Kev's Snack Reviews

Today's review is for a rather special chocolate maker, one I have loved for a long time now but is rather difficult to find in UK shops. A handful of health food stores sometimes sell their bars, and you can also buy direct from Zotter's Austrian website and have bars delivered to the UK. Zotter are an Austrian company making an extensive variety of unique bars, from their famous "hand scooped" range (see my review of their Coconut & Raspberry ) with various fillings, to their Mitzi Blue discs that remind me of UFO's. I was kindly sent a variety of bars to try recently, so a big thankyou to Zotter for the opportunity! I chose varieties from their dairy free vegan varieties, which they make a rather large number of. They even do vegan white and milk chocolates - check out the range if that's your kind of thing! Today's review is for their Xocitto Choco Espresso kit. The box contained several chunky bars of 100% cocoa fine chocolate that a...

Another review courtesy of Charlene's Chocolate Factory today, makers of interesting and quirky chocolate bars (check out my reviews of their Bubblegum Blonde , Mint Choc Chip and Beetroot Bars !). This time it's for something a bit more common as a chocolate flavouring - coffee, brilliantly named after the classic Wham! hit. I do love me some coffee in the mornings, so I loved the idea of being woken up by a chocolate bar rather than coffee! A bit of background first: Charlene's Chocolate Factory are of course named after the classic Charlie and The Chocolate Factory film, and are dedicated to making interesting and quirky bars, from the likes of Gin and Tonic, Marmite and various fantastically-coloured bars. To check out their range see: www.charleneschocolatefactory.co.uk A darker bar than the others I've reviewed, this vegan chocolate contains 72% cocoa solids and has ground coffee beans direct from Italy added. Ooh-er! One side has a lovely patterned e...

So there's been a big fight recently between Waitrose and luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat; the latter have claimed that Waitrose's new chocolate slab range are copying their famous Selector bars (see my #slabgate post for pics of the new range). They've even gone as far as taking legal action, but that hasn't stopped Waitrose who launched their new range this week. I thought I'd try one of the bars to see what all the fuss is about - would it live up to Hotel Chocolat's high standards? I chose the Espresso Swirl bar as it appealed to me the most; these are currently on offer for £2 and this bar is described as "Marbled Belgian milk and dark chocolate delicately swirled with hazelnut praline and coffee, topped with chocolate mocha beans". Sounds delightful doesn't it? Opening the wrapper it was definitely reminiscent of Hotel Chocolat's slabs, the sides are curvy although less so than a HC bar. One side contains the coffee beans whil...

There's been a bit of a barney recently between luxury Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat and Waitrose - Waitrose have launched a new range of chocolate slabs with a similar design to Hotel Chocolat's selector range. Hotel Chocolat aren't happy about this at all, and offered customers an exchange of the Waitrose slabs for one of their Selector bars for free over the weekend. They've even gone as far as demanding Waitrose removes their bars from sale and destroys them! Wow...get that promo HC! ;) The new range includes the Eton Mess White chocolate bar shown above, as well as... This Espresso Swirl bar, containing a mix of milk and dark chocolate with coffee bean pieces. There's also this Totally Chocolate variety, with a mix of milk, white and dark chocolate plus chocolate buttons. There's also this Gentle Ginger bar, with dark chocolate and ginger pieces. Unfortunately it isn't dairy free, sorry vegans :( Similar to one of Hotel Chocolat's top se...

Another ice cream review today, and this time it's for Perfect World's new Sweet Espresso variety, which is part of their newly revamped range alongside the existing Caramel and Pecan , the new Raspberry Ripple , Pistachio , Mint Choc Chip and Double Choc Chip. All of Perfect World's ice creams are suitable for vegans, gluten and dairy free and sugar free. They're made with a blend of xylitol, stevia and erythritol and contain coconut milk plus nut paste. The range is available from www.ocado.com and some Tesco's (if it isn't stocked locally please do request they sell it). As well as being free from most allergens this ice cream is also high in 12 vitamins and minerals, and contains only 4.1g natural sugars and 396 calories per tub. Pretty healthy! It's described as a "non dairy coffee flavoured ice cream with espresso concentrate and sweeteners". Coffee ice cream can be a bit hit and miss I find, in that it's usually too weak in flavo...

Just a quick review today, and it's one for those who may be reducing or cutting out the sugar what with the news of the UK Sugar Tax coming into force. Most chocolate bars using sweeteners can often taste chemically or just "wrong", so how does Plamil's So Free Espresso bar fare? Made with xylitol, a natural sweetener derived from birch, I found this bar in Holland and Barrett. It contains 72% cocoa solids, is gluten free, dairy free and suitable for vegans. The bar has small segments you can break off. I went for the espresso variety simply because I was in need of an energy boost, and although the coffee only comes from flavouring I reasoned the placebo effect might still give me a boost! And it was just what I needed for a sweet coffee hit. The chocolate gives a rich flavour, with the coffee lingering in the aftertaste whilst the xylitol makes it sweet enough to be palatable. It's not the same as sugar of course, and it does take a little getting used...

When I'm trying to eat healthy (#thestruggleisreal!) I do like a nice refined sugar, gluten and dairy free snack to munch on. There's always the trusty, tasty Nakd bars on hand in most shops, but a lesser-known brand is The Primal Pantry, who make Paleo and Vegan approved bars with ingredients like nuts, dried fruit, coconut sugar etc. I've tried their stuff before and really enjoyed it. So when I spotted this caffeine infused Espresso variety in the Co Op recently I got very excited indeed - probably too excited, must have been the thought of that shake-inducing caffeine! Described as simply a "Double Espresso Protein Bar" it contains real coffee beans and seemed to be promising an energy boost in bar form - protein AND coffee all at once?! Can't get more #fitfam than that ey? Unfortunately, the bar turned out to be a bit pants. Overlooking the fact it looked like something you'd find in your pants, the texture was my first point of contention: it ...

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...

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...