Walkers Baked: Stars (pepperoni)

Product name: Walkers Baked: Stars (pepperoni)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of six bags (Tesco)
Calories: 94 per 23g bag
Country of origin: UK

For someone who doesn’t consider themselves to be a fan of meaty crisps, I seem to have been trying a lot of them recently! Having never known pepperoni to exist in crisp form before, I really wanted to try these new Walkers Baked: Stars.

The purple packaging featured a fun design where a personified star-shaped crisp was depicted as a goalkeeper. The picture looked like the Stars would be slightly crinkly but they were actually even in appearance, although they did have a faint stripy appearance.

Promising to be ‘irresistibly delicious’, the crisps were ‘oven baked for extra crunch and a uniquely moreish taste’ and contained 70% less fat than average potato crisps. They also contained natural flavouring, were suitable for vegetarians, contained no MSG or artificial preservatives, and they were a source of fibre.

I was a bit disappointed by how few Stars were actually in each bag but I did like the six-pointed design that was used, and the way each point had a flick – it somehow made them look more friendly! The crisps also had an uneven coating of orange powder which gave an oniony, meaty crisp scent but, unfortunately, not a pepperoni one.

I ended up feeling very confused by the flavour. Most importantly, I couldn’t pick up any hint of pepperoni at all, but I couldn’t quite work out what I was tasting. At first, I thought it was some kind of burnt meaty flavour but, as I worked through a bag, I decided that they reminded me of sweet caramelised onion instead. The powder did also have a very small spicy kick to it but this really was minimal.

The texture was much better, thankfully, with their thick nature making them drier and less oily than a lot of other crisps on the market. The baked aspect was evident which was nice and produced a lovely crunch.

These Baked: Stars definitely had a lot going for them but, unfortunately, I did feel the flavour didn’t deliver. Still a nice, light snack though...

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

Cathedral City Baked Bites

Product name: Cathedral City Baked Bites
Purchase details: £0.25 for a 35g bag (Home Bargains)
Calories: 173 per bag
Country of origin: UK

I was really pleased to find these Cathedral City Baked Bites in Home Bargains so cheaply recently. I usually only eat reduced fat cheddar but, as a treat, Cathedral City’s ‘real’ cheese is one of my favourites. I only recently became aware of this spin-off product and was interested to see how they compared to McVitie’s Mini Cheddars.

The ‘mini biscuits baked with real cheddar’ from ‘the nation’s favourite cheese brand’ were made by Burton’s Biscuit Co under licence from Dairy Crest Limited. The burgundy and pale yellow bag reflected the colour scheme of the block cheese, and I was pleasantly surprised that the crackers contained 20% cheese as well as 2.9% cheese powder.

The golden biscuits were oval in shape and featured the Cathedral City logo. This wasn’t always that clear in person but it did show up well on my photograph! The aroma they gave off was divine – a simply delicious cheese-infused cracker scent.

I couldn’t believe just how good these tasted. They had a mature cheddar flavour throughout and, whilst this wasn’t as strong as if I’d been munching on a hunk of cheese, it was still very, very good. I also liked how they weren’t really salty – there was just a slight lick of it in the aftertaste.

As for the crispy biscuits themselves, I really appreciated how these didn’t feel dry. Instead, the crumbs gathered together in the mouth, allowing them to moisten before swallowing.

It was only as I was eating these that I realised it’s actually been a few years since I last ate some Mini Cheddars and, as a result, it’s difficult to accurately compare the two brands. However, these Baked Bites definitely reminded me of the McVitie’s competitor, but my memory resulted in the conclusion that the Cathedral City version had a more genuine cheese flavour.

The other good thing about this bag was that it contained a generous portion, making the product a nice alternative to crisps. I’ll definitely be buying these again.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 9/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.63/10