Kev's Snack Reviews

It's no secret that everyone is eating too much sugar these days, moreso if you're a snacks blogger like myself, so thank goodness some companies are giving a thought to helping us avoid diabetes. Yes, Thorntons of all companies have jumped on the "lower sugar" train and launched this new range of lower sugar chocolates called Revelations, which contain 30% less sugar than regular Thorntons chocolates.  These Mocha Coffee chocolates were the first in my basket as soon as I saw them reduced in price recently, and cost me around £1.20. They're described as "dark chocolates with a coffee flavoured mousse centre" and contain 70% cocoa solids.  I was expecting great things from these, since I loooove both coffee and chocolate...but unfortunately, like many coffee chocolates they were a bit of a letdown. I don't know if it's the reduction in sugar but they didn't taste right at all...they were surprisingly sickly for a lower su...

There's been a lot of pretty rubbishy "new" products out lately, so it's always a nice surprise when one of them bucks the trend and is actually quite tasty and worthwhile. These Milkybar Milk & Crunchy bars are one of those products...a simple combination of Milkybar chocolate, with a creamy milky filling and crisped rice pieces. Sugary, milky and sweet but very tasty!  I found this multipack in a discount store, for £1 you get 4 small bars weighing 21g each. Each bar is moulded in a cow shape: These are clearly aimed at kiddies, but why should they have all the fun? These bars are ace! I took a bite from the head...where else?  These are super sweet, but the milky filling combined with the crisped rice is delicious, there's enough rice pieces to give plenty of crunch per bite as well as a creamy smoothness from the filling. They're delightful, and such a treat...I scoffed two bars one after the other they were so nice.  Overall, if you're a f...

When these Dairy Milk Big Taste bars first came out I vowed not to try this Triple Choc Sensation variety...I'd heard from other bloggers it wasn't upto much, but me being me, I decided to give it a chance when it appeared in my local Tesco recently.  For £3 you get a 300g slab that consists of a layer of Dairy Milk chocolate, white chocolate and "dark milk" chocolate, which apparently means it's a 45% cocoa chocolate with the addition of milk solids. Confusing!  I have to give credit where it's due: this is definitely a pretty cool-looking bar aesthetically with its triangular blocks and triple layered effect. Sadly, it's all style over substance... The chocolate tasted pretty grim, even worse than regular bog-standard Dairy Milk does nowadays which is saying something. The predominant taste was of sweet, cheap white chocolate, which unfortunately wasn't the Cadbury Dream many of us remember and loved as kids, but an inferior...

There seems to be quite a bit of competition in the dessert pot market at the moment, both Cadbury and Nestle have launched practically all of their famous chocolate brands into dessert form, which seems like a lazy way to capitalize if you ask me. Most are just variations of the same thing: a mixture of milk, sugar and gelatin with the addition of caramel, mint etc.  These Nesquik Duos are pretty much the same kind of thing...a duo layered dessert of chocolate and vanilla flavoured pudding.  Removing the lid I was met with a gloopy, gelatinous chocolatey mass. It didn't look that appetizing.  It tasted rather bland and non-descript. The chocolate layer is standard chocolatey gloopy dessert whilst the vanilla layer has a slight vanilla edge, but it's certainly not quality bourbon vanilla! I didn't enjoy these at all to be honest, they seem so pointless and tasteless. I suspect they're aimed at children because of the branding but still...eve...

As well as Magnum Chocolate Thins, WH Smiths are also selling these new "Chocolate Almond" Magnum bars, which consist of milk chocolate, white chocolate and a chocolate almond truffle filling. I spotted them near the tills and one bar cost me 75p which isn't that cheap, but still, I wanted to try them in the name of Snacks Science! It seems that the Snacks Warrior isn't the only one attracted to my hands...look at that Pidgie eyeing me up! Taking a bite (of the chocolate, not the pidgie!), I found it wasn't quite as I expected. There's an outer milk chocolate layer with almond pieces, followed by a white chocolate inner layer, and a filling of almond chocolate truffle. It tasted very pleasant and creamy, but it wasn't particularly "almondy". I can't help but think a hazelnut praline would have worked better, but I suppose that's been done a thousand times before (although "a classic never dies", as they say!) Over...

I first noticed the Magnum "Thins" range in WH Smiths last year, at full price they're £3.50 a box, which is a lot for 180g of chocolate when it's a mainstream brand like Magnum. I suspected they would eventually get reduced, and at last, they have! They're now half price at £1.74 a box, which includes the Mint and Milk Chocolate varieties. Lifting off the outer box I was met with the above...they're very well presented and definitely give an illusion of poshness. The box contains "Coffee Flacoured Dark Chocolate Discs with Cocoa Nibs", all of them with a large Magnum "M" logo printed on. The chocolate contains 50% cocoa solids, so they're not really true dark chocolates but semisweet or "plain chocolate". They tasted nice enough, but not outstanding and I certainly would've felt ripped off paying £3.50 for a box. They have a nice richness from both the cocoa nibs and coffee extract, but they're a bit...

M&S have gone a bit mad recently and launched a whole new "Spirit of Summer" range...in April. I can only assume this is to make extra sales since it's nowhere near Summer yet. The range has a lot of unusual (and expensive) items, many including chilli with chocolate, plus there's the  Peanut Butter Cookies reviewed here by The Review Addict. I can't eat them sadly due to the (evil!) gluten, so I made do with these new "Milk Chocolate Smothered Crunchy Jumbo Salted Corn" snacks instead. I've eaten chocolate-coated corn before, so I kind of knew what to expect: these are very different from popcorn, they're halfway between a savoury and a sweet snack. The sweetness comes from the chocolate, but in every other respect they're totally savoury. The pieces of corn are quite thick, larger than what's shown on the front of the pack, all with a generous coating of milk chocolate. Biting into it gives way to a large chunk of salty ...