbury's and £1.33 on Ocado) and so I'd give Neo a miss if I were you. I picked up a tub of LIDL's 'Taste of America' peanut butter ice cream at the same time, so let's hope that's less disappointing... 

5/10 

NEW! Taste of Summer Lemon Filled Croissants (M&S)

It's been a while since I reviewed any of the Spirit of Summer range! In the meantime I have tried the Chicken Shawarma flatbread* which was recommended to me by friends (and fellow bloggers) Nat and Laura. Good shout ladies, it's delicious, although I personally prefer the lamb kofta -it's a close call though. Anyway, I've had my greedy eyes on Marks & Spencer's new filled croissants since they appeared in store a couple of months back. The croissants are available in both lemon and apricot flavours, but I've been stingy and refused to pay £2 for the two-pack, thus the patient wait to find them reduced. In all honesty, it was the apricot flavour that piqued my interest (it's my favourite flavour jam) but when I found the lemon reduced this week I was governed by budget and bought the yellow-stickered pack. 

"All butter croissants filled with a zesty sicilian lemon curd."

I rarely buy croissants as I find they can be so hit and miss. Unless they're fresh from the oven, the pastry is often dry and tough. I'm sad to report that M&S haven't avoided this pitfall either as I discovered when I opened the pack and gave the croissants a little squidge.

Slicing one in half didn't improve matters either. The lamination was admittedly impressive, but I couldn't see much of the promised lemon curd filling. Come on Marks & Spencer! 

I took a bite. Ghandi's flipflop. To make matters worse, the lemon curd had the bitter pithy flavour also present in M&S' Spirit of Summer Lemon & Ricotta Cheesecake Slices.

There was only one thing for it... could the microwave save the day? 

Oops. I think I might've popped it in there for too long! I now had visible evidence that there was lemon curd in the croissant (now lemon sauce). Warming the croissant improved matters slightly; at least it was now edible and I could use the lemon to give the pastry some much needed moisture. I still found the lemon to be too bitter, but I appreciate that some of you may prefer it that way. 

I don't think I'll even bother with the other croissant though -currently in my freezer- is it safe to give them to dogs? I'm still tempted to give the apricot croissant a go, but I'm definitely not paying £2 for what could be another dog treat! 

3/10 

*

FYI I'd give the Chicken Shawarma flatbread an 8/10.