Kev's Snack Reviews

Following on from my review of the Boots Gluten Free Salted Caramel slice, here we have their handcrafted Lemon & Coconut Slice. It's part of some new gluten free options Boots have quietly added to their range recently. It's described as a "soft chewy base topped with lemon curd and a sweet coconut layer", and contains maize and egg whites, so not suitable if you have an a egg or corn allergy. I have to say it tasted delicious, I much preferred it to the Salted Caramel Slice as the coconut and lemon flavours were spot on...creamy and coconutty yet tangy and zingy. I also loved how moist the slice was, despite containing coconut which can often make some cakes rather dry, this was deliciously moist and a delight to bite into. Overall, if you're celiac or gluten sensitive then this is a fantastic option! It tastes just like a regular cake, which is what most folks sensitive to gluten really want, so bravo to Boots for coming out wth these! RA...

Whilst in Boots recently I noticed they had a few new gluten free snacks. They were hard to spot; this slice had the words gluten free perched on the side of the label very inconspicuously. As well as this slice they also had a coconut slice - review due soon! This is described as a chocolate and caramel rice crispy base with nuts, salted caramel and chocolate, and cost just over £1 as I recall. I didn't keep a receipt so I can't remember exactly! As you can see it looks pretty much the same as a millionaires caramel shortcake, but with rice crispies as the base. And that's pretty much how it tasted, like rice crispies with salted caramel and chocolate. I want to say I enjoyed this, really I do, but the salted caramel actually spoilt it. Don't get me wrong I love me some salted caramel, but in this case it was a little too salty and distracted too much from the sweeter caramel and chocolate flavours. But alas, that's always the problem with salted car...

As my readers may know, I recently quit sugar, and it's been tough to stay off it with so many new snacks in the shops, and so I've found myself in search of more healthier foods and snacks! One thing I've been getting into a lot recently is grass fed meat. Grass fed meat is popular with those following The Paleo Diet, as it contains more nutrition and healthy fats compared to meats fed on grains. It also tastes muuuuch better!  I was recently contacted by  Westin Gourmet  who actually deliver quality grass fed meats online, which is a great idea since it can be so difficult to find good meat locally. They do a nice range from poultry, beef, lamb, pork, burgers, sausages, steaks as well as seafood and cheese. All their meat is responsibly sourced, British and with high welfare standards and they've even won a Great Taste Award for 2015. The meat arrives chilled upon delivery, and is never frozen. To peruse Westin Gourmet's meats check out  http://www.wes...

Recently, Heron Foods started selling some of The Licktators ice creams for only £1.50 a tub, so naturally I couldn't say no to giving them a try! The flavours include the "John Lemon" lemon curd ice cream which I reviewed previously, a praline chocolate variety and also this "Jiggy Pop" popcorn flavour. I haven't tried a popcorn ice cream since Butterkist brought out their own ice cream, which sadly now seems to have been discontinued. Boo! This ice cream contains pieces of popcorn, toffee sauce, and crunchy caramel pieces and is absolutely delicious! I previously complained that the Marshmallow Law variety was a little boring and needed something extra to jazz it up, well I certainly can't complain of that here! All the elements work perfectly together, the popcorn pieces add a nice crunch, the toffee adds gooey delicious sweetness and the caramel pieces add extra crunchy sweetness, all wrapped in delicious creamy ice cream. For £1.50 this is a...

Last (but not least) of my reviews of the new limited edition Thorntons chocolates are these Toasted Marshmallow Truffles. They cost £1 a bag (or two for £1.60) at Wh Smiths. The other two flavours are Candyfloss Truffles and Toffee Apple Caramels , and you can vote for the ones you want to remain on shelves via Thorntons website: www.thorntons.co.uk/vote. These are described as "marshmallow flavour truffle dipped in dark and milk chocolate, sprinkled with coconut". I wasn't quite sure what to exoect from a marshmallow truffle since marshmallows are mostly just sugar and gelatin... Turns out they were very tasty, I'm not sure they tasted of marshmallow really but they were very creamy with a lovely coconut edge. In fact it was the coconut combined with the richer dark chocolate that made these stand out to me, they were very moreish and the sweet truffle contrasted very nicely with the richer chocolate coating. Overall, these are some tasty truffles an...

Thorntons have brought out some new limited edition chocolates, available directly from their stores or Wh Smiths. I highly recommend only buying them from WH Smiths though as they're much cheaper there! The flavours include Candyfloss Truffles (which I reviewed yesterday), Toasted Marshmallow Truffles and these Toffee Apple Caramels. You can vote for the flavour you want to remain on shelves via Thorntons website: www.thorntons.co.uk/vote. These are described as "soft gooey caramels flavoured with apple juice and wrapped in milk chocolate", and as you can see in my pics, they seem to have attracted the attention of the local pigeons! I can see why the pigeons were so interested...these are some tasty caramels! I wasn't a fan of the Candyfloss truffles in this range as they were so sweet, however these were perfect. They're runny, gooey soft caramels which is always the best type in my opinion, with a lovely refreshing apple tang. The flavour actually work...

Recently I spotted a new range of limited edition Thorntons chocolates at WH Smiths, so naturally I couldn't resist giving them a try, not when the flavours are as interesting as these! They include Toffee Apple Caramels, Toasted Marshmallow Truffles and also these Candyfloss Parfait Truffles. You can vote for the flavour you want to stay on shelves via Thorntons website www.thorntons.co.uk/vote. These are described as "Candyfloss flavour parfait in white chocolate with pink sugar sprinkles", but the filling also contains raspberry powder to give it that pink colour. They cost £1 a bag, or you can get them on offer of 2 for £1.60 at Wh Smiths. Weirdly, they cost £3 a bag in actual Thorntons stores! They're nice and there's a definite sweet raspberry flavour, but it's very sugar dominated! That's all I could really taste, which I guess is no surprise since Candyfloss is pretty much just sugar. The white chocolate was overpowered by the fillin...