Lebkuchen

Right before you call me dull, boring or worse still a liar, let me have a chance to defend myself. Yes these are basically ginger biscuits and I did indeed suggest I'd at least take a break from such things; however I have reasons (or excuses). Firstly these are technically Lebkuchen and very traditional. Secondly they are more cakey and iced in chocolate. Lastly they are German and as I mentioned before makes them even more festive.

But before we get to them let us go nuts for well... Nuts! Caramelized almonds to be exact. In the last few months I've discovered a lifelong hatred of nuts was rather unfounded and have since been obsessed with making up for lost time. These things are one of those times that make me weep for such missed opportunities, what’s better than a roasted almond? One coated in sugar and then cooked that’s what.

 

More cake than biscuit

These really are great the outside is crispy and tastes of caramelized sugar, hardly a surprise really considering their name. The nut inside has been cooked and roasted well too. The combination created between sweet and savory is great with an epic crunch too for good measure. Now I have had these freshly roasted at a market and that was an experience I can tell you. These are the supermarket equivalent and despite being slightly smaller and not warm are still a delicious and probably dangerous for your health treat.

Next we have the main event, Lebkuchen. Whilst I started by saying these are more gingerbread cookies I think they are much more like a cake, true even more when you consider they usually come coated in icing. These that I have don't, instead these are covered in dark chocolate and have a rice paper base. All the layers have something in common, the fact that they all melt in the mouth nicely. The dark chocolate isn't the usual plain and bitter taste; instead it tastes nicely sweet and works well. This probably means it isn't a good quality example but that doesn't matter all the time.

Like little pebbles of joy

The cake itself isn't very gingery at all, and at this point I would start complaining. I would that is if it mattered which it doesn't. These are meant to taste fruitier than fiery I think which with the fruit peel mixed in definitely delivers. The peel itself mixes well with the chocolate topping and at times creates a Chocolate orange type of taste. These are great all round and such a shame they will soon be much missed from the shelves. They go well with a cup of tea too, multi-talented guys these.

Lastly is an odd concept, hot chocolate kit for two. Yes, on the face of it that seems a good idea right? It is a season for couples to conspire beneath the fire ECT. I would agree too, except this range comes from Toys'R'Us. Yeah things just got weird.

Overall Lebkuchen is amazing and the nuts too and make me realize I'm going to miss some of these fleeting festive treats. But then if we had them all year round they wouldn't be special.

Score

Lebkuchen - 8 out of 11

Caramelized Almonds - 7.5 out 11

Found

Both were found in Lidl

Final Thoughts

Germany really have this Christmas thing down to a T.

McVitie's gineger bread biscuits

Ok I know you guys are probably fed up of me reviewing ginger biscuits but lets face it gingers pretty abundant this season. I wonder why certain spices have become known as festive. I'm guessing because they each create a warming feeling. They all do really, Nutmeg, Cinnamon and ginger, to be honest I'm clutching at straws on that one. I was going to mention allspice in that list but as the name suggests it's not really a spice more an amalgamation.

I'M going to move on as I fear I'm rather out of my depth here. Clearly my spice knowledge is rather lacking. I'm fine on the practical side (as in tasting) but the theory sides above me. Anyway I have three ginger based biscuits for your reading pleasure. One is a Costa coffee ginger bread man, one a Mcvities gingerman and one is a locally made red robin cookie.

 

Ohhhh Shiny

First let’s look at the Costa Coffee offering. I know what you’re thinking, why aren’t I reviewing the gingerbread latte that comes served with this drink? Well you see I didn't need to purchase the drink in order to get this guy. All I did was walk in the store say I was the one and only Roy Saxon and was offered anything I wished. Ok so that’s not true, although I was rather crafty in my procurement of it. I did the age old technique of flirting with the server. I wasn't even the initiator of said measures, so I got both a biscuit and an ego boost all in one visit. I know what you’re thinking again, Roy shame on you for flirting back. You have a stunning and beautiful girlfriend don't you? Well yes I do, she was with me and got half the gingerbread man.

Not that it was very gingery and yes I know I always say this. Also I realize I am rather harsh on any biscuit that doesn't meet my standards. But this time not only was it lacking in ginger fiery-ness, it was also rather stale. They do rather worryingly keep these in an airtight container but often they keep the lid off for easy access. Seems a bit futile in the long run. Then again I doubt many of their customers complain about the free addition with their drinks. Well I do, except mine was just free.

Next we have a very similar looking McVitie version the only difference being a layer of chocolate on the bottom. So similar in look is it similar in taste (or lack thereof). No, not at all, in fact these little guys pack a bit of a kick to them. Finally a ginger biscuit that's got a decent amount of fire to them. The chocolate is quite nice too but the spice is where the actions at. They have a nice solid crunch to them too. They even dunk well in coffee and their sweetness really comes through especially with the chocolate underbelly. I was really surprised how nice these were considering the usual mass produced cookies that are themed for holidays.

Lastly we have the red robin, the design on this thing is really nice and the sparkling red belly is the icing on the... well ginger biscuit. This has a weird very soft texture to it, not crumbly and not solid a bit like cold but not quite solid icing. In contrast the icing on top is hard and creates the crunch to this biscuit. It has a nice ginger taste to it but really the taste of icing is the prevalent flavor. It actually works quite nicely. I'm willing to overlook the lack of ginger because of how nice these look.

Overall only the Costa one was a disappointment and that's mainly down to how they are stored. I hope if any Costa people are reading, hell if anyone even reads, they start leaving the lid on. Remember please the customer and all that.

Score

Costa Gingerbread man - 2 out of 11

McVitie's ginger man - 7 out of 11

Red Robin Biscuit - 6 out of 11

Found

Costa (surprisingly)

Tesco

Local cafe

Final Thoughts

 I will try and steer clear of ginger biscuits for a while, for your sanity and mine!

Ringtons Gingersnaps

It's one of those reviews again, by that I mean a biscuit review. Don't be put off by that line' 
after rereading that I've realized it sounds a bit negative. I more meant that I do quite lot of these 
reviews. Mainly because biscuit are a big part of my day (wow I have an exciting life) and if I'm 
honest something I look forward to in my day.

Free Teas always tantalizing

Each day just as I'm flagging that cup of coffee and sweet treat give me the boost I need to 
carry me through. Today the choice is even better as the biscuit I have, here to try was a FREE 
SAMPLE!!! Picture the scene, I'm fighting my way through the hordes of Christmas shoppers. 
Feeling scared, claustrophobic and generally in need of some personal space. Then as I walk past 
someone I had just perceived to be 'some guy' I found a bag thrust toward me.

Funny how sometimes you don't realize something magical has happened until your too far to 
give proper thanks. For it turns out that 'some guy' was actually my savour and the bag contained 
the magical happening. Two free samples, a heavenly combination of a new tea brand and a 
gingersnap biscuit. Did he know when he handed me this bag how appropriate it was? Two of my 
favourite essentials (for they are indeed) in one coveniant carrier. So when today as I dropped my 
pick me up was completely Gratis!

They have the look of the biscuits you get in hotel rooms... good ones

These both come from a company called Ringtons, after a quick check of their website I can 
assume that these guys kind of know teatime. This gives me reassurance in the likely outcome of 
these products. After all if they choose to specialise in my favourite time of the day I need to know 
that experience falls to experts. Not only that but the biscuits in question are Gingersnaps, lets 
face it this blog has a bit of a record with gingery goodness. These are mainly due to my exacting 
standards but hey it's a personal issue to work through.

The tea itself is Assam and smells amazingly potent which is a great sign of a strong brew. In my 
opinion for my enjoyment the tea mus have strength. It needs to knock some sense into me, and 
believe me that takes some power. Unfortunately I can't review these today because of lacking in 
the kettle department. But I can still try the biscuit with a compulsory cup of Starbucks.
As I open the pack I'm immediately hit by a powerful ginger aroma one that sends me chills of 
anticipation at the prospect of finally having a taste fiery enough for me. I bite down and so seems 
does it. This thing is certainly solid, great crunch and an intensely ginger taste that improves if left 
on the tongue.

Certainly looks as solid as it feels!

I try dunking it in my coffee and try the biscuit as nature intended. Warm, softened and infused 
with bitter back coffee. The result creates a great combination where the sweetness of my treat 
blends with the bitterness of the coffee. Ringtons have this combination nailed. The sting in this 
tail is this, however, it would seem for more supplies I'm going to need to order directly from 
them. Something I don't like doing, complications right?

Score
9 out of 11

Found
In an awesome most importantly free sample bag

Final Thoughts
I may have to go shopping more often!

Hellish Halloween Hamper

Right I'm back from the mystical Isle of Wight, slightly earlier than I had hoped but safe at least which I guess is what matters. I almost didn't make it! I could have been stuck there for eternity without hope, without escape and without internet! It doesn't bear thinking about really.

The reason I had to rush home is that if you believe the weather reports the UK is about to be blown away by a coming storm. Considering how I needed a ferry to return home I thought it would be best to beat said storm, turn tail and run. I don't feel like a sissy because at least it allows me to bring more reviews to you my adoring

fan (no plural needed).

I seem to remember before leaving that I'd do a bumper review in return for my absence so here we go. This could get quite intense hope you can keep up!

First up lets consider some cookies, I have a terrible trio here for your delights. Another pumpkin shaped ginger biscuit from the folks at Costa coffee. Now it wasn't too bad but a bit bland and lacking in fire as usual. Nowhere near as bad as This, but certainly not as good as This. The biscuit itself was overall nice however the incing has no taste in itself and is a bit hard. When dunked it added a little sweetness but little else.

We have a chocolate cookie from Morrison's with a weirdly worried looking marshmallow skeleton. It has a nice chocolate hint to it and tastes quite fresh despite not being part of their freshly baked range. It dunks really well and the chocolate is brought out quite nicely when it's slightly damp. The marshmallow is a nice chewy offering, good level of sweetness and a subtle hint of vanilla. 

Lastly we have a cool idea from McVities in these snaptastic biscuits. basically one big chocolate digestive that you snap into individual characters. The chocolate layer is good quality and tastes superb with the dreggs of my coffee. The biscuit underneath is nicely oaty and has it's own distinct flavour once the chocolate has melted away.

With the biscuits and their crumbs brushed under the carpet let's have a blast from the past in the form of the last treat from Mark's and Spark's. These are called Super Scary Skulls, basically little jelly sweets. When I pulled one out the bag I was slightly unnerved as they have a weird ancient Mayan look about them in my opinion and one of the freakish things I've tried so far. I popped it in my mouth regardless and was pleasantly surprised. They taste rather nice, a good subtle blackcurrant and raspberry taste to them. Not too sweet and definitely not artificial tasting. I was disappointed that the jelly inside wasn't runny as it was the impression I got from the packets description.

The last product in this bonanza is some weird little chocolate critters. I can't actually remember where I found these however I'm afraid, clearly more of an impulse buy than usual. They are kinda cute although they lose points for using redundant cardboard just to add to their design. The chocolate itself is quite nice not quality as I clearly got these from a cheap store somewhere. They have the look and smell of advent chocolate and my tummy turned at this thought. However when I actually tried one  I found it tasted rather nice. Not amazing quality by any means but nicely chocolaty and milky, it didn't taste like sweetener or additives which is always nice.

Overall most of these Halloween goodies are good. Clearly my brief and slightly shortened holiday weekend has subdued my cynical and critical side. Now how will I write reviews, The world sucks like that doesn't it!

Score

Costa Biscuit- 5 out of 11

Morisson's Skeleton- 6 out of 11

McVitie's gang- 8 out of 11

Jelly skellies- 7 out of 11

Creepy critters- 5 out of 11

Found

Numerous places some I don't even remember!

Final Thoughts

I'm tired out, still have a lot of stock left too!

Casper the friendly Cookie

There is a bit of a problem with myself made Halloween challenge. Can you see it? Basically all of the products I have tried and I am planning to try are a bit samey. I fear that by the time the bell tolls on Halloweens Eve I will be sick to death of creepy candy.

Take for example today's review item, a gingerbread ghost from my local bakers. Now it’s a perfectly good product and I know it’s going to be good quality. However it is the third ghoulish themed biscuit I have tried in a week. It’s why I set up the Challenge Me page because if I’m left to choose what I review it gets a bit familiar. It’s a problem we all naturally have that certain things will always be what catch our eyes.

Can you see what I mean about the basic shape?

So let todays post not only is a review of casper the friendly caper, but also a plea to you guys. Please send me challenges either in the comments of my posts or through my twitter HERE. Recommend or challenge me to find a product you know about I don’t care if it’s foul or fruity, salivating or shocking or even downright amazing.

Anyway on to today’s biscuit treat.  I spied this in my local bakers Reeves and thought it would be a nice accompaniment to my much beloved afternoon coffee. Regular readers will know two things at this point. Firstly my coffee lunch drink and biccy is very important and sets me right for the rest of the day. Secondly that when it comes to ginger based products I am very picky. There is clearly a right way to do it like these flapjacks and a very wrong way to do it like this terror.

First world problems right here!

However Reeves haven’t steered me too wrong in the past and it is fresh so we should be off to a good start. The design is nice if a bit of an odd shape. True it does look ghostly with the thick layer of white icing. Take that off however and it kinda looks to me like Mr Hanky from South Park. Not really wanting to dwell on that I’ll move on. It smells nice a gingery which is a good sign that it could be strong enough to satisfy my needs although I have been wrong before. Probably because my standards are a tad too high perhaps.

I nipped off a bit of the icing and find it to be rather solid almost like a sheet of plastic, luckly it doesn’t taste of such. In fact the icing doesn’t taste of anything much except sugar. Not necessarily a bad thing after all I wasn’t expecting any flavour. The biscuit itself has a nice fiery kick and good ginger taste to it, however it’s a bit hard and isn’t very sweet.

I saw the solution immediately have both bits together; you know how they intended it to be eaten. When both layers are consumed it does mix reasonably well. Although because both are rather solid to say the least the experience is a bit jarring, like biting a brick wall at times. One problem then occurred when the slab of icing completely fell away. Not a good sign really especially considering my earlier thought about how it looks minus decoration.

Not relevant but I made this, kinda proud :)

It’s not coffee and biscuit time without a mention to the dunking experience. As expected this is a good dunker and drinks the coffee in as much as I do. It tastes great this way too, no longer too hard and hasn’t turned too mushy the ginger flavour is really brought out. I soon munched the rest of the biscuit and then found a bag of icing left which I’m going to save for sweet snacking throughout the rest of the day.

Overall this was a great biscuit, however I would rather have had to seek it out rather than stroll past. Take this as a challenge from me to you reader, make me work for this blog!

Score
7 out of 11

Found 
Reeves the bakers

Final Thoughts
I hope I'm not coming off to strong or you guys will never call me maybe.

Ghostly Goings Gone

Its October the spookiest and probably greatest month of them all, to me at least. So to celebrate from this post until November I pledge only to review the most chilling of confectionary.

I'll elaborate slightly on that as I mean chilling in the uneasy sensation sense not the feeling of coldness one gets from a stiff breeze or ice cream. Although A month of reviewing does sound appealing and my love of it would overcome even the harshest of brain freeze and overdosing on dairy. I'd better get back to the point before I go off on a tangent and a trip to the freezer. So anyway Octobers here bringing Ghosts, ghouls and garishly coloured treats and a few tricks I'm sure too. It's not going to be too hard I'm sure to find freakishly themed sweets this month but I'll treat it like a challenge anyway!

The first item in my quest was an impulse buy of the highest order. I went to my local corner shop to buy a simple pen but found something more. As soon as I saw his winning smile and cheeky expression my heart melted much like ummm ice cream (Right it's too much, to the fridge!). I couldn't resist purchasing after all I do love ginger so that alone warranted a purchase.

How could you not be charmed by his expression?

The creators of this gingerbread man clearly don't quite get the concept of Halloween. Not only is this skeleton not terrifying but the box displays his inquisitive and childlike glee through a heart shaped window! I didn't even have high hopes for the taste of this as it does look rather cheaply made, but that’s not what attracted me. The fact that the ridiculous look of the packaging made me laugh was enough to warrant the purchase. Clearly this guy’s relying on his looks to get himself ahead in life (or rather the AFTERlife hahaha).

Let's skip past these frightful puns (sorry!) to get to the review. My fears of quality deficiency were only confirmed when I removed him from the box. He lacked any gingery smell to him or of anything in particular except cardboard. The icing had impressively stayed firmly cemented though the plastic like hardness to it perhaps suggests actual building work went on. I picked a bit off and found it to be tasteless and hard.

If we had smell-o-scope you'd smell cheap cardboard and disappointment

One good thing however is his shape, a good old classic silhouette human shape. There’s something worryingly satisfying about eating human shaped products no matter what guise they take. You can try to hide it but you know you gleefully bite off the heads of jelly babies you monsters! This guys no different and in revenge of the money I may have potentially wasted I ripped off an arm with gay abandon. I then proceed to slap him with it just to get my kicks before chewing.

I'm glad I got that little taste of revenge because it was all the taste I'd be finding. The box exclaims that it is "Oh so... Scrummy" believe me there’s nothing here I would consider scrummy. Bland yes and slightly stale but scrummy no. I may be being a bit harsh gingers one of my favourite flavours, as we saw in my review Here when ginger products are done well I get very happy. It needs to be a very strong fiery ginger to please me. There is no fire on offer here and I soon gave up seems it tastes as it smells, cardboardy. Dunking in tea didn't help and when you find yourself saying that you know there’s an issue.

Childish but it had to be done

The only source of fun I found was by strategically and rather childishly rearranged the icing. At least one of us got excited by this as you can tell from the photo. I soon abandoned it, that’s how bad this tasted folks that I'm not even going to finish it. Hopefully I'll find some use in the realms of baking or he'll end up becoming a permanent resident.

Overall let this be a lesson to all about the dangers of letting your heart rule your wallet and impulse buying. Like me you could end up with and always aroused amputee for a flatmate... who smells like cardboard?

Score
2 out of 11

Found

Local Premier Corner shop

Final Thoughts

He refuses to even contribute to the rent.

Ginger, cinder Goodness

Sorry if my posts seem a bit intermittent at the moment. I’m currently having a jaunt round the Lake District. The scenery is amazing, with rolling hills with the tops concealed in the clouds to the deep valleys that make your stomach jump. What it isn’t however neither modern nor internet friendly, although for the sights I’m seeing I don’t mind taking a Wi-Fi break.

Something I’ve really enjoyed but didn’t even consider is the quirky towns that we are passing through to get to the sights. Obviously they are purposefully quant and odd as they target themselves to us tourists passing through. I don’t like to think of this as I walk round them because I start to notice how fake everything actually is; at take the weirdness at face value instead.

I had already eaten half by the time I took this, that good!

It helps that for each small town there is usually two great sweet shops and five bakeries. Each one we pass through sends me into a fit of excitement like I’m a child again (again?) Honestly in some of these towns there must be about five cafes per actual resident. I’m developing a theory that the “locals” I see running and drinking in them are actually robots, a bit like in the film West World.

I’ve visited many a sweet shop I can tell you and have a lot of catching up to do when I get home. Today’s review items come from an awesome town we discovered unexpectedly called Keswick. Home to the world famous Puzzling Place, Dinosaur and Raptor Experience and Cumbria’s Pencil Museum. I went to the first of these paid four quid to screw my eyes up and thought I’d give the latter a miss.

One place I didn’t miss however was Bryson’s bakery. In which I found a flapjack, but not just any old flapjack. A ginger flapjack (as in flavour not hair colour), now I can take or leave a flapjack but when you factor in ginger I just had to try it. I’m definitely glad I did believe me, upon opening I was hit with a gloriously fiery ginger aroma and knew I’d picked a winner.

It doesn't exactly look appealing I know

I excitedly took a bite,. There is a reason Bryson’s are known in these parts because they know what they are doing with food. This flapjack is a testament to that, a perfect balance of oats and syrup infused with enough ginger to standout and not be too fiery (although usually the hotter the better). It’s not too dense and stodgy either so it was quite tempting to demolish the whole block at once. I had to restrain myself long enough to take a picture for you guys. I’m hoping for another chance to visit as I was greedily eyeing up their Battenberg cake but didn’t purchase.

The second item is nowhere near as special or one of a kind. No every shop I walk in seems to sell it in some form or another. It didn’t interest me at first but I became so overexposed to it that it annoyed me enough to purchase (I know that shouldn’t make sense right?) I think the thing that was putting me off mainly was the packaging. Every time I saw it, it was in a clear plastic wrapper like those on toys, 0this doesn’t make it very appealing.

The scenery is beautiful

It’s called Cinder Toffee. I’d assumed that it was just hard burnt pieces of toffee and imagined overly sweet rock in flavour. I was very wrong and feel ashamed in my judgement. It is neither rock solid nor overly sweet. No! It’s soft and crumbly like solidified honey (which I love) or soft rock, with an aerated centre like an Aero bar. Creating a brilliantly crumbly sweet that melts on the tongue. The taste is nice too it is defiantly very sweet toffee however because of its hollow nature it is in no way sickly. Honestly I managed to eat most of the bag at once. I’m going to try another variant I’ve seen soon that’s covered in chocolate but I don’t think it will be as nice. Also it won’t have the surprise value this had honestly wish someone had filmed me eating this.

Overall I love Cumbria and the sights, sounds and of course tastes I’m experiencing. I’ve not even been to Kendal yet. When I get there somehow I think there will be a shortage of their famous mint cake!

Score
Ginger Flapjack 8 out of 11
Cinder Toffee 6 out of 11
Found
Bryson's Bakery for the flapjack
Final Thoughts