Frantic Festivities!

Well I hope that like me by now you have Christmas pretty much wrapped up! Sorry about that pun but I have just literally finished my wrapping and quite proud of the parcels beneath the tree. I know it seems like I've left it to the last minute but have no fear I spread my workload over the last week. Meaning no rushing and panicking at the last minute, in theory.

In reality I was having to frantically finish a few of them due to running out of paper and doing a mad dash down town before they shut. Seems I wasn't the only one too as I had a hard time finding any suitable paper. Luckily I found a few Disney themed rolls that were just about gender neutral enough to do for everyone. But at least now it's done and I can relax indoors and take shelter until the boxing day sales are well underway. Much safer especially when you factor in the town shaking weather we had last night.

Festive feces... I mean faces, festive faces

Now I am safely inside I can curl up eat some treats and tell you about them. I have a fair few too. We have biscuits, chocolates, bread and pies. I know a hectic post for you today, but it is the festive season and I thought I'd make the effort. So without further ado the first item is a McVitie's festive face. The reason for this is that on returning I was in desperate need for Tea and therefore a biscuit too. I wasn't expecting much from these if I'm honest, really I only bought them because they scared/amused me. They are pretty much BN's (if you remember those!) I think but with the shape of a jammy dodger. Basically a double copycat and fiend then. They taste like the old BN biscuits too, the biscuit base and lid is a vanilla tasting rich tea type affair and the jam and cream taste sweet and chewy. They aren't bad just a bit boring, to me at least. Let's face it the only reason people liked the BN biscuits was because of the advert and the chocolate version. These have neither and their expressions are terrifying!

This will forever haunt my dreams!

Next American chocolate with a Reeces snowman and Christmas tree and a Butter fingers coin. The tree and snowman are the same as the Pumpkin version I reviewed for Halloween. Delicious Reeces milk chocolate covering a beautiful peanut butter paste. A perfect mix of sweet and salty as always. The Snowman is a beast too, I had expected him to be like a hollow Easter egg but no it is all chocolate and paste no air at all. By the time I finish this I'll be so full I won't have room for turkey. Seriously though this thing weighs 141 grams and is nice to see dedication from a company. The Butterfinger coin achieves a similar balance but the milk chocolate isn't quite so sweet. The peanut in this is also small crispy flakes of peanut paste that creates the effect similar to a chocolate bar with cereal pieces like crunch. But with a great nutty taste to it.

All looking rather... cool

Now we visit Italy in the form of a traditional festive treat called Pannetone. Which is a fruity bread similar to Brioche or a hot cross bun. As I bit into it I found it a bit hard and dry but this soon changed as I began to detect the fruit that was mixed in. The taste as I say is very similar to other fruit breads with orange seeming to be the dominant flavour. The combination of fruit peel and raisins gives it a nice texture mix. It goes really nicely with some tea and coated in butter.

Lastly as you can see this has been a long post, it has been a bit of work for me and I now need something to fortify my nerves. Which calls for alcohol and in particular a festive liquor, Brandy. Thankfully MrKipling was kind enough to oblige in these deep fill Brandy mince pies. Now as I have mentioned I'm not a fan of mince pies, especially when they arn't homemade. But these are different enough to peak my interest. They arn't too bad but still suffer from the soft waxy pastry problem that mass produced pies have. Aside from that though they taste pretty good. The Brandy isn't too sharp and the filling isn't too sweet. The flvours mix to some extent not amazingly however.

Overall it's been a hectic day and a hectic challenge. With one final post before completion I'll be glad when I ca stop eating tinsel!

Score
Festive Faces - 4 out of 11
Reeces - 9 out of 11 plus 1 for effort
Butterfingerz - 8 out of 11
Brandy Mince pie - 6 out of 11

Found 
Festive faces in Poundland
Reeces and Butterfingerz in American import stor (although the snowman was Tesco)
Brandy mince pies in Sainsburys

Final Thoughts
I'm so full of merriment it hurts, damn yuletide!

Tesco's finest Belgian Chocolate Salted Caramels and Mr Kipling's Frosty Fancies

One thing that occurs a lot in this season is a curious increase in social gatherings. Especially of the house party variety, not the Facebook kind of loose morals and clothing. No, the type I'm talking about is the wholesome friendly get together. A time of catching up, finger foods and forced party games.

It is lovely to see friends from far away come together to catch up and share an evening. Weird how no matter how much time has past, often you immediately start from when you last left it. The old jokes and anecdotes re-emerge, of the time John tripped over that sheep, remember that one? You get that nice table spread filled with sandwiches, cakes and small meat items that you wouldn't usually eat. On that very table is where you expect to see today's items. Although by the look of the two they probably wouldn't share.

 

They look a bit off putting with the odd lump on top.

There is one bad thing about these social get togethers, they can breed a sense of one-up man ship. You put out those really fancy cakes from Tesco's finest range because Cindy bought Salisbury's taste the difference. Really the whole concept of premium food is built upon a bit of pettiness on our parts. But then if we didn't have that I wouldn't have polarising items today, one from the finest range and one, well from Poundland.

So first up Poundland, although not like Poundlands own stuff (wouldn't want to poison anyone, would we?). These are Mr Kipling's at least so still recognisable. Mr Kipling's Festive Fancies. Another shameless display of a product re-skin for the yule tidings. Then again they were only a pound so can't complain.

 

Screaming both luxury and over indulgent at once

Plus I kinda like them. The fairy cake base is delightfully light and fluffy with a nice subtle vanilla taste. Now I know that wasn't anywhere near a manly description but then there is not much manliness about this product. The icing combines well, it's got an odd soggy but solid texture that creates a cooling sensation in my mouth. Frosty Fancies indeed. All was going well until I hit the cream, tasting of very little and an unpleasant waxy texture. I ended up scraping it off and enjoying the rest separately.

Next up we have Tesco's finest Belgian Chocolate Salted Caramel Petit Fours. Basically Millionaires Shortbread. They look soooo cool the top Belgian chocolate has gold sparkly glitter finish. It may not add anything to taste but it definitely looks premium.

 

The glitter doesn't sparkle in pictures quite the same.

Believe me the impressiveness extends to the taste, mostly. The top layer wasn't that great not much taste and I didn't notice it too much. But that could be it was overshadowed somewhat by the AMAZING salted caramel. Seriously the sweetness of the caramel mixed with the perfect amount of salt create bliss in my mouth. Plus its kinda crunchy too, The paste alone would have been enough to keep me happy. Though admittedly it is a bit overly sweet and that's where the base comes in. Providing a crumbly texture and a subtle butter taste that keeps these from being sickly.

Overall screw impressing people, get these finest range Petit fours and these Frosty Fancies. Then sit in a corner and eat them all flicking the cream topping at the walls. For the guests I dunno flies or something.

Score

Frosty Fancies - 7 out of 11

Petit Fours - 10 out of 11

Found

Poundland

Tesco

Final Thoughts

I need to find me some salted caramel paste, grow old and die happy!