Kev's Snack Reviews

What with Easter just around the corner, creme eggs have temporarily taken over the supermarket shelves at the moment. Everywhere you look there's the iconic eggs, in large or mini versions. But they also come in dessert form ( Pots of Joy ), Biscuits , Milkshakes (I tried one recently from Shakeaway   - amazing!) as well as...ice cream! I spotted this Creme Egg ice cream in Tesco Express on special offer for £2, and at that price thought "why not, it's nearly Easter!" I've seen it in supermarkets before, so it's not really all that new, but for some reason it never really appealed to me. I didn't think the combination of sweet sugary creme egg fondant would add much to vanilla ice cream. But I was wrong! The ice cream is described as simply "Vanilla flavour ice cream with fondant sauce and Cadbury milk chocolate". The fondant is orange coloured, like the centre of a creme egg and there's large pockets of it embedded in the ice cream. I...

Whilst in Holland & Barrett recently I spotted some reduced items. I'm always a sucker for reduced price food...I can't help it when I see a bargain! One of them was this Pudology dessert, made with coconut milk, dark chocolate, and containing zero dairy or gluten. It's basically a mini chocolate orange mousse style dessert, although more intense and creamy thanks to the addition of coconut milk. In fact they call it a "ganache", which is something more often found as a cake filling. Whatever it's supposed to be called, it tasted delicious! Very filling, rich and chocolatey as well as being creamy. The orange oil added a lovely zestiness, reminding me of Terry's Chocolate Orange, but richer and tastier. It didn't become sickly sweet and I found that one small pot was very satisfying. Overall, if you're looking for a tasty gluten and dairy free dessert you can't go wrong with Pudology. I would highly recommend this and hope to tr...

In a recent offer from Hotel Chocolat I tried Supermilk 65 Popcorn , Strawberry Egglets , and also these Pecan Egglets. They're described as "Caramel pecan praline sealed in a high cocoa caramel chocolate shell". The caramel chocolate contains 65% cocoa solids. I was curious how the taste of pecans would work paired with such a high cocoa chocolate. Turns out it's a delicious combination! The chocolate was of course rich and flavoursome, with Hotel Chocolat's usual high quality standards. The caramel added a comforting sweetness, which blended well with the pecan praline. The praline itself was very nutty and intense, with a strong pecan flavour. In fact it was almost too overpowering! Still very delicious though. Overall, if you're a fan of pecan nuts then definitely check these out this Easter. Be warned though: they're intensely nutty! RATING: 8 out of 10. Suitable for vegetarians, contains milk, nuts & soya.

Just a quick review for this Pulsin "Raisin & Almond Raw Choc Brownie", as I have no pictures of the brownie since I ate it in a dark cinema recently! I bought this from Holland & Barrett as a "healthier" treat, along with some toasted coconut. It contains natural sweetness from dates, raisins and rice malt syrup, with added almonds and cashew nuts that give it a chewy texture. It was very moist with a strong cocoa flavour, and reminded me somewhat of Naked bars - the texture is very similar - but perhaps more dense and chocolate-y. I wouldn't quite say it deserves the name "brownie" but it's certainly a tasty and nutritious alternative. They apparently count as "one of your five a day", which is handy! Overall, I would recommend Pulsin brownies if you're trying to add nutrient density into your diet but also want a "treat". They might not replace "real" brownies but they're definitely a tasty ...

Waitrose recently did a special offer on all Willie's Cacao bars, and as a fan of unadulterated chocolates I just had to give them a try! I've tried the White "El Blanco" bar before but one I've never sampled was this Ginger Lime variety. What I like about Willie's Cacao is that they don't use soya lecithin, and raw cane sugar instead of refined sugar. Considering the estrogenic effects of soya, as a man it's not something I really want in my chocolate. Apologies for the above photo - it was late at night when I was eating this bar! Like all Willie's Cacao bars it comes in a square block and weighs 50g. It contains 70% cocoa solids, and is hand-crafted in Willie's factory based in England. Yay for locally produced chocolate! It contains 12% crystallized ginger which is pretty impressive, plus 0.1% lime oil. It tasted delicious. The ginger flavour is very strong and fiery, giving a pleasant warmth that is nicely balanced with the ta...

Whilst in 99p Stores over Christmas (god, that feels like a lifetime ago!) I came across these "Cboze" bars, produced by Kraft Foods. I've reviewed Cboze before, back in the early days of the blog and that variety was a Cherry flavoured fondant. See the review HERE . They seem to be a Bulgarian brand, and I must thank Katherine from Grocery Gems for helping me solve that mystery! The flavours on offer were Salted Almond, Crunchy Corn, Pineapple and Apple & Cinnamon. At 2 bars for 99p I decided to try the whole range! First up I tried Salted Almond . Curiously, it didn't taste very "almondy" or even salty! The flavour was muted and tame, with the almond giving a little crunch here and there but nothing outstanding...it tasted a little stale, in fact. Next I dived right into the Pineapple flavour...such a rarity in chocolate! The bar contained a milk cream filling with a layer of gooey pineapple "jam" oozing above it. It was very f...

Whilst in Tesco recently I fancied a splurge on Easter Eggs. As well as classic Creme Eggs (which taste the same as always to me, despite the recipe change), I got a pack of Kinder Mini Eggs as part of a 3 for £1 deal. I didn't pay attention to what they were, assuming they'd be mini versions of Kinder eggs with a creamy filling. I didn't realize they were mini versions of Kinder Schoko Bon Milky Bites  - one of the most amazing snacks ever! There were 7 small eggs in the pack, all individually foil-wrapped. There's not much I can say about the taste other than they were DELICIOUS! Just like regular Schoko-Bons, the filling was intensely creamy and with a delicious buttery hazelnut flavour. It tasted almost like white chocolate but less sickly sweet, and a lot nicer. The small bits of hazelnut added a lovely savoury crunch, whilst the milk chocolate provided a nice contrast of cocoa. There were just enough eggs in the bag to give a sweet fix without overdoing ...

I recently tried a few new items from Hotel Chocolat's Selector range, and one of them was these Strawberry Egglets. They're new for Easter, but I'm not sure if they've been out in previous years as I've never seen them before. Theyre described as "A burst of natural strawberry in creamy white chocolate" and "Strawberry ganache sealed in a white chocolate shell". They're £3.75 per pack, or you can get a price reduction when you buy three items from Hotel Chocolat's Selector range. Although I was a little disappointed with the Supermilk Popcorn bar I bought as part of the offer, these egglets more than made up for any disappointment - they were delicious! The white chocolate as ever was very creamy and great quality - I always find Hotel Chocolat excel when it comes ti white chocolate, it's just so much smoother than most commercial brands. It's heaven paired with strawberry - the ganache is extremely fruity and refres...

When I first heard about these new "THIN" bars from Green & Blacks/Mondelez I had to laugh..."how are they going to sell thinner chocolate?!", I scoffed. Turns out I shouldn't have been so skeptical...this is  seriously delicious chocolate and nicer than any G&B bar I've had before. They're a bit late jumping on the "salted caramel" trend, but better late than never I guess! The bar is described as "Organic milk chocolate with salted caramel pieces". The salt is apparently anglesey sea salt, and the chocolate contains an impressive 37% cocoa solids. The bar was indeed "thin", although no more than a standard Lindt bar so I'm not sure why G&B are playing it up so much. It tasted amazing though! The caramel pieces were very reminiscent of Daim; extremely crunchy and moreish, with an added lick of salt. The chocolate is richer than an average milk chocolate thanks to the higher cocoa percentage. I...

Mars UK have merged a lot of their confectionery brands into milkshakes over the last year or so, most notably Skittles ( which I reviewed here ), but also Bounty, Snickers, and now Revels too! Revels is an odd choice since there is no "distinctive" Revels variety, and for this milkshake they've chosen "The Toffee one", which is even odder since they already do a "Mars Caramel" milkshake. Do we really need two different toffee/caramel style shakes from the same company? Going by the taste of this I would say the answer is "No!". This shake really doesn't add anything new to the category at all, it's simply a very basic sweet toffee milkshake. It wasn't particularly flavoursome or great quality, and definitely not as good as Frijj milkshakes. Overall, I can't recommend this, it just seems pointless when there's so many other better milk drinks out there. Maybe they should have done a "salted caramel" var...

Recently, I treated myself to some of the latest products in Hotel Chocolat's selector range. I'm always overwhelmed by the sheer of amount of varieties and never know what to choose....I usuaslly want to try  everything ! How one is supposed to pick just three items (for the special offer) is beyond me. Eventually I went for some of their Easter Egglets as well as this Supermilk Popcorn. Supermilk is Hotel Chocolat's new "Intense milk chocolate" which they've created using 65% cocoa solids blended with milk powder. It's lower in sugar than a 70% dark chocolate but retains the creaminess of a good quality milk chocolate. Very impressive! The bar is described as "Popcorn and a pinch of sea salt blended into our most intense milk chocolate" and costs £3.75 individually, but there's a price reduction when you buy three "selector" items which saves £1.80 in total. The slab was fairly thick, with a strong popcorn and rich cho...

I've gone a bit mad reviewing new products this week I must admit - there's been so many brought out recently that it's hard to keep track! One that I've been on the lookout for ever since it was announced is this new Salted Caramel Galaxy variety, which I found in WH Smith recently for £1. Bargain! The bar is described as simply "Milk chocolate with a salted caramel filling". Obviously Mars are trying to capitalize on the salted caramel trend that is so last year....but nevertheless, we can never have enough salted caramel products in my opinion! Unfortunately I can't say I was as impressed with this chocolate as I expected to be. Don't get me wrong the caramel is very tasty, but I couldn't really detect the salt in there...it just tasted like regular Galaxy Caramel with perhaps a slightly salty edge. Not really enough to justify the name. The actual chocolate was of course very creamy and sweet, as Galaxy is well-known for. Overall...

Cadbury's PR recently offered to send me some of their new Oat Crunch bars to sample, and how could I say no to that?! The bars arrived promptly, but bizarrely when I opened the box they were all dusty and coated in oats. At first I thought one of the bars must have got damaged in transit, but no, those jokers at Cadbury had put actual oats in the box. I suppose it beats bubble wrap! "Give elevenses a light makeover with new Cadbury Dairy Milk Oat Crunch and unwrap joy in your mid morning break. A perfect accompaniment to any cuppa, this mini oat filled bar is set to give you a fresh, wholesome boost taking you right through to lunchtime" - Cadbury Press Release.  The bars weigh 30g, containing 150 Calories and are described as "Milk chocolate with 2 biscuits sprinkled with oat flakes". They're similar in design to the Dairy Milk with Ritz and LU Cookies , as well as Bahlsen Pick Up . Opening the wrapper, I was met with a very strong oaty biscuit...

There hasn't been much new to tempt me into blogging about Easter this year...but one product that caught my eye was Freddo Sprinkles. This has been brought out to replace the Dairy Milk Caramel Easter Bunnies (which were a favourite of mine over the last few years)...but apparently, they've fallen out of favour due to the success of their rival the Malteaster Bunny! After reading reviews of Freddo Spinkles by fellow bloggers I wasn't expecting a lot from this, but nevertheless the inclusion of coloured sprinkles really excited me...I'm just a big kid at heart! I paid 25p for one of these at Sainsbury's Express, which is a lot when you consider they were 10p back in the day. " What  day?!", I hear you ask. Well it really wasn't that long ago folks! ;) Anyway, with the rising price of Freddos at least we're getting some new varieties. The chocolate is classic Dairy Milk with coloured sugar strands added in, the kind you usually find o...

Cadbury have recently introduced their new brand "Marvellous Ice Creams" to the frozen food category, which comes in 4 varieties: Zingy Raspberry Choc Brownie, Salted Caramel & Sour Cherry,  Fairground Candy Crunch , and this one - Jelly Popping Candy. Although I was expecting to enjoy Fairground Candy Crunch the most, I actually ended up liking this one a lot more. The tastes and textures were spot on! It's described as "Vanilla and chocolate flavour ice creams swirled with milk chocolate, sugar coated jelly pieces, fat coated popping candy pieces and candy coated milk chocolate pieces". Although some of those might sound a little odd or plain, they work together perfectly! As my readers now know (to much amusement, no doubt!) I carry mini cutlery with me wherever I go. What can I say, I like to be prepared in case of finding tasty new snacks! Like the Fairground Candy Crunch the ice creams were both swirled together with the added goodies mixed ...

Recently, Cadbury announced the launch of their new "Marvellous Ice Creams" range, which includes 4 flavours: Zingy Raspberry Choc Brownie, Fairground Candy Crunch, Jelly Popping Candy and Salted Caramel & Sour Cherry. So far I've tried two of the flavours and my first review is for Fairground Candy Crunch. Fairground Candy Crunch is an evocative name, it conjured up images of candyfloss and helter skelters in my mind, so I was very excited to try this. I know...I'm such a sucker for marketing! The ice cream is described as "Candyfloss and chocolate flavour ice creams, swirled with milk chocolate, pink sugar crunch, sugar coated jelly pieces and mini marshmallows". Opening the tub reveled the two ice creams swirled together, with plenty of pink sugar sprinkles and jelly pieces embedded within. The taste was interesting. The candyfloss ice cream had a strong candyfloss flavour - very sweet and almost floral. The chocolate ice cream was rather pla...

Nestlé UK have been quietly releasing new variations of their classic products over the last year or so...we've had Toffee Crisp in Sharing Block format , a new Milkybar with added Cookies, White Aero's, Toffee Kitkats, Caramel Kitkats, Honeycomb Toffee Crisps , and now these...Dark Rolos. Although they're called "Dark", they contain only 45% cocoa solids, which I guess is about as "dark" as a mass produced chocolate like this is going to get. To be honest, if I was given these in a blind taste test I don't think I would have been able to tell they were dark chocolate. They tasted pretty similar to regular Rolos, although maybe a tad less milky. They were still extremely sweet and moreish, with the classic sweet toffee centres making me reach for one too many. Before I knew it half the bag had gone....oops! Overall, although these are not truly dark chocolate and won't impress chocolate conoissours, they're a very moreish snack and p...