Kev's Snack Reviews

Recently, folks got rather excited when two new Munchies varieties were announced by Nestle: the first being today's review; Munchies Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and the other being Cookie Dough. They're possibly the first new products from Nestle in a long, long time (maybe since the Munchies Bar in the 90's?) so this was indeed quite exciting news! The Chocolate Fudge Brownie variety had me rolling my eyes initially, because it sounded like it would just be chocolate flavoured caramel. However it turned out to be quite different - they've removed the caramel and replaced it with a chocolate fudge mixture! And in my opinion this is actually a good thing as it makes these a bit different. The Munchies look like the regular ones, but cutting them open reveals the fudgey chocolate filling with the classic biscuit centre in the middle.  I have to admit it does look a bit wrong without the caramel - that's what makes a Munchie a Munchie, after all! It...

A while back I reviewed The Protein Works Salted Caramel Protein Cookies and Crunky Bars, and since then they've been busy and developed a Salted Caramel Cookie Peanut Butter, which they kindly sent me to review. As well as that there's also a Deep Choc Dive Brownie variety. They are of course high in protein and perfect for any pre or post workout boost, combining indulgence with #macros! Suitable for vegetarians, but not vegans. Both are available from theproteinworks.com Starting with the Salted Caramel Cookie variety, this is described as "The finest roasted peanuts, luxurious caramel, cheeky cookie pieces and that TPW magic". It's free from palm oil and high in monounsaturated fats. Opening the lid, it has a nice strong peanutty aroma and smelled unmistakably moreish. I gave it a stir and wasn't sure where the cookie pieces were...turns out they were hiding! (I think some had sunk towards the bottom of the tub a little). The taste is of course, s...

It's hard to find a good brownie when you're gluten free, but over time there's been an increase in the quality of gluten free products. Costa's Gluten Free Brownie is probably the best, and Aldi's Gluten Free Brownies  are also pretty great too. When I spotted these Tesco Finest Belgian Chocolate Free From Brownies I wondered if they'd be just as excellent - Tesco do have a reputation for some tasty products in their Finest range after all. Containing pieces of Belgian white chocolate, these come in hefty thick chunks and are perfectly stodgy when bitten into - the perfect texture in fact, not too gooey and not too firm. I loved them. Taste wise they were delicious, very rich with a lot of cocoa flavour, and the white chocolate breaking up the taste with hints of creaminess. I really enjoyed these; they felt like a luxurious treat especially for gluten free brownies! Overall, whilst these may not be quite as excellent as the Costa Gluten Free Brownie...

It's hard to find a good Gluten Free brownie, many of them are either too dry or conversely too fudge like. I've tried quite a few now and so far I like the Costa Gluten Free Brownie the best, but when I found these "Wonderfully Indulgent" Baked In Scotland, Specially Selected Gluten Free Brownies in Aldi (in Glasgow of all places!) recently I was super excited to try them. They're "hand crafted on the banks of Loch Ness with real Belgian chocolate" - how fancy! They cost £1.79 for 4 which is very reasonable compared to some gluten free brownies in shops. Opening the pack, they looked super squidgy and moist. I took a bite. The brownie was indeed very moist and squidgy, and very rich and chocolatey. These are super easy to eat, before I knew it I was onto my second piece! It's nice that they're squidgy rather than dry, but I did miss the more substantial texture of other brownies - I like a bit of bite to my brownies ( Costa's ...

I'd heard about this new Squirrel Sisters range launching in Boots via The Grocer recently and was quite intrigued...there's a lot of raw healthy eating bars around right now, and this trend seems to be gathering pace. So how is this range different? Well, the bar I'm reviewing today has won a Great Taste 2016 Award so that's a good start! There's several varieties out in Boots: Coconut Cashew... Raspberry Ripple... ...and Cacao Orange! But today's review is for the Cacao Brownie which is raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, soya free and contains no added sugar. It does however contain cashew nuts, dates, cacao nibs, cacao powder, currants and cacao butter. It costs £2 for 40g in Boots which is a lot , but of course that doesn't matter if it tastes good right? Rather than being one bar, the brownie is split into two "logs" with a sort of square shape. I'm guessing this is for portion control, which seems ...

I've been eyeing up these new "Almond & Raisin Raw Choc Brownies" from Pulsin Foods for a while now, ever since they appeared in the Tesco Free From aisle. They were reduced to £2 a box recently (still expensive!) so I thought I'd give them a whirl. They're gluten free, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian, soya free and contain no GM ingredients. Each box contains 3 individually wrapped 35g bars, and the ingredients consist of cashews, dates, chicory fibre, almonds, raw cacao, raisins, brown rice bran, cacao butter, grape juice, rice starch, sea salt and green tea extract. Phew, that's a lot of ingredients...thank goodness they are healthy ones! Each brownie contains 149 calories, 8.3g fat, 12.8g carbs and 3.6g protein. I was disappointed when I removed one of the brownies from it's wrapper...it was a tiny, squidgy looking thing. I had expected these to be small but I didn't expect them to be this small! The smell reminded me of other simil...

So it's Day 7 of my gluten-free snacks week (I must be setting a record here with having a review 7 days in a row!) and here we have the M&S Gluten Free Brownie Bar. I've already reviewed Costa's Gluten Free Brownie which is the best available in the UK...so how does this M&S version compare? Sadly it's not as good, but that's not to say it's not a nice brownie in its own right. Nothing could compare to the Costa one unless they nicked the recipe, quite frankly! This brownie is very moist and chocolatey, there's definitely a good amount of dark chocolate in there, but for me the texture was a bit lacking. It was a little too...eggy, or something, I can't put my finger on what exactly was up with it, but it wasn't as moist or melt in the mouth as the Costa version. Presumably it has a different ratio of ingredients, I can't tell unfortunately as I no longer have the wrapper. The white chocolate streaks running over the top of it wer...

It's here...part 3 of my Gluten Free Snacks Bonanza Week! Today's review is for the deliciously squidgy, gooey Belgian Chocolate Brownie sold in Costa stores all across the country. I've been eating these brownies for years now so I don't know why it's taken me so long to actually review them....I guess other snacks got in the way! You can find these Brownies near the tills at every Costa in the country - even the smaller ones, which is mighty handy if you're in need of a gluten free fix! - they're plastic wrapped to differentiate them from the regular "gluten" brownies sold underneath the pastry counter. They cost £1.70 and are rectangular rather than square. The ingredients are a mixture of dark chocolate, eggs and ground almonds, with some tasty white chocolate chunks added in for good measure. They even have a hint of coffee! These are hands down the best gluten free brownies I've tasted, and taste just as good as - and even bet...