Maryland Gooeys: Chocolate

Product name: Maryland Gooeys: Chocolate
Purchase details: £1.00 for a pack of 10 biscuits (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 79 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I bought this packet of Maryland Gooeys: Chocolate before I’d tried (and been subsequently disappointed by) the Hazelnut version. By the time I came to opening these, then, my hopes were no longer high. 

Bizarrely, the product description for this variety was exactly the same as what had been given for the Hazelnut flavour: ‘crunchy cookie filled with a gooey chocolatey centre’. However, I suspected that this said more about the Hazelnut cookies' lack of nuttiness rather than having negative connotations for these Chocolate biscuits.

The Chocolate flavoured Gooeys came in an attractive pinky-red packet. However, this was the only immediate difference between the appearance of these and the Hazelnut variety – they even smelt the same. On breaking open a cookie, though, I found that the ‘smooth chocolatey flavour filling’ was a slightly darker shade of brown and also looked more sticky since it didn’t ooze out of the chocolate chip cookie in the same way as the Hazelnut centre had done.

I was obviously slightly apprehensive about trying these cookies, but I’m pleased to report that they were far, far nicer. The cookie itself had more of a crunch to it and had a generally nicer and more cookie-like flavour. The chocolatey filling that accounted for 30% of each biscuit and had leaked through the bottom, in places, was like a slightly sweetened, melted dark chocolate. Texturally, it was thinner than the Hazelnut’s filling had been and, combined with the chocolate chips that made up 10% of the product, provided the promised chocolatey experience. 

I’m delighted that these Maryland Gooeys: Chocolate were an improvement on Maryland Gooeys: Hazelnut. I knew it was a good concept and this variety definitely made it work.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.75/10

Ferrero Duplo: Ganze nuss

Product name: Ferrero Duplo: Ganze nuss
Purchase details: £0.85 for a 26g bar (monstersweets.co.uk)
Calories: 150 per bar
Country of origin: Italy

In the last week, I have reviewed both the Ferrero Duplo and Ferrero Duplo: White. Following on from these, tonight’s review is for Ferrero Duplo: Ganze nuss which was actually a different concept.

This milk chocolate bar consisted of a crispy wafer base that was divided into three sections. Each section had a wafer dome that contained, according to Monster Sweets' website, ‘a whole hazelnut surrounded by a fine chocolate cream’. Despite being slightly bashed these little mounds looked very neat and the way they had been drizzled in dark chocolate was a nice touch.

The bar’s main aroma was one of chocolate but there was also a slight nutty scent, although neither of these elements were overly strong. The outer milk chocolate layer melted slightly beneath the fingertips, despite it not being a hot day, and it tasted pleasant enough, although its contribution to the overall product was only small. A stronger flavour came from the chocolate cream which was pale brown and visibly gooey, and had a lovely, thick but silky texture. This, in itself, seemed to taste of hazelnut and was like a particularly chocolatey praline – I suspect that the recipe was very similar to the one used for Nutella.

The whole nuts were a nice touch to this bar since they added a satisfying crunch as well as an additional nutty flavour. It was the nuts that, to me, made this bar seem different to a Kinder Bueno and, if I’m honest, I think it would fit in better with this brand than the Duplo one. The wafers in this bar were smooth rather than the rough kind used in the other Duplo products I’ve tried, and this Ganze nuss variety had an obvious nutty flavour rather than the barely recognisable one present in the milk and white chocolate Duplos. Then again, maybe I’m just being pedantic! 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Lindt Creation: Milk (coconut)

Product name: Lindt Creation: Milk (coconut)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 150g bar (Poundworld)
Calories: Unsure – estimate 60 per square (600 per bar) 

Country of origin: France

Regular readers will know that, when presented with a 100g bar of chocolate, I will fit it into my diet plan so I can eat it all in one go. However, when I bought this pretty big and weighty 150g Lindt Creation: Milk (coconut), I didn’t think this would be an option. According to MyFitnessPal, though, the whole thing ‘only’ contained 600 calories so I decided to be hardcore and take the risk and have it as a proper treat.

The cardboard packaging described this product as ‘finest milk chocolate with delicious coconut filling’ and I have to say that the image on the front felt very fresh. Within the inner foil wrapper, the bar consisted of 10 large squares that alternately had Lindt’s name and logo imprinted on them. A sweet coconut smell  (which was potentially artificial) drifted through the air on unwrapping the chocolate and, up close, the chocolate’s aroma could also be detected.

The squares broke softly and, since the deep gaps between them produced extra, chunky chocolate, I decided to try this first. As I’d hope from Lindt, this was creamy and silky. It also seemed to have its own coconut flavour, but I think this may have just been absorbed from the coconut filling it had been in contact with.

The clean, white coconut cream contained 2% coconut pulp and was moist rather than being the more solid filling I’d been expecting. It was also slightly bitty as it had tiny coconut flakes that made the experience seem more authentic. Unfortunately, though, the flavour wasn’t nearly as strong as it could have been and the chocolate was by far the main flavour. On the plus side, the coconut didn’t taste artificial, as I’d feared, and the lack of flavour meant that it also wasn’t overpowering.

The coconut filling did do a lot for the texture since, whether chewing or allowing to melt, it seeped out of its chocolate casing and, with the latter, left the coconut flakes behind. On the whole then, the texture was pretty soft for a chocolate bar, although the chocolate gaps between the bulk of each square did provide an extra crunch that didn’t succumb to the creamy centre.

Unsurprisingly, this was a rich chocolate bar and, as a result, it did get slightly less enjoyable as I neared the end of it. However, I did wonder if this would have been the case if the coconut had been a bit stronger, like I’d hoped. 

This was a tasty product but I think there was room for improvement. I didn’t actually think it needed as thick a chocolate layer, and I also felt it would have benefitted from more coconut flakes in the filling.   

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.5/10

Ferrero Duplo: White

Product name: Ferrero Duplo: White
Purchase details: £0.55 for a 18.2g bar (monstersweets.co.uk)
Calories: Unsure – estimate 107 per bar
Country of origin: Germany  

Having reviewed the milk chocolate Ferrero Duplo a couple of days ago, tonight I bring you Ferrero Duplo: White – exactly the same bar but with a white chocolate coating instead. Apparently, this was a limited edition.

The wrapper and bar’s appearance was exactly the same as the original Ferrero Duplo, just with the colours changed, and no potentially scary fish lurking inside! The white chocolate had a yellow tint to it which made me question the quality, but I did like how the hazelnut cream filling was more noticeable when looking at the inside of the bar.

Once again, this bar was targeted at kids and, as a result, the white chocolate aroma on offer seemed childlike. The texture of the bar was identical to the milk chocolate version, as was the overall taste experience. However, the white chocolate did add a tiny bit more flavour although, as expected, it wasn’t the best quality and it wasn’t very creamy. The hazelnut cream still didn’t taste very nutty but I did find it easier to differentiate between its flavour and that of the white chocolate.

Once again, I relied on MyFitnessPal to provide the nutritional information for this bar and whilst, at 107 calories, it contained slightly more than the milk chocolate version, my overall opinion remains: this bar was great for a light snack but, in itself, was nothing special.  

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 6.63/10