Bored Blogging?

I’m starting to regret this challenge a bit if I’m honest. Posting everyday isn’t as easy as you would think believe me. Not only do I have to find time to write each post but there’s also the editing and uploading. Now I’m not really complaining, after all I get to try chocolate as I do them. The problem is that there is a growing sense of resentment.

By imposing a deadline upon myself I’ve begun to feel like the blogs become a job rather than a hobby. I think once the twenty fifth has passed I’ll need a bit of a break. For this reason and because of how similar each of today’s products are this post is going to be a bit short.

He hath no eyes!

First up we have Cadbury’s snowy delight bar, a vanilla crème filled milk chocolate slab especially for Christmas. It tastes as you would expect of the usual milk chocolate but the crème adds another level of sweetness. The crème filling is very similar to the strawberries and crème bar in texture a bit waxy but not too off putting. It gets close to becoming sickly but isn’t unpleasant. Both melt well and combine nicely so it is a good mixture. It’s very similar to product number two.

A Cadburys snowman is at number two, and pretty much the same product but in a different shape… Is what I thought. Yes whilst this is the same milk chocolate outside shell the inside crème isn’t the same. For a start it’s a vanilla mousse and not a crème. This may not seem much change there is as the filling is not only very waxy but also very tasteless. This product just doesn’t work, and is rather disappointing. Even the moulding is lazy and the snowman has no facial features or detail at all. It seems they went for a cheerful and cheap approach with this one, the sort of product you leave by the till for impulse buyers like me to find.

Little disappointed the white chocolate was only a topping

MARS also had this in their sights I’m sure with these Malteasers reindeers, but in this example I wouldn’t regret my buy. I really like these, the chocolate on the outside has a smooth milky taste. The inside is a beautifully crunchy malt middle that counters the sweetness of the outside well. The mixture has little burnt bits in it too that add even more texture. I find these teaser bars and the single Malteasers you get in Celebrations are much nicer than the actual Malteasers. I can’t see why this is so.

Lastly we have a Cadburys winter wonderland bar, these look rather cool. Made of tiny chocolate trees, of both milk and white chocolate. I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the white chocolate is only the top layer but still the taste is there. The chocolate tastes nice not too sweet, though this could be because it’s overpowered slightly by the plain milk chocolate.

Overall there’s not much to say really except that possibly there is too many products released just for one holiday. Or rather too many of the same ideas especially from Cadbury corner.

Score

Snowy Delight - 5 out of 11

Snowman - 2 out of 11

Winter Wonderland - 7 out of 11

Malteaser - 8 out of 11

Found 

Any supermarket

Final Thoughts

Hopefully part of my New Years announcement will cure this dwell in my blog enthusiasm. 

Mistletoe and Whining

Well folks Halloweens over for another year. Pack your prize costumes away and consume that candy before its best before date. Not that the second one is much of a challenge.

I hope your Halloween was as treat filled as mine, although perhaps not as much. I managed to over consume as you can imagine and felt rather full and floaty before bedtime. I did carve an amazing pumpkin with a little help from a glamorous assistant. It was a great night and I look forward to the tricks I'll find next year.

A work of pure blasphemous artwork

So whats next then now that my challenge is over, well folks its quite obvious isn't it? Christmas! Tis the season to be jolly, although if you believe the shops that season started about six months ago. Before you panic no i'm not going to do a festive foodstuff from now till the twenty fifth although today's two are both Christmas theme. Many because at the moment Christmas stuff is on offer in the shops and very easy to get a hold of.

So we have two of Galaxys festive frollicks in the form of their gift for you range. They have released two varieties one of milk chocolate and one white chocolate. It's the second one that really excites as there is as of yet no regular white chocolate Galaxy bars. Therefore its of slight novelty, though both have uniqueness in the shape and filling but not as exciting as new white chocolate.

They do look rather impressive

I'll begin with the least exciting milk chocolate however and build up. The look of these bars are quite nice with a present like bow and cool sectional design. They are great for sharing although hope your groups small as there's only four segments. With two bubbly chocolate and two smooth chocolate filling really this is a bar for two. Luckily for me when I tried these I was a party of one and got the full benefit to myself.

I broke off one of the segments and took a nibble, I immediately recognized that amazingly silky Galaxy taste followed by the sweetness. Now I do love Galaxy bars however I find they create a scratchy sensation in my throat, not enough to deter me however. The part I'd tried had the truffle filling which had a great fudge like texture that stood out once the outside had melted. A lovely combination and the filling was slightly different in taste, enough to just notice the difference. Next segment I tried was bubbly, and although not as melty as an Areo bar it still created a tingling sensation on the tongue.

In hindsight the packaging doesn't mention truffle

Next I opened the white chocolate, again these look really quite impressive. I took a bite within instantly, however something was wrong. Or rather not wrong but disappointing, it turned out that the Mars corp have just repackaged a lump of Milkybar chocolate under the guise of Galaxy. I'm not exaggerating this bar is Milkybar chocolate but aerated. The bubbles again are nice and create a good texture but this isn't Galaxy bar white chocolate in any sense. I tried another section hoping the filling parts would be good, To my dismay it turns out that all four segments are bubbles! This bar is lazy on two accounts and the experience left a rather bitter and scratchy taste in my mouth.

Overall whilst I was disappointed with the white chocolate offering, I was pleasantly surprised by the milk chocolate. Also I got them on offer so really can't complain... Yet I do!

Score
Milk chocolate- 7 out of 11
White chocolate-5 out of 11

Found 
W.H Smith's 

Final Thoughts
I wonder when Easter will begin?

Mending Fences

So I often will say that I love all things chocolate and to a point this is true. There is however a large portion of the chocolate industry I don’t like, a company to whose chocolate I’m rather indifferent. That is Mars products, now don’t get me wrong I love Galaxy (See I’m not a complete monster.) I’ll also often choose M&M’s over Smarties, but both are cool with me. But the rest of their products (including their namesake Mars bar) I could quite easily live without.

The problem is most of Mar’s products incorporate real turn offs for me. Firstly I don’t like chewy or sticky caramels in my chocolate. No, the caramel needs to be gooey and runny like you’ll find in Dairy Milk caramel bars. Next I don’t really like a bar that skimps on choccy for a solid block of biscuit running throughout. It’s like the product is a bit confused and shuns the sweet aisle and is eyeing up the biscuit barrel like it holds greener pastures. Both these things can hinder the chocolates ability to melt on your tongue which is what I tend to look for. I like to savour my chocolate, not bite it away at once.

Now if I were to put these two qualities into the much loved and possibly overused vend diagram, I think you’ll agree that you’d find a Twix bar. This bar to me is the worst of the worst, partly because of said fall in the diagram. Also it’s probably partly to a mistaken belief I held onto during childhood that Twix bars contained nuts. Up until very recently I have avoided nuts and nut products due to hatred towards them. This hatred however has gone replaced with much apology and regret at the missed nutty opportunities. Whilst I was wrong for both my hatred of nuts and my belief that they lurked within Twix I stayed clear in case.

See the lengths I go to for you guys!

It’s ironic the that today’s review is seeking to form a bond betwixt (HeeHee) me and Twix in the form of peanut butter Twix. Like the rest of the United Kingdom I am experiencing an obsession with all things peanut butter so saw an opportunity to indulge in the latest craving. Upon first bite I was hooked in by the taste of salty peanut butter and a flirt of chocolate. Even better was that the biscuit seemed to have

minimal impact and wasn’t very detectable. The only downside was that the peanut butter seemed a bit too sticky but I wasn’t complaining. It was pretty damn good and it looked like grovelling to the Twix gods was needed.

I think the state of the wrapper shows how eager I was to repair relations.

Then the second bite and subsequent bites occurred and I was in for disappointment. Suddenly the chocolate was undetectable the peanut butter lost its flavour and worse the biscuit was very much present. The biscuit is terrible too, despite bragging itself as chocolate cookie it has no flavour at all and is way too crunchy. I realised with horror that my initial bite at the beginning was the end of the bar where the chocolate ratio is high. Now however i was in the middle of the biscuit ocean with the chocolate shore in the far horizon. I was eating a chocolate bar devoid of a chocolate flavour. The cookie too lacked any of its own and the peanut butter sticky and had lost the partnership with the chocolate.

Twix peanut butter is definitely not high on taste instead it offers crunch and stickiness. Put simply it is a bar for those who enjoy texture over taste, I am not one of those people as you can clearly see. So I’m afraid that this purchase wasn’t the catalyst that rebuilt any burnt bridges. Instead like an unhappy marriage the only thing that grew was resentment.

Score

4 out of 11

Found

Sweet Haven store in Thurrock shopping centre

Final thoughts

I'm probably now going to be able to think of loads of Mars products I like... Malteasers