Dairy Milk Chocolate Coins and Others

So yesterday I talked about one aspect of Christmas tradition. OK so I didn’t really but I did reference them, baubles. Essentially balls that for some reason become festive the moment December arrives. It is odd how everyday items take on a whole new meaning for the holidays.

Take today's items for example, coins, we use them every day to buy our hearts desires. They are rather essential, unless you’re like me and find yourself shoving them in your pocket and forgetting them. Honestly sometimes my coat is so weighed down by the things I feel like I’m wearing a divers suit. Anyway slightly off topic, so yes, once a year these little blighters take on a whole new form.

I'm a sucker for the knitted look of Cadbury products.

Suddenly they become chocolate and usually much bigger than usual (not that I’m complaining). I don’t know why they do this I assume it has something to do with stockings. In my house at least my parents would fill our stockings with loose change; I guess the idea is to do the same but with chocolate.  Whatever the reason for their miraculous transformation, I have three to bring before you today.

I have a Dairy Milk branded bag and two unbranded cheaper ones I got for the price of one golden disk (£1). First up the Dairy Milk ones, in three different sizes and two colours. Disappointingly the different foil doesn’t denote different flavours. Nope, these are all Dairy Milk and taste well you’ve guesses it like Dairy Milk. Although it is a nice taste and it’s good to see a company not changing the recipe for a gimmicky holiday idea. Then again it is Cadbury so they can usually be trusted. Not much to say except they are nicely presented in the usual net bag and you get quite a few.

No company name on the label. Always a good sign

Next up we have the cheaper version, first I’ll try the milk chocolate as a comparison. Again they come in a multiple of sizes and any colour you want, as long as it’s gold. I begin to worry as I peel back the foil on one of the smaller ones as I get a cheap an oddly nutty aroma. Never a good sign in any situation. Popping one in my mouth I get a taste of stale sweetened chocolate, with a slight cardboard taste which you could say is rather confusing. As I expected really these are nowhere near as nice, but then nowhere near the price either.

Lastly I move on to the white chocolate currency changelings, my hopes weren’t high for these either as it’s the same company. On unwrapping I got little encouragement and very little smell. However, taste wise these are actually really, really… dull. Honestly there was no flavour to begin with and then slight hints of cardboard mixed with a Milky Bar. Still let’s remember these things cost very little and are probably meant for someone much younger and less refined than I (maybe not the second one actually).

Behind the forth door, I think it's a Christmas pudding, bit early right?

One thing they all shared in common regardless of price was the fact that the coin design was carried on inside too. It’s a small detail I know but after two disappointments they keep me going.

Overall I shouldn't complain, I do but I shouldn't. Instead really I should appreciate them after all they will be gone for another year soon… What a shame, Eh?

Score

Dairy Milk - 8 out of 11

Cheapo milk chocolate - 4 out of 11

Cheapo Whit chocolate - 3 out of 11

Found

All three from a petrol station.

Final Thoughts

Why can't we use chocolate money as currency, scratch that don't think it would work some how.

Cherry Cordial m&m's and other balls

            What’s an iconic Christmas shape? One, that’s also very happy dangling from your Christmas tree,. That’s right I'm talking about spheres, or to most of us balls. Today’s review deals with all kinds balls, in three whole varieties.

            Okay so once again that opening is perhaps a bit more innuendo filled than I would have hoped. However I bet all those balls caught your attention. Wait; scratch that, although they do kind of stick out innuendos, that is. What does that say about the human mind, I wonder?

            So moving on the point is todays review concerns three sugar coated spheroids. Also as this is day four of my Christmas advent challenge so they are all festively themed too. We have Cherry Cordial m&m's, Reindeer noses and some white chocolate type sugar candy.

          

Wish I had a fetching pair of tights like those.

  So first up let’s look at Cherry Cordial m&m's. Yet another case of a favorite brand not releasing all available versions in the UK. I know it’s a small point but seriously it does bother me. Over here we only really have three types and even then we only got crispy in the last year or so. I had to order these from Ebay and a guy shipping isn’t cheap.

          

  Although I'm glad I did, as these are very nice. Unlike the Pumpkin spice ones these actually have a bit of a flavor to them. As soon as you reach the center you get an intense taste of cherry. Then again this does overpower the chocolate taste slightly, leaving the cocoa as more of an afterthought. If you give these a chance for this to melt in your mouth you do get the best of both worlds.

          

I think the crispiness is about all they had going for them!

  Next up the White chocolate drops that I found at a local market. They caught my eye quickly as you don't often get sugar coated white chocolate (unless your American and you can buy Candy Corn m&m's, Not bitter at all). The white chocolate itself tastes nice, almost like a Milky bar nicely sweet and milky. The shell itself adds well too, as if you erode the shell away the insides warmed to a point that melts perfectly.

        

    Lastly we have Reindeer noses; I've seen the usual 'hilarious' Reindeer droppings (chocolate covered raisins). But these are new to me, and perhaps that’s not a bad thing. The chocolate tastes very cheap and the sugar shell just adds to this. Not much I can say except these were disappointing.

          

Behind today's door was a melting snowman, how festive.

  Overall I enjoyed most of these, except the noses, although the idea was there. The worst thing here is the reminder of the m&m's I miss because I don't live in candy central.  

Score

White Chocolate drops - 6 out of 11

Reindeer Noses - 3 out of 11

Cherry Cordial m&m's - 8 out of 11

Found

Local market

Co-operative food store

and EBAY

Final Thought

 I really don't want to now have to try Reindeer droppings!

Dairy Milk Nutty Caramel and Golden Biscuit Crunch

So, most of us have seen the madcap creations that Cadburys have been coming out with recently. Let’s face it I’m fully expecting a chocolate Frankenstein monster to emerge from the factory gates soon. Arms outstretched searching for his bride. Who will probably be made of white chocolate, opposites attract and all.

Yet it is just the creations range that they are trying out some cool combinations. Under their Dairy Milk bar range we have seen new flavours such as Oreo and more recently Daim. Another was the Toffee Popcorn bar I tried in this review HERE. And today I bring you two more newbies to the Dairy Milk range that passed me by for quite some time.

 

Sometimes Photographing chocolate sends me nuts!

The first is a bar of nutty crunch, which seems to be roasted hazelnuts with caramel sauce and wrapped in Dairy milk. Which sounds amazing, and like the toffee popcorn bar is a bit bigger than your standard Cadbury confectionary. I don’t know if these three belong to the same range but all have a beastlier size than your average bar. Not that I’m complaining after all more chocolate and filling right. Though you do pay more for this, these tend to retail for £1 more than the Daim and Oreo bars.

The second bar is another inspired choice on the face of it. A layer of biscuit topped in cream mousse like filling before being smothered in chocolaty goodness. I couldn’t wait to try either of these bars and rather impulsively bought both together. The lady at the till gave me a look of disgust at my gluttony before begrudgingly handing me my receipt. I don’t care who judges me, not when I have chocolate to console me.

 

It wasn't quite golden more like beige

I’ll start with the nutty caramel, sounds the nicest and I needed cheering up. I got the instant taste of the usual smooth and sweet milky chocolate. The as I delved deeper I hit the vein of caramel and the Hazelnut paste. The caramel added a nice sugary hit much like the caramel bars you get, nicely gooey and not too sickly sweet. Unfortunately the nuts were in detectable in taste. Although they do add texture to the bar that could have just been a sticky chewy mess. I think really the hazelnuts should have been flavoured with salt or something in addition to just being roasted.

Unfortunately it was the same story when it came to the biscuit bar too. The milk chocolate overpowered all the other flavours on offer. I did try the cream mousse layer on its own but could still not really detect any discernible flavour. It just tastes sickly sweet and a bit cheap, some kind of vanilla filling may have worked better. The biscuit too had no flavour and was again about adding texture. This bar kind of reminds me of a S’More a bit but not quite as nice.

I kind of mauled this for photography reasons obviously

Overall both were rather disappointing, let down by the sweetness of the chocolate. Whilst not a bad thing considering the inflated price I had hoped for a nicer product. 

Score

Nutty Caramel - 4 out of 11

Golden Biscuit Crunch - 3 out of 11

Found

Sainsbury's

Final Thoughts

I still have hope for their creations brand, I want more madness Cadbury.

Pringles - festive varieties!

Tastes  funny thing, apparently you can't account for it. That's what "they" say anyway, although, I'm not quite sure who "they" are. "They" do say a lot I must say and not all of it's so true or insightful. It seems on this occasion whats said is correct, especially in the case of today's review items. Thinking on it a bit more if we did all have the same taste, the world would be a dull place really.

Whats made me all philosophical and sage like? Well today's product, which seem to have a rather polarizing effect on people. Much like how Marmite often comes down to love it or hate it. These seem to be the same, if that is people make it past the first hurdle which is the concept of the items themselves. Those I offered them to often stared at me perplexed as though they needed a moment to figure out if what I was extending there way was real. They are believe me. These are the two limited edition flavoured Pringles available

this festive season. One is sweet cinnamon and the other is mint chocolate.

They look the same from the outside, it's only the dusting that's different!

Sounds weird doesn't it? Why should it though, think about it. The only reason people immediately disregard these as Yack, is because we are used to savory Pringles. That is how I viewed it and was much more open minded to the experience than most who I prof erred them to. I tried them both and didn't think too hard as I ate them, through this I hope you'll see me as unbiased in my reviews. Check me out being all professional right?

First we will tackle the one most people had trouble with, the mint chocolate. Now don't get me wrong the idea is odd even to me. However remember that the flavour of mint choc has been a firm favorite in many other forms for years. I must admit that I don't like the combination myself but I didn't let that stop me. It's the crisp format that is throwing people but hey I just think that gives them a nice crisp crunch! So without too much hesitation I tried one. It was odd at first, I noticed a weird powdery dusting that you don't usually get, perhaps more seasoning has to be added to achieve the taste. Which is rather minty, and quite chocolatey too. The taste lingers for a bit before being replaced by the Pringle/crispy aftertaste of potato product. It certainly is odd thought not unpleasant to me.

Seems this sight put people off even trying

The experience is a bit akin to having dessert quickly followed by savory. OK well not really but you get the idea. Both the initial minty chocolate and the potato taste are nice... just a bit odd when combined. I think a lot of people had trouble with this as out of about fifteen people brave enough to try these only me and one other liked them. Not good odds then. The second, sweet cinnamon, weirdly had more favourability. Not sure why people are more open about the flavour they just are.

I have to say of the two these are my favorite, the initial taste is much weaker but blends much better with the fried aftertaste. The combination here ends up tasting rather like a sugar and cinnamon doughnut. Really quite nice and much more moreish than the others. If anything more of the sweet cinnamon flavouring is needed as it's rather subtle and quickly replaced by the aftertaste.

This one appeared more pleasing

Overall the mint choc is ok but the sweet cinnamon shines brighter. I think the real story is that people need to be more open minded about new tastes... Or as mad as me!

Score
Mint Choc - 3 out of 11
Sweet Cinnamon - 6 out of 11

Found
Sainsbury's conveniently on offer when bought together!

Final Thoughts
Next up perhaps we will have bakewell tart! Bring it on!

Rice Krispies Squares - Cookie Crunch

I have a funny relationship with breakfast bars, come to think of it I have a funny relationship with everything. But, breakfast bars and me are curious occurences, mainly because I never actually have them for breakfast. I'm not sure whether this is the same for all of you, its' not like I've done extensive research.

Breakfast bars for me tend to be a bit of an impulse buy, usually at lunchtime when energy levels are flagging. they tempt me in with the promise of a possibly healthier alternative than the flapjack next door. However in truth I know that most bars are just as bad if not worse than the alternative. Take todays item a rice crispy square, on face or shelf value my thought process goes like this. Rice crispies are meant for breakfast, breakfast stuff is good for you. Then E=MC2 must mean that these are a healthy lunch option, after all I'm basically having more breakfast.

Not quite sure why I even think its good for me!

Except I'm not and it was all a ruse, as soon as I've bought, paid and eaten half I remember that Rice crispies are kids cereal and therefore have the nutritional values of  a lump of sugar... dipped in chocolate. Which is essentially the idea of all breakfast squares. Take sugar laden cereal replace healthy milk with sticky syrup or marshmallow. Top with chocolate and any additional thing knocking about the factory and then market it like it's golden. As their advertising campaign says "It's all lies... They arn't even square" bloody true they are rectangles!

However I am still a sucker for new and limited edition products, especially if they are cheap too. So when I saw this new range of Cookie Crumble Squires I thought I'd be "healthy" and try them. To be fair to them they don't state on the packaging that they are even attempting to be healthy it's just my mixed up mind that perceives them as such. Instead they identify themselves as Crispy grains of toasted rice with cocoa biscuits and a chocolate coating... Yeah no health benefits to be seen here then!

Ok so it definitely doesn't look healthy!

As ever the adventurer I unwrap and inspect regardless, immediately I'm met with my old friend dissapointment. This looks exactly the same as the normal variety of Rice Krispie "squares". The cookie crunch feature being very small balls of biscuit very sparsely distributed throughout. It's still got the syrupy and chewy texture that I dislike and makes me question why I even bother to give them another go.

I take a bite any way and actually it's not bad. I tactically took a bite that would give me a bit of biscuit and it actually does have a cookie taste to it. It is still rather sickly sweet and the usual flavour of these bars overpowers it to some extent (the mixed taste of sugar, condensed milk and overly sweet chocolate). However ther is an intial cookie type flavour present, it just doesn't make these any more appatising to me in general. They are still far too chewy and sticky for my liking and I regret buying the pack of four. If any one has any suggestions for uses of these things comment below. I'm thinking doorstops, or table legs.

Overal I don't know what I was expecting, these were hardly going to be different were they?

Score
3 out of 11

Found
Poundland

Final Thoughts
I hate being impulsive... sometimes.

Pirate Perils!!!

Ahoy, thar reader mateys. It be international talk like a pirate day. So hitch yerrr main sail and make port for peilious pirate puns and eeerrrrmm candy? I’m back from pillaging the local sweet merchant. Which means I have booty ripe for reviewing!

 What the hell am I talking about? Well today is indeed talk like a pirate day so I needed to start my blog with something nautically nonsensical. I’ll try and stop now partially because I can’t think of any other pirate puns right now but mostly because of how I feel about pirates. Apart from Captain Jack Sparrow I’m about as ninja as they come in the never ending argument of preference between peg legs and pyjamas. Anyway todays review comes at a good time, as recently I was challenged by Amy Willow from WillowsWords  to find some pirate related sweets due to her own misguided preferences (sorry).

It’s taken me a few weeks to find these three items; clearly this isn’t the right time for pirate sweets. It doesn’t help that my hometowns not near the sea and the only piracy is dodgy Dave’s DVDs.  What’s the chances though that sod and his damn law means I see nothing but appropriate sweets from now on. 

Almost as suave as Captain Jack Sparrow, bet he's winking under the patch

Anyway you salty seadogs I’ll sail towards our first product. It comes in the form of some cheap chocolate doubloons. I know these are pretty much just the chocolate coins you get at Christmas. But don’t chant cop out just yet for you see there is a pirate on the label and a skull and crossbones on the coins. So by technicality these count. Believe me if you could see these things you’d know I’m being punished enough by having to try them.

These things are cheap, really cheap and I don’t mean in the price I paid (although they were pretty cheap). As I unwrapped the gold foil I ventured a sniff and they smelt basic and unexciting as you can imagine. I never the less popped one in my mouth to melt on my tongue. Yep they taste cheap too. That typical advent calendar chocolate, dull and stale milk chocolate flavour.  I think that is a miracle of our times really how no matter what shape or form advent calendar chocolate takes it still tastes the same. At least I am now of an age when my distant relatives don’t feel the need to pop to pound land to purchase me a countdown to Christmas. No instead I have to use my hard earned cash so I get branded ones, who says we have to grow up completely right?

The next item continues the treasure trend as we look at Sainsbury’s new gold bars, woooo! These look similar to an American product I’ve seen advertised on AmericanSoda called Fort Knox bars. Except these are targeted towards children party bags from the look of them whereas Fort Knox bars look quite adult. Unfortunately I have these to try and I have a sinking feeling that they are the same kind of chocolate as the coins. They do have a cartoon pirate ship on the pack so they were suitable for my review. Anyone who says I’m scraping the barrel here is probably right but believe me it isn’t fun.

Wish I'd left these on the desert island I dug them from.

Perhaps I’m prejudging them after all I haven’t tried them yet. Maybe the cheap packaging was to save costs in order to use good quality chocolate. This hope is soon dashed by the same smell as the coins when I take off the gold paper. Worse still is that underneath the surface of the chocolate is plain; at least the coins had the good grace to print the Jolly Rodger on the faces. Thankfully they have less of a waxy texture than the coins had so are slightly better quality. They still manage to damn well taste the same however.

Well so far these chocolates have done nothing to make me leave the safety and cleanliness of my Dojo in pursuit of adventures on the high seas. The final product however is rather more interesting and not just because of the cheeky pirate clutching his cutlass. I found these in a local Polish food store amongst the kid’s sweets and thought they may be worth a try. Unfortunately as you can tell from the name (Korsarz) these don’t have any English translation so I’m tasting blind here folks. They are small black balls which could be meant to look like cannonballs and have a nice sweet smell to them.

He kinda looks more like a pizza chef at a Halloween party to me.

I give them a go and I am instantly surprised. In a good way, although after the other two products anything could be seen as an improvement. These aren’t just anything though; they are rather special the chocolate is very sweet although not sickly. With a flavour almost like condensed milk and chocolate it’s a new taste I’ve never come across. Sadly the chocolate is rather thin and inside is a small hard ball that when chewed I find tastes like sweetened coconut but without the texture.

They taste very nice and very moreish, I highly recommend them. The next one I try and chew straight away but it loses something. These are best left to melt in the mouth at first before chewing on the coconut. Otherwise you lose the unique flavour of the chocolate and you just get overly sweet coconut. It would have been nicer also if the nut wasn’t so processed and kept some of its gritty texture but that’s just a nit-pick.

Overall these are really nice. I’m thankful to Amywillow for challenging me to find pirate sweets even if I did have to try the other two piles of cheapness. Well they can sink to the bottom of the ocean and dwell in Davy Jone’s locker whilst I eat the rest of the cannon balls. I’ll probably get some more too. If anyone else has any challenges for me then check out my challenge page to find out more. Also please follow me on twitter here or I’ll make ye swabs walk the plank. ARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Score

Coins 2 out of 11

Gold bars 3 out of 11

Zorsarz 8 out of 11

Found

Thankfully can't remember where the coins came from (perhaps for the best), the bars are from Sainsbury's. Zorsarz from a local European food market.

Final Thoughts

I'm going to end up doing a poundland advent calendar review arn't I.... Bugger!!

I may need a lie down... In a dark room!

Right, so as anyone who may regularly read my blog (I hope these at least two, me being one) will begin to see a pattern possibly emerging. I like to try new things; I mean I don’t really care if I know the outcome will be bad I wanna try it. So when I find a product that contains several flavours in one package I get excited. I enjoy experiencing variety and then talking about it hence why I started this blog.

I thought that this blog would encourage me to seek out new chocolate to try, not that I needed much encouragement (I often squeal when I see new products!) It stops me becoming predictable at least and sales of Fredo bars are probably going to be on the decline! Since starting to seek new flavours I have discovered I like both nuts and mushrooms, two things that throughout my life I have had a hatred for. This discovery alone proves that we should try every opportunity we come across. Don’t get me wrong I’m still not going near a raw tomato and if you’re in the splash zone you’ll understand. I know in the grand scheme of things trying new foods isn’t exactly a momentous thing but it’s meant I’ve bought something that has travelled as far afield as Australia just for me to eat.

Bask in the image of possible perfection

This is a good link to today’s review. Firstly as it comes from Australia and secondly it is a bar made up of six whole different flavours. Practically variety in a tube, or a flimsy foil wrapper to be precise. I was very impressed when I found this as it meant I in theory would be trying six new things in one purchase, points for variety and value for money. Although the bar was like £3.50 but it had to pay extra for a kosher meal and leg room on the plane.

So todays review is of the Australian Cadburys snack bar (Different from the UK snack, which is essentially a chocolate biscuit and not so exciting.) These bars are made of six blocks of chocolate each with their own fillings. It’s like buying a very small quality street tin, if you have a good imagination.

I’ll be honest by the time I got round to trying this bar it was past its prime. At the time of buying it was beyond its best before and the week it spent in my cupboard was the hottest of the summer. I feel a bit bad basing my opinion solely on this one specimen, but then the packaging should prepare it for travelling. Enough chat however more stats, or whatever passes as a review around here.

It may have been squashed but I didn't care.

The first block in this bar is petty standard, a caramel filling. I expected it to be like your normal dairy milk caramel but was surprised at the difference.  The chocolate was much less sweeter than a dairy milk bar and tasted rather plain. This could be because the dairy milk in the UK is much sweeter than most other milk chocolate; I hoped so as if not it was because it may have gone bad. The other difference was the caramels taste as unfortunately it had absorbed much of the flavour from the Turkish delight block and lost the caramel taste. I had hardened a bit too and as a result was chewy rather than creamy. We were off to a bad start and I was worried.

The next piece was the Turkish delight, which ironically in its eagerness to spread its flavour was lacking. Compared to a Fry’s delight this was nothing it had a hint of that familiar taste but only a whisper in the night. This left the block tasting rather plain although it had maintained the jelly like texture so at least it had that.

Then came what I thought was Lemon but turns out it was meant to be pineapple. This alone will tell you a lot about the flavour on offer here.  It did have a slight bitter sweet taste but very sparing. Things were looking bleak and we are half way through. Disaster struck in the form of block four which tasted like a second Turkish delight. Had they miss manufactured this choccy with two of the same block? No surely not, for one it has a unique texture one I can’t quite put my finger on (not just for hygiene reasons.) I had to look it up, turns out it was coconut, well that explained the texture but not the taste. I was really disappointed now after all I’d had my RDA of Turkish Delight.

To cheer us up, heres a cat in a pop art hat

It ends on a slightly less sour note thankfully as the final two of strawberry and orange actually had a good quality flavour. However they were rather just like the normal crèmes you get in the variety boxes everyone throws around at Christmas. They tasted good though so I won’t complain about these.

Overall this bars failings are probably due to an overambitious idea. Even if it was in ship shape condition, having multiple flavours would always cause the weaker ones to be overpowered by the stronger flavours.  The chocolate probably would have had more flavour had it not been out of date and warmed, then cooled. As you can tell this bar rather disappointed I but I could always just buy a box of Roses. Then again where’s the fun in that? That’s too easy.

Score

Begrudgingly 3 out of 11

Found

Sweet heaven Bluewater

Final Thoughts

It may have to be retried later, although not for a while my heart can't take it.