Cadbury Bubbles of Joy Duo: Milk & White Chocolate Mousse

Milk chocolate? White chocolate? I'm often stuck making this choice, so imagine my glee when I spotted these new desserts from Cadbury: Milk & white chocolate mousse... in the same pot!

Having thoroughly enjoyed their Caramellionaire pots of joy, I was really eager to try these puddings and was hopeful that they would be the perfect solution to my chocolate dilemma. They were the same price as the Caramellionaire desserts (£1 for two) which added to my assumption that they would be of similar standard. 

The first thing I realised once I had purchased the desserts was the lack of substance to them. Yes I realise that they are mousse- and therefore not exactly the most substantial of foods- but the pots were literally only half full. I hate feeling like I've got a raw deal and so I hoped that the taste would make up for the size of them.

They do however use a chequered pattern to fill these bubbles of joy, rather than the layers that they use in their 'pots of joy' which makes (what's there!) visually attractive.

I tasted the milk chocolate side first, and the white chocolate second. The milk chocolate mousse was standard fare that I couldn't distinguish as being of 'Cadbury quality.' The white chocolate mousse was worse. I think it must be the same mousse that they use in the Caramellionaire desserts- but with the absence of the lovely caramel sauce and shortcake to buffer it- I realised just how bland it was. Now this might be because I think the new Milkybar mousses are wonderful in comparison, but it certainly didn't remind me of Cadbury's white chocolate buttons, or indeed their dream bar.  

Cadbury have also released a 'chocolate and mint bubbles of joy duo,' but I won't be rushing out to buy either variety any time soon.

1/10

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

Fabulous Bakers Banana Brunch Bars

Last month I reviewed the chocolate chip flapjacks from the fabulous bakers, and this time I'm sampling one of their more creative products: their banana brunch bars. 

I think banana is one of those foods that people tend to love or hate (I even know a young lady with a phobia of them!) Luckily, I fall into the former camp and adore anything banana, both artificially flavoured and the real deal, so these brunch bars are definitely up my alley. 

The bars are attractively packaged, with each pack containing four individually wrapped treats. They look like flapjacks and are described as 'fruity oat bars with banana and raisins' (another divisive fruit that I adore!) 

I don't like that they are branded as brunch bars because to me brunch is a weekend replacement of both breakfast and lunch. They are a reasonable snack size but I don't think they could replace two main meals, but rather serve as a stopgap between the two; that's my pedantic nature satisfied for the day!

The packet tells me that they're natural with no artificial flavours or preservatives, and that they're the first bars with no added sugar, syrups or date paste (whatever that is.) 

I like that unlike their chocolate chip flapjacks, the raisins are studded throughout their bars and not just dotted on top. They are quite soft and squidgy- a relief for my filling filled teeth. They melt in the mouth deliciously, but have added texture from the crisp rice that they've added to the mix. I can taste the banana- the real deal that it promised of. I can also pick up the cinnamon which is not overwhelming and perfectly complements the banana. 

I love these banana brunch bars, and I'll certainly buy them again. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for their mango & pineapple oat bars, strawberry & blueberry flapjacks and Banoffee muffins. YUM! 

8/10

M&S Chocolate & Honeycomb Ice Creams

It can't be denied that M&S has some beautiful and innovative food. I've recently spotted lots of exciting sounding treats, most of which I've pored over and posted onto my instagram feed. However, being a student I'm restricted by finances and therefore have to keep M&S treats to special occasions.

Yesterday I had some good news which warranted a treat, so I went to M&S specifically to purchase these Chocolate & Honeycomb Ice Cream cones which I've had my eye on for a good few months now. They come in a pack of 4 for £2, which I know isn't excessively dear, but is more expensive than the supermarket own brand ice creams (like the white chocolate & raspberry cones from Tesco I reviewed a little while ago.)

They are described as 'chocolate honeycomb flavour ice cream rippled and topped with toffee sauce and milk chocolate coated honeycomb pieces in a biscuit cone with a chocolate flavour coating,' heavenly right? 

When I opened up my cone, the chocolate coating around the edge of the cone had 'bled' onto the waffle, rendering it a little sad looking. However, the top was generously flecked with the chocolate honeycomb pieces, and was adorned with a lovely thick slathering of toffee sauce. 

The honeycomb nuggets were gorgeous. I'm not a huge fan of Cadbury's Crunchie bars as I find the balance between honeycomb and chocolate completely off, but these were just right.The toffee sauce was deliciously sweet, and worked well with the topping. 

The chocolate ice cream however, was a completely different kettle of fish, What a let down! I expected pure luxury from M&S, but the chocolate was.. well.. just not chocolate-y enough. You know what it's like if you eat chocolate cake that looks like it should be really rich and decadent, but just tastes faintly of cocoa powder? Well this was the ice cream equivalent. My other gripe is that it's just chocolate ice cream- I certainly couldn't distinguish any notes of honeycomb. 

The cone itself was pretty standard.. although the area affected by the 'chocolate bleed' had gone disappointingly soft like a stale biscuit.

All in all, I think the ASDA & Tesco own-brand ice cream cones are FAR superior in quality and taste than these let-downs from M&S.

3/10

American Nutter Butter Bites

Uh oh, as I mentioned in my previous post my home town has got a new vintage store which has a selection of American treats. If you've read my previous posts, you may realise that I have both a very sweet tooth and love of American food- I could move to America for the peanut butter alone! 

However unfortunately they've decided they won't be continuing to stock their USA food lines and so are offering 50% off it all! Hearing this, I couldn't resist a shopping trip. I nabbed a couple of the standard go-to American cereals- Fruit loops and Lucky charms, before spotting the Pop Tarts that I reviewed yesterday. I paid for my goodies and made my way towards the exit when one last product caught my eye: Nutter Butter bites. 

They're described as peanut butter sandwich cookies made with real peanuts. My heart leapt because I went to the states a few years back and fell in love with Austin peanut butter filled crackers. I think Ritz also do peanut butter crackers in the USA too, I really wish they sold them here, I'm not the only PB fanatic in England! 

American food=American sized portions. The bag was generously filled containing 15 filled cookies (I greedily ate one before I took the photo.) Before tucking in I wasn't sure whether the snack would be savoury like a ritz cracker, or sweet like a biscuit, and it turned out to be the latter. 

Random Fact alert: American's don't have 'digestive' biscuits because of the advertising law in the states. Digestive biscuits were originally named because they were meant to aid digestion and prevent flatulence but it's never been proven that they do anything of the sort. The closest to a classic digestive in the USA is the 'Graham Cracker.'

Anyway, back to the topic in hand. Each cute little button biscuit sandwich tasted like mini digestive biscuits with a disc of real peanut butter in the middle.

The peanut butter centre of a Nutter Butter Bite

 The balance of sweet and salty was spot on and I quickly gobbled down the whole bag. Luckily my other half hates peanut butter because he wouldn't have got a look in! I didn't have my hopes up before tasting them because of my experience with the new English peanut butter Oreos (which I think are disgusting.) I can't stand peanut butter substitutes, but thankfully these are the real deal.

10/10

*P.S I tried these yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and have since been back to the shop to buy 10 bags- that's no exaggeration. If you love peanut butter and like digestives, you MUST try Nutter Butter Bites.

American Pop Tart: Confetti Cupcake

I confess, I must be addicted to the GM ingredients in American Pop Tarts. I can't have completely satisfied my sugar cravings earlier this week with the Cookie Dough Pastries, because I didn't hesitate to buy these Confetti Cupcake treats when I discovered them at half price in a local vintage shop. 

I'm always so envious of American product flavours, they're always so much more interesting than the tame English offerings. The confetti cupcake sounded vey tempting, who wouldn't want cake and pastry, right? They're probably a diabetic nightmare but I wasn't bothered about my sugar intake, being too intrigued to even consider my health. I think I must've had a cake induced craving as a direct result of the bake off. Yes, I'm blaming the BBC for my purchase- shame on you Bezzer. 

I digress, the Pop Tarts themselves were Aesthetically pleasing, covered with white icing dotted with hundreds and thousands. They were the first Pop Tarts I've sampled which I could actually smell heating in the toaster. As usual, I nibbled the un-frosted edges first, savouring the warm filling until last.

The centres were the same firm consistency as the cookie dough, but with a lovely jammy surprise coming through every now and then. They were very sweet, even for me, but not to the point of being un-enjoyable. I shared the pack of two with my partner, which I was grateful for as I think by the end of the second my teeth would've started to ache. 

I enjoyed these Imports, but not as much as the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop Tarts.

8/10

New Nature Valley Chocolate & Peanut Protein Bars

I've seen these protein snack bars in stores for a couple of months now. Nature Valley seem to be broadening their ranges, as they also recently released their Popcorn Bars which I reviewed last month. Protein seems to be having its hey day at the moment for its muscle building properties* and fullness factor, & it seems very in vogue to opt for protein rich diets. I'm surprised that more snack manufacturers haven't seized the opportunity to cash in on this craze by advertising their products as being protein rich.

I really enjoy the Nature Valley Oaty bars, especially the chocolate, maple syrup and much less available coconut ones (which taste like a hobnob mated with a nice biscuit), but they're all scrummy. 

Anyway, I'm a big peanut butter fan, and whilst I'm disappointed that Nature Valley don't make peanut butter oat bars (ASDA do brilliant ones.) I bought these peanut & chocolate protein bars whilst half price at Tesco (still £1.44 for 5) and they're described quite simply as 'protein bar with peanut and chocolate'

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box when I saw how small they were. There was lots of air, and not much snack inside the packaging.

However, when I opened up my bar I was pleasantly suprised to find that it was chock full of chocolate chips and peanuts. N.B Please excuse the poor photo below- I was eating it en route home!

It was delightfully chewy and satisfying to eat as each mouthful I was greeted with a mixture of textures and tastes. All to soon the bar was finished but I was left with a lovely snickers like aftertaste. 

I was going to share my purchase with my other half, but I've scrapped that idea as I think I'll keep these little treats for myself.. Shh.. 

7/10 (because my tummy started rumbling 30mins later)

*if you believe the media hype.