Kev's Snack Reviews

Following on from my review of the new Doisy and Dam D&D's and Ballers chocolates, I thought I'd review their new take on Mini Eggs - a vegan friendly, lower sugar dark chocolate version! You can find these in Holland and Barrett stores for £1.79 or so for 80g. They're clearly positioning themselves as a vegan alternative to Cadbury Mini Eggs, and contain 70% cocoa dark chocolate which has 30% less sugar than the leading market product (Cadbury's). It all sounds good, and thankfully even though I was very disappointed in their D&D's and Ballers range, these surprised me! They have classic Mini Egg style crunchy pastel shells, and the dark chocolate within is quite rich in taste. They're much better than the D&D's which I was surprised by, perhaps the higher ratio of chocolate to shell works in their favour. These are highly nommable, easy to eat one after the other but they do leave you feeling satisfied faster than something more sugary. ...

I was quite intrigued when Doisy and Dam announced some new snack products for Veganuary recently, the dairy free, gluten free vegan Ballers, D&D’s and Buttons range that you can now find in Holland and Barrett stores (99p per 30g bag, £1.99 per 75g bag). There’s also some Dark Chocolate Vegan Mini Eggs joining the trio in time for Easter. Unfortunate names aside (Ballers? They must have seen the jokes coming with that one - I’m sure it’s not unintentional!), these are a great idea in theory as they’re meant to be like Free From versions of Maltesers and Smarties for vegans. But there’s a catch...they’re made with dark chocolate rather than a vegan “milk” alternative so are inherently a more marmite product to start with - not everyone is a fan of dark chocolate, and I imagine that doesn’t suddenly change if you’re vegan. And that’s why these products fail. Now personally I enjoy dark chocolate, especially the more flavoursome varieties, so I assumed I would like these. But ...

I always love a new chocolate bar variety, so when I spotted this mini bar of Doisy and Dam Dark Chocolate in a local Sainsbury's Express recently, straight into my basket it went. Costing £1 for 25g it certainly ain't cheap, but that's because it contains organic cocoa and has won a Great Taste Award. I had high expectations, especially since I've reviewed Doisy & Dam before - do check out my Doisy & Dam Maple, Toasted Rice & Pink Salt Review. This bar contains coconut flakes and vanilla as well as lucuma, which is a type of fruit with caramel undertones. There's 4 segments per mini bar. Considering the price I was expecting something special from this, and luckily it didn't disappoint. The coconut chips add some nice toasty crunchiness, whilst the lucuma and vanilla both give it a smooth, sweet caramel-like flavour. This is balanced by the rich dark chocolate, which is good quality and has a finer taste than the likes of other dark ch...

There's an increasing array of new fancier chocolate bars appearing in Sainsbury's stores recently, amongst them various Montezuma's varieties and also these new boys on the block: Doisy & Dam. I've reviewed their White Chocolate with Lemon, Baobab and Poppy Seed before, and really enjoyed it, so I was very eager to try some more flavours when they were on offer in Sainsbury's recently. This one is organic and vegan, containing 74% cocoa solids and with the inclusion of maple syrup, toasted brown rice and himalayan pink salt. Quite the bold combination! The toasted rice is clearly visible on the underside of the bar, and the chocolate itself has a strong maple aroma. It tastes interesting. The maple is very prominent, with a sweet syrupy almost earthy tone, that is almost too much combined with the rich dark chocolate. It's a very bold flavour, so if that's your thing you'll probably love this. Personally it was just a bit too much fo...

I love trying new chocolate bars, especially if they are white chocolate, so I couldn't resist buying this Doisy & Dam "lemon, poppyseed and baobab" bar when I spotted it in a mini M&S recently. The only downside? It was around £2 for a 40g bar! One day my curiosity will make me a very broke man... Perhaps explaining the price is the fact that all Doisy & Dam bars are handmade in Norfolk using all organic ingredients. Respect for that. This one in particularly is gluten free and suitable for vegetarians. I love a good quality white chocolate, moreso when it has lemon in it, but I haven't had one with poppy seeds in since trying Seed & Bean's Lemon & Poppyseed White Chocolate many years ago. So I was rather excited at the prospect of trying it once again! The bar is small and chunky, with the aroma of a good quality white chocolate and hints of lemon. I took a bite; it melts in the mouth at the perfect rate, it's smooth an...