NEW! Ben & Jerry's Topped: Salted Caramel Brownie, Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough & Strawberry Swirled (ASDA)

The news hit two days before I went away: Ben & Jerry's were treating us (once again) with three brand spanking new flavours, and in a different style too. The new Topped tubs have a chocolatey layer above the ice cream and all three flavours sounded insanely good. As always, ice cream princess Ms One Treat was straight off the mark and I eagerly awaited her reviews from the other side of the world. Whilst she praised the new flavours she wasn't blown away, but I'm afraid to admit that it didn't hinder my excitement to try them for myself. Frustratingly Ocado has been the only place to purchase them from until this week, and seeing as the online supermarkets refuses to deliver to us country bumpkins, I had to wait it out. Monday was the day! Instagram filled with pictures of the Topped tubs in ASDA, and so I made a beeline on the way home.

£4.80 a tub. Ouch. Fortunately for me, Ben & Jerry's kindly invited me to a launch event a few months ago, and when I told them that I couldn't make it they sent me a couple of vouchers for free tubs and I've saved them for new tubs that aren't on promotion.

So which to choose? I'm embarrassed to admit that I dawdled for a good few minutes, pondering between the three before phoning a friend (I.e calling Bert) and asking his opinion. He chose the chocolate and strawberry tubs, but then I remembered that One Treat recommended the cookie dough as the best of the bunch and once again I was baffled. It was like choosing between my children.

Then I was struck by a brainwave! I remembered it was the 13th of February, and I could have bet your bottom dollar that Bert hadn't bought me a valentine present. All three made their way to the till, thanks Bert!

Salted Caramel Brownie

"Vanilla ice cream with a salted caramel swirl (11%), chocolate brownie pieces (3%), chocolatey chunks (3%) and chocolatey topping (9%)

The thick layer on top had a ganache-like density and shine to it, with plenty of dark coloured chocolate ampersands dotted about. Digging into it was fairly easy though, and I found the ice cream beneath to be one of Ben & Jerry's softer styles (much like the Sofa So Good). There was noticeably less chunks in it than I've become accustomed too of late, and the sauce was almost infused within the ice cream.

The taste was good though, and whilst I'd ordinarily never buy Ben & Jerry's for their vanilla flavours, it was yummy and allowed the caramel sauce to shine through. The brownies that I found, although far and few between (there's just 3% brownie in this compared to 7% in Sofa So Good) were up to scratch -moist and chewy as they reliably always are in B&J's tubs. The topping was the star of the show though, for it is in fact a chocolate and hazelnut paste and tastes rather like a nutella inspired ganache. It's thick and silken and complements the ice cream wonderfully. I only wish there were layers of it as opposed to just a topping! 

8/10

Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough
Despite being a blatant chocoholic, I'm very fussy when it comes to chocolate ice creams. It's a fine line on when they become just too sickly and I didn't particularly enjoy my last pint of Ben & Jerry's Blondie Brownie. That said I'm utterly addicted to their Chocolate Fudge Brownie Wich's and couldn't be more pleased to see that they've made a come back in multi-pack form this year.

"Chocolate ice cream with a caramel swirl (10%), chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough (3%), chocolatey chunks (3%) and chocolatey topping (9%)."

The uppermost layer used in this tub is the same as used in the Salted Caramel Brownie Topped, a thick chocolate hazelnut paste with chocolate ampersands -which all stuck themselves to one side of my tub.

(Yep I was greedy and had both the Chocolate Caramel cookie Dough & Salted Caramel Brownie at the same time. The brownie is on the left and the cookie dough on the right).

The chocolate ice cream didn't disappoint, and I loved the addition of the caramel swirl. I recently tried Baskin Robbins' chocolate peanut butter ice cream (one of the best ice creams I've ever had!) and this reminded me of it. It's almost like a Rolo in ice cream form. Even better was the cookie dough pieces which broke up the texture and added a gritty biscuit flavour, nom nom nom. Again the amount of 'extras' was lower than usual, but I didn't seem to mind so much thanks to my state of chocoholic bliss. 

9/10

Strawberry Swirl

Why we can't get Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake in pint size tubs I'll never know. It's the only reason I buy the multi-packs of 100ml tubs (and only when they're on offer for £2.50 in Tesco). Ben & Jerry's seem to forget that a fruity ice cream is delicious when done right, although they seem to be rectifying this having brought back One Sweet World, and now this Strawberry Swirl, hurrah. 

"Cream ice cream with strawberry (13%) and marshmallow (7%) swirls, shortbread chunks (3%), with a white chocolate flavour topping (9%) and white chocolatey chunks (1.5%)."

Oooh, the white chocolate topping looked extremely inviting, and once dug into revealed a pale creamy coloured ice cream beneath. The topping was firmer than the hazelnut based one, shattering into shards upon impact. A pretty pink swirl pervaded throughout the ice cream, although the marshmallow was less obvious.

Mmmm. Delicious! I'm a huge fan of white chocolate and raspberry and/or strawberry in any form, so using it in Ben & Jerry's luxuriously creamy ice cream was always going to be a winner for me. The white chocolate was just as creamy and sweet as I'd hoped and melted in the mouth easily. Perhaps there could have been more strawberry sauce, or indeed it could have done with being a strawberry ice cream to bring the flavours into a better harmony, but I still absolutely loved this tub. The shortbread chunks were buttery and crumbly, and should make any Scot proud. 

I really really miss the Baked Alaska tubs, but Strawberry Swirled is a very good compromise!

9/10

NEW! Chocolate & Hazelnut Müller Rice (Morrisons)

When's the last time you had a Müller Rice? It's only just dawned on me that I haven't bought one in months. Once upon a time I'd have them a few times a week for dessert, but since my ice cream addiction got out of hand I rarely buy them - although admittedly I'd got a bit bored with the flavours too. Every few months Müller bring out a new limited edition but more recently the company have got a little lazy and have just reinstated previously retired flavours (such as the banana & toffee, chocolate, maple syrup and salted caramel).

At long last they've come up with a new concoction though: chocolate and hazelnut. Short of releasing a peanut butter/peanut butter & chocolate variant*, a Nutelle-esque rice pud is about as up my street as it gets! The new flavour didn't come without concerns though -so far Müller's chocolatey pots have been pretty pants in my book. I haven't got along with the insipid sickliness of the sauce at the bottom, and even gave every single one of the chocolate & caramel flavour pots in the Going The a Distance multipack to Bert.

"Creamy dairy rice with smooth chocolate & hazelnut sauce (15%)."

I spotted the new Chocolate & Hazelnut Müller Rice at Morrisons and ummed and ahhed for a moment on wasting the money on a pot, then got a grip and reminded myself that it was just 69p (although they're now 50p in Sainsbury's) and bought one.

As always, I stuck my pud in the freezer for 45 mins before retrieving it. The sauce had behaved itself and had remained at the bottom, but I could still smell the sweet hazelnut scent emanating through the creamy rice topping.

We'll blow me down; the flavour was rather good! It was still a thin 'ice cream topping' style sauce, but the taste of hazelnut was at the forefront and complimented the chocolate. Perhaps it would have been better with a denser texture -akin to the consistency of the caramel core in Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra for example- but it was still much better than expected.

I then decided to take my chances and microwaved the second half. Now I always normally prefer my rice puddings ice cold, and so the second surprise came when i found that I loved this flavour warm too. In fact it was easier to imagine I was eating melted Nutella that way, and the chocolate mixed into the rice easily.

For a low fat (but high sugar!) dessert it tasted very indulgent, and this flavour is certainly one I'd buy again. Bravo Müller!

9/10

*can you imagine? Yes please!

NEW! Dairy Milk Peanut Butter Oreo (Home Bargains)

My fridge is full of chocolate, like ridiculously so. It's the same with ice cream in my freezer, yet I can't stop myself from buying more whenever as spot something new or at a bargain price. Perhaps I should start up a freakshake cafe from my kitchen, or maybe I should leave my wallet at home more often. Despite my exhaustive supplies, the news that Cadbury was releasing two new Oreo themed bars filled me with excitement, then dread. Why dread? Well firstly because I knew I'd end up on a ridiculous treasure hunt and wouldn't rest until I found them, secondly because I really didn't need any more chocolate,and lastly because I just knew that Cadbury would mess the opportunity up. Yet still the search began...

Home Bargains. B&M. Poundland. ASDA. Morrisons. Sainsbury's. Tesco. 

No luck, but then I was told by the lovely Tiff on Instagram and @eveningtreats that they'd found the bars in Home Bargains. My heart sunk. My local branch seemingly rarely stocks the yummy items that many people find in the discount store. Rather than give up hope I desperately returned to store on Sunday. I might've danced in the aisles when I spotted both the Mint and Peanut Butter flavours, before picking up the latter and kissing it (much to Bert's embarrassment).

If you remember, I mentioned my disinclination towards mint chocolate when I reviewed the new Oreos last year. Whilst I was pleasantly surprised by the biscuits, I still decided to restrain myself and only buy the peanut butter flavour, even though they were both just 99p each.

This isn't the first time I've mentioned the dissatisfaction amongst us peanut butter addicts caused by British Peanut butter Oreos. Whilst our American cousins are treated to cookies stuffed with the real deal, we are given a paltry smattering of fake peanut spread. I mean why on earth would anyone make a peanut butter product that doesn't even contain peanuts? It's not even a rare occurrence either, take Saturdays' review for example. Despite Both Oreo and Cadbury being owned by the same giant corporation, Mondelēz, I prayed that the originally British firm would be more sensible and wouldn't try and palm us all off with some crappy fake stuff.

"Milk chocolate with a peanut butter flavoured filling (35%) with biscuit pieces (12%)."

One look at the ingredients and I knew I'd be disappointed. Not one mention of peanuts, just flavouring. The only hint of any nuttiness was the "may contain nuts"  warning, which appears on just about anything and everything. I wanted it to contain nuts Cadbury, as does everyone else, that's why we're buying  it! Gah.

Snapping the bar revealed a good sized filling. It's perhaps not as prominent as that in the standard size Dairy Milk Oreo bars, but that can't be helped due to the flatter shape of the segments.

The milk chocolate is one of the waxier, cheaper types that Cadbury tend to use in their combination bars these days. It doesn't annoy me as much as it once did, but it's certainly not of the quality the Cadbury were once proud of.

As for the filling, it's creamy by pretty much the same flavour used in the British Oreos. That's to say it's awfully sweet, and infinitely less authentic than the filling of a Reese's cup (which I ate at the same time for comparison purposes 😉). The biscuit pieces were a welcome touch however, and added crunch to the otherwise silken bar.

Humf. Why can't Mondelēz understand that us Brits know and love our peanut butter just as much as the Yanks? Is it a cost issue? If so, I'd gladly pay more for the real deal. I just don't get it.  I certainly won't be buying it again. 

2/10

Oppo Salted Caramel Healthy Ice Cream Review (Co-Op)

Last month I published a review of healthy ice cream producer Oppo’s mint chocolate swirl. Whilst the nutritional values and lower sugar nature of their tub was attractive, I still wasn’t convinced by the high price point (or the trek across town to buy a tub). The brand’s products are still part of a half price promotion on Shopmium however (details on the app and how to get your free Lindt bar here) so Bert took the opportunity to use his voucher to purchase a tub of their salted caramel ice cream.

As far as flavours go Bert will always normally opt for the caramel/toffee/honeycomb varieties, but he’s also a traditionalist and wasn’t sold on the promise of great-tasting healthy ice cream. I can’t say I blame him as it’s usually the fat and sugar elements of food that make treats so irresistible.

"Nature's caramel.
Charlie knew there had to be a healthy salted caramel ice cream. But creating one without caramel (i.e. sugar!) was not easy. Oppo's salted caramel is made using the Peruvian lucuma fruit. This fruit gives our ice cream a smooth maple taste, quickly chased by a rounded caramel flavour which is then enhanced with a pinch of rich mineral sea-salt."

Unlike the mint tub, this pot contained an ice cream much more in-line with the colour I was expecting. It was even harder to scoop though, with unsightly strips the best I could manage before manhandling it into the cone.

However the most important aspects -taste and texture- were on point. Whilst I complained about the grainiess of the mint chocolate Oppo, their caramel flavour was much smoother (albeit not a patch on Jude’s devilishly delicious full fat & sugar tubs). Despite the lack of sugar the caramel was just sweet enough, harbouring a back-note of saltiness that earned its title.

For anyone watching their sugar intake or looking for a low-calorie or low-sugar ice cream fix (and aren’t on a tight budget) then Oppo just might be your answer. Personally I expect that I’ll stick to my ‘naughty’ (God I hate that term when used with food) tubs unless I spot Oppo on offer again. Ice cream guru One Treat loves this tub though and travels miles to pick up tubs, so please read her review here.

8/10

Mighty Fine Honeycomb Peanut Butter Bar (Whole Foods Market)

Last July I visited the International Star Wars convention with Bert (his obsession) but made full use of the rare opportunity of being in London to make the pilgrimage to a Whole Foods Market. I’d only known about Whole Foods Market due to Instagram, and it seemed to be the veritable mecca for all things delicious and healthy, so someone please explain to me how I only ended up buying chocolate. One of the bars I bought was a Mighty Fine Honeycomb Peanut Butter bar, and I trekked it all the way home before promptly forgetting about it.

The trouble is, over the past few years I’ve developed a gradual distaste towards honeycomb chocolate bars. I think I could just about manage a treat size Crunchie, but just the idea of a normal size bar completely jars my teeth and gives me goosebumps. I keep forgetting my palate change though, especially because I love honeycomb flavoured products! So every few weeks I’d spot this peanut butter honeycomb bar at the back of my cupboard, tell myself I’d try it soon, and then completely forget about it all over again.

That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my procrastination finally came to an end and I eventually decided to open the 50g bar (which was still well in date). It was quite the whopper with a good thick coating of milk chocolate surrounding it.

I had naively assumed that the honeycomb itself was going to be peanut butter flavoured, so I was both surprised and distinctly underwhelmed when I took a bit and tasted only sickly sweet sugar. I then read the packaging and realised that the chocolate was where the peanut butter was supposedly residing. Yes folks, supposedly. The chocolate was tasty enough but the nuttiness was nowhere to be found.

I decided to give it the bar the ultimate peanut butter test: I made Bert try a bite. My other half detests peanut butter so much that he won’t go near any food products that remotely mention its inclusion and even refuses kiss me after I’ve eaten anything containing my favourite spread. Even he, the man who can smell peanut butter from 100 yards away, could happily eat this chocolate and not bat an eyelid.

What the ?!

I’m not sure if I got a duff bar or whether the product is just pants full stop*, so please do leave me a comment if you’ve tried Might Fine Honeycombs’s peanut butter honeycomb bar and let me know about your experiences!

2/10

*I later re-read the packaging and realised that there's no peanut butter listed in the ingredients. I hate it when a company does that! Gahhhhhh.

NEW! Pandy Protein Candy Soda Shakers Review (CNSport)

The protein ever-expanding protein product market knows no bounds. Once upon a time I mocked the high street brands who were jumping on the high protein bandwagon, but since then I've returned to fitness and have cupboards full of bars and powders that supplement my diet (especially because I'm not a huge meat eater).

There's seemingly been a gap in the market though: protein sweets. Ever eaten a bag of Haribo and thought "I wish this was helping me hit my macros"? No? Nor me! Pandy have provided the answer to any of you who have however, and I know that I'm certainly not averse to the idea now that they're here!

"Pandy has three different bagged jelly candy products that are entirely free from sugar, gluten and lactose. They also have a high protein content, are low in calories, and are packed with BCAA. The candy is made in Sweden with the best calibre ingredients and the highest quality standards."

Pandy have produced three varieties: fruity 'Sour Plates', liquorice 'Salty Kettlebells' and pop flavoured 'Soda Shakers'. Fortunately for me my local sports nutrition shop manager, protein guru, and all round good guy Conor (of CNSport -who can also deliver) has just started stocking their entire range and offered me a bag to sample. The Soda Shakers sounded hardest to resist and so I gleefully nabbed a bag.

The 70g bag contained 20+ bottle shaped sweets, with a roughly even mixture of cola and lime flavours. They looked so convincingly like normal sweets that I'm not sure I was convinced that the whole pack could contain just 151kcal on 16g of protein!

Damn. They tasted just as good as they looked, and were addictive to boot. They were chewy and sweet with a surprising flavour likeness to their full-sugar and non-protein containing counterparts. Even my Haribo addicted other half was impressed!

So where's the catch? Well the only ones I could find is that they're still quite high in carbs (43g per 70g which comes from polyols) but that makes them perfect for leg day, am I right? They're also not suitable for vegetarians (due to the pork gelatin but that's probably obvious because they're jelly sweets) and excessive consumption may have some dodgy side effects for your tummy (also unsurprising due to the sugar substitutes used). They are however gluten and lactose free!

9/10

Macros per bag: 151kcal P16/C43/F0

Thank you Conor for the sample, I'll be buying more shortly! 

Oh Henry! Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar Review

Since starting this blog, I’ve reviewed many an American chocolate peanut butter bar, but one I hadn’t tried until only recently was Nestle’s Oh Henry! Bar. Until then my only experience with Nestle’s PB bars had been pretty diabolical; I couldn’t stand the sickly sweetness of their Butterfinger bar, but then I hated the Hershey’s version too -5^th Avenue- and they’re of course the masterminds behind my beloved Reese’s. Still, I haven’t spotted the Oh Henry!s in any local stores, and wasn’t fussed enough to pay for one to be delivered from American Fizz. Fortunately for me I received a very kind offer from @pretty.vacant on instagram, who had spotted them at her local market and kindly offered to send me a couple of bars towards the end of last year, what a gem!

“2 peanutty caramel fudge bars in milk chocolate.”

I wondered: would they taste like Snickers? Or more like M&S’s ‘The Nutty One’?

I love how the American’s have a tendency to split their standard chocolate bars into two. It’s not because I want (or possess the self-restraint!) to save half for another time, but because I can savour the enjoyment and of course it means that the chocolate ratio is higher -and who doesn’t want that?

Slicing one of the fridge-cold bars in two revealed a distinct layer of fudge topped with a peanut studded caramel enrobed in milk chocolate. There’s something oddly satisfying about a bar so well structured!

Whilst Reese’s chocolate is nothing to shout about, I’m not a fan of Nestle’s chocolate -U.S or U.K for that matter. The casing for the Oh Henry! Bar however was better than expected; that’s not to say that I’d want a bar of it on its own, but it certainly didn’t detract from the other components and imparted a chocolatiness that was more than acceptable.

The fudge layer was just as soft, chewy and sweet as I’d hoped but lacked the characteristic creaminess of Cadbury’s fudge bars. The bottom layer of M&S’s ‘The Nutty One’ was noticeably more luxurious, however the Oh Henry’s fudge held its own far better thanks to the more generous ratio that made up the bars’ composition.

The caramel would have certainly erred on the wrong side of sickliness had it not been for the abundance of chunky chopped peanuts that evenly embedded it. The salinity of the nuts offset the sweetness well though, and brought the flavours back into a far better harmony. Again, the quality of the caramel was pretty standard, but then I guess America’s Oh Henry bar isn’t consumed for its superiority.

Comparatively the Oh Henry! isn’t that similar to a Snickers due to the lack of nougat, but I much preferred the fudge element and would probably always choose it over a Snickers if they were more widely available. All is certainly not lost however as I find myself grateful once again for M&S’s ‘The Nutty One’ which is much more like an inexpensive version of the Oh Henry!

7/10