Lindt Lindor: Stracciatella

Product name: Lindt Lindor: Stracciatella
Calories: 77 per truffle
Country of origin: Switzerland 

I was really pleased to receive this box of Lindt Lindor: Stracciatella as an alternative Easter gift this year. I had tried this limited edition variety when they were first released, ages ago, but I’d not had them since.

The ‘Swiss white chocolate truffles with slivers of cocoa and a smooth melting filling’ came in an ice blue box which could easily be mistaken for the Coconut variety. The presence of snowflakes also suggested that this particular box had been manufactured in time for last Christmas! I loved the imagery of the melted chocolate being poured into the white chocolate shell and couldn’t wait to tuck into the ‘irresistibly smooth’ treats.

Wikipedia informed me that ‘stracciatella’ is a type of soup but, more fittingly here, it’s also an Italian ‘milk-based ice cream infused with fine chocolate flakes’. Due to the speckled effect on the pale white chocolate balls (provided by the cocoa kernels that contributed to 1% of the product), this made perfect sense! Rather than ice cream, though, Lindt claimed that these truffles tasted ‘like cookies and cream’, although they didn’t actually contain either ingredient.

Knowing that my 200g box contained 17 chocolates, I was able to work out the above calorie content from the website’s nutritional information. Each truffle was individually wrapped, contained a beautifully smooth-looking centre, and emitted a vanilla cookie scent.

The white chocolate itself wasn’t the best I’ve ever tasted but it did have a subtle vanilla flavour. The shell did a surprisingly good job of replicating the taste of cookies and cream and, if allowing it to melt, the pure white chocolate’s contrasting flavour came through more strongly on reaching the cooling and melting centre that I love about Lindor truffles.

The downside of letting the balls melt was the texture of the cocoa kernels. These were bitty and felt like harder and sharper pieces of desiccated coconut. What I did like about this, though, was how their dark chocolate taste made the experience reminiscent of ice cream toppings. When choosing to crunch through the shells, the cocoa slivers also provided a pleasant added crisp.

I mentioned in my first ever Lindor review of the Caramel variety that I did go through a period where I found the brand too sickly. Looking back, I think the texture, as luxurious as it is, contributed to this, since I found it a bit much with the rich flavours on offer. However, the Stracciatella truffles’ flavour seemed to be the perfect match for the inner texture as it was subtle enough to not feel sickly, but strong enough to provide a delicious, creamy and pretty juicy treat.

Although I rationed myself to one chocolate a day, I could easily have eaten more!

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10

Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream

Product name: Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream
Purchase details: £1.75 for a 100g bar (monstersweets.co.uk)
Calories: 571 per bar
Country of origin: Germany

There’s been something missing from my life in recently: Ritter Sport! It’s been over five months since my last review of this brand but, thankfully, I was able to stock up on the latest varieties from Monster Sweets.

This Cookies & Cream bar came in a fresh-looking blue and white wrapper that contained a lovely image of the product, as well as a cookie scooping some cream out of a bowl – if that doesn’t get your mouth watering, I don’t know what will!

I’m sure I initially got this limited edition ‘Springtime speciality’’s calorie content from Ritter Sport's own website but, by the time I came to eat it, the variety no longer seemed to be featured. However, the figure I’d recorded on my spreadsheet (yep, I’m that cool!) was also the one provided by MyFitnessPal, so hopefully it was accurate.

Monster Sweets described the 16-squared bar as ‘milk chocolate with a creamy vanilla cream and chocolate cookie filling’ and it seemed to be the same concept as Lindt Hello My Name Is: Cookies & cream.

The Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream had the same outer appearance as most of their other bars. Inside, the cream (39% of the overall product) was slightly grey in appearance which was a shame, though it was night to see the cookie (6.9%) scattered throughout.

The bar had a sweet, milky chocolate scent and I really enjoyed how the taste of the really sweet centre offset the rich chocolate. The flavour wasn’t too far off that of an Oreo so it must have done a good job of replicating the cookies and cream flavour. However, the experience on offer here was a bit more grown-up and (dare I say it), slightly less enjoyable than the popular biscuit. I think the reason for this was that the biscuit pieces actually reminded me a bit of amaretti ones rather than chocolate cookies. However, there was no shortage of strong cocoa flavours from the smooth chocolate shell, and it was nice and creamy too.

The product also provided a great texture. When chewing, it was chunky yet soft with added crispy bits and, when melting, the cream felt smooth with a very slight grittiness, leaving behinds bits of crunchy biscuit.

Overall, this was a rich bar that was full of flavour: my mouth actually felt a bit numb from everything that was going on by the time I reached the end! I also enjoyed the aftertaste which was very much like cookies and milk. Lovely jubbly.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10

Connoisseur Cadenza: Cookies and cream

Product name: Connoisseur Cadenza: Cookies and cream
Purchase details: £0.89 for a 200g tin (Home Bargains)
Calories: 123 per three wafer serving (41 per wafer)
Country of origin: Indonesia 

 

I bought this tin of Connoisseur Cadenza: Cookies and cream ‘luxury cream wafers’ months ago but have only just got around to opening them. Although it’s the kind of product that’s normally served with ice cream, I decided to consume them as a biscuit alternative. I bought two varieties of this Seasonal Supplies Pty Ltd product on my trip to Home Bargains and this Cookies and cream flavour was represented by the colour blue. 

I was expecting these ‘deliciously decadent, elegant, light textured wafers folded with smooth cookies and cream flavour’ (what a mouthful!) to be stored in a foil wrapper but, instead, I was greeted with a rather clinical-looking white plastic bag. Within this bag was around eight servings of the dark brown wraparound wafers and, whilst this colour hinted at a chocolate flavour, there was no mention of cocoa on the ingredients list. Instead, this shade seemed to be the result of ‘caramel colour’. As if to prove this, I found the wafers didn’t really taste of anything at all! 

 

The filling had a really strong and vanilla-like cookies and cream smell which was noticeable before the bag had even been opened. However, I did feel let down by its appearance since I didn’t feel it had been represented accurately by the image on the front on tin. The wafers were only partially filled meaning that the tubes remained hollow, and the centre was a rather unappetising shade of grey, rather than the fresh white hue that had been suggested. As a result, it looked more sugary than creamy. 

 

Despite my reservations, the taste of the cookies and cream filling did redeem the product. It provided a good vanilla flavour and, thanks to the milk and dairy creamer it contained, there was a slight creaminess too. 

I also enjoyed this product’s texture. The wafer itself was as crispy as I’d expect, and the relatively thick and soft cream blended nicely with this, providing no resistance. 

I can’t say this felt like a luxurious product, despite its claims, but then I wouldn’t have expected anything outstanding for the low price of £0.89 - it actually did well in the circumstances!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted cookies & creme

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted cookies & creme
Purchase details: £4.49 for a box of eight tarts (boldstreetsweets.co.uk)
Calories: 190 per tart (380 per pack of two)
Country of origin: USA 

Considering that, until a few months ago, it had been several years since I’d last had a Kellogg’s Pop Tart, I seem to have been completely sucked in by the American varieties! When I placed my order with Bold Street Sweets in December, I originally opted for a box of the Frosted cinnamon roll variety but, unfortunately, these are no longer in production. However, I knew instantly that I would like to swap them for these Frosted cookies & creme Pop Tarts, and I’d like to thank Bold Street Sweets for their great customer service around this.

 

Thanks to a Juice FM voucher, these pastries really cost me half the £4.49 website price. They came in the brand’s usual blue box and the images on the front looked very appealing – there were Oreo-style cookies as well as the tart itself which had a dark chocolate pastry and moist-looking creamy filling. The pastries contained both natural and artificial flavours, but the box also boasted the presence of seven vitamins and minerals (including calcium and four B vitamins), and the absence of cholesterol. 

Inside the silver foil wrappers, the Pop Tarts had a great appearance which was very like how the box had suggested. The very dark cocoa-containing pastry was topped with crisp white icing and crumby sprinkles. The only down-side was that the white filling wasn’t quite as abundant as the photograph had suggested. 

When cold, the tarts had a part baked chocolate and part cookie smell. The pastry was dry and soft and had quite a dark and bitter aftertaste. However, this element wasn’t really noticeable when chewing. The creme filling was more like a paste, on its own, rather than a solidified creme. With the pastry, it provided a welcome moisture and, combined with the crispy frosting, a sweetness too. Whilst I could recognise the cookies and cream theme within the flavours, I can’t say that this was as good as an actual Oreo! 

Toasting a tart made the filling look slightly softer and it also resulted in the baked aroma having a pleasant warmth to it. The pastry’s texture was barely altered (it was simply a bit firmer), but it was more flavourful to chew, providing a warm cocoa taste whilst maintaining its bitterness. I found the layers tended to separate in the mouth and, for me, there was a bit too much of a cocoa taste and not enough sweetness. However, I quite enjoyed its almost salty aftertaste. 

 

After being mircowaved for 10 seconds, the pastry was, again, not much different. Thankfully, though, the sweeter elements of the tarts were a bit more prominent and the overall experience was generally more cookie-like.  

 

There wasn’t a massive difference between the results of the two different warming methods but the microwaved tarts did just edge it for me. What I did find, with all three versions, was that the crumbs went everywhere, and the pastries provided a strong chocolatey taste at the back of the throat. I just would have preferred a little more sweetness to counteract this. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10