Jammie Dodgers Banana & Toffee

Product name: Jammie Dodgers Banana & Toffee
Purchase details: £0.39 for a 140g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 75 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK 

Earlier this month, I reviewed Jammie Dodgers Jam'n Custard and, whilst they were fine, I was left feeling slightly disappointed. I’d actually bought this Banana & Toffee packet before I’d tried and reviewed the Jam'n Custard biscuits so, by the time I got around to opening it, my expectations weren’t very high.

These Jammie Dodgers Banana & Toffee were very much a continuation of the brand. Once again made by Burton’s Foods Limited, they came in a similarly-designed wrapper to the Jam'n Custard biscuits, albeit with dark yellow and orange colours being used to represent the different flavour, and a splat of toffee instead of jam. The product image was almost identical too – the filling colours had simply been reversed and the darker side was a bit lighter.

Intriguingly, this packet weighed in at 10g lighter than the Jam'n Custard, although the wrapper claimed the ‘bonkers banana and tasty toffee’ flavour was ‘twice the fun’. There were no claims of using no artificial colours or ingredients, this time, but there was still no hydrogenated fat, and no GM ingredients had been used either. The final change was that each biscuit had eight fewer calories – winner!

I didn’t bother reading the product description when I purchased this treat – I just assumed the custard would be banana flavoured and that there would be toffee sauce instead of jam. Oh how wrong I was! I was very interested to see that the sandwich biscuit filling actually consisted of ‘banana flavoured jam’. That’s right. Banana. Jam. How bizarre! This contributed to 13% of the product and contained 1.5% banana juice from concentrate and 1% banana purée. As for the toffee, this was in the 13% custard filling, instead, and I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the biscuits themselves were toffee flavoured.

As suggested by the wrapper’s image, the biscuits had the same attractive overall design as the Jam’n Custard ones although I thought the ridges around the decoration seemed deeper to me – maybe that was just my imagination? The banana jam was more yellow than the wrapper (and my own photographs) suggested to the extent that it made me think of lemon curd. Although I don’t dislike lemon, I’m not a huge fan of it, so I had to make a conscious effort to get this connection out of my head! 

I had more success in cutting one of these biscuits open (although it was still very sticky!) which revealed an inner designated section for the filling – something I’d not noticed previously. The custard had the same shiny, gooey appearance whilst the toffee biscuits were a slightly different colour and had a visibly bitty base – I’d noticed that 3% of the ingredients consisted of crisped rice so I figured that this was what the flecks were.

This product had the usual Jammie Dodger biscuity smell, as well as a very, very slight banoffee aroma. Although the biscuits did still have the slightly stale taste that I don’t particularly enjoy, the additional flavour did mean that they were sweeter so they had been improved (not that I’d have consciously have made a connection with toffee!). Unfortunately, the texture was still more crumbly than I would have liked, but I did enjoy the added crispiness from the rice pieces.

Whilst I found it hard to differentiate between the two sides of the filling, the overall familiar banoffee flavour came through. The toffee flavour alone wasn’t very powerful but I did find the banana element, whilst slightly artificial, to be pleasantly strong and certainly recognisable. Texturally, the filling was chewy, as expected.

Whilst these Jammie Dodgers Banana & Toffee have equalled the Jam'n Custard biscuits’ overall score, I do think that this variety made improvements by infusing the biscuits themselves with a toffee flavour, as well as adding a bit of extra texture. I also found the variety’s flavour to be more unique and memorable. As a result, in future, this is the version I would choose. 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10

Jammie Dodgers Jam'n Custard

Product name: Jammie Dodgers Jam’n Custard
Purchase details: £0.39 for a 150g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 83 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK 

I’ve always liked jam-filled biscuits but find that, to be properly enjoyable, they need some kind of cream layer mixed with the jam. These Jammie Dodgers Jam’n Custard seemed ideal, then, and they were such a bargain!

These biscuits were made by Burton’s Foods Limited and came in a red and yellow packet that reflected their flavour, along with a jam splat which was a nice touch. Carrying the slogan ‘Double Trouble!’, the wrapper depicted an attractive looking sandwich biscuit with a two-tone filling showing through the heart cut-out. Someone obviously needs a word with the designer, though, about the use of apostrophes (pet hate – grrr!).

The packet contained eight biscuits, served on a cardboard tray, each consisting of two shortcake biscuits with a custard and ‘raspberry flavour plum jam’ filling. The filling was actually quite substantial and equally portioned, with 13% of the product being jam and another 13% being custard.

The biscuits themselves were so cute! As the wrapper had promised, they were round in shape with a heart-shaped window through which the filling could be viewed. What surprised me, though, was that this really was neatly divided – I fully expected the reality to be some kind of mishmash of colours. They obviously weren’t identical to each other but they were near enough. I also liked how the top biscuit was decorated with the splat design, as well as the ‘JD’ logo.

The biscuits were a pale colour whilst the jam was a shade of deep pink. However, what I found most exciting was the appearance of the custard. It was cream in colour, rather than yellow, and whilst I thought it would be the texture of a custard cream filling, it was actually moist, gooey and shiny, so looked like real custard.

I had been able to smell the jam when I opened the packet but this did become less strong after the initial hit. There was also a faint aroma that I vaguely associated with the Jammie Dodgers brand and a biscuit scent was a part of this.

Each layer of these biscuits was relatively thick and, on breaking apart the biscuit, I found the filling to be stringy, with the custard being particularly gooey and sticky to touch. It was rather glue-like, in all honesty, which is why the cross-section photograph is so random – I had great difficulty separating the layers!

I usually eat the outer edges first with Jammie Dodgers since I don’t think the biscuit itself is actually that nice. Here, it was as normal – quite sugary and not the greatest flavour. It’s wasn’t very buttery either and, for some reason, it just tasted a bit stale despite only just having been opened.

Thankfully, the jam was the main flavour in this product, and it had quite a deep taste and was also sweet but not what I’d call ‘fruity’ – it was the expected offering from this style of biscuit, though. Sadly, I did find it difficult to detect the custard flavour since the jam did take over, but it did come through every now and then, offering a different kind of sweetness with a hint of vanilla, and a slightly creamy element. Combined, the filling created a pleasant distraction which made the biscuit taste nicer!

One thing that I did find a bit frustrating about these Jam’n Custard biscuits was just how crumbly they were – they seemed to be impossible to eat without making a mess! Convenience aside, I did think they would have been nicer if they were a bit crunchier, but I did like the chewiness of the filling, as well as the way the custard prevented the overall experience being too dry.

Ultimately, these Jammie Dodgers were designed for kids and, as a result, the flavours were not very sophisticated and they certainly didn’t taste as good as they looked. However, having eaten this style of biscuit in my childhood, I know it’s the kind of thing that children do enjoy and, as a result, the fact that these biscuit contained no artificial colours or flavours and no hydrogenated fats, is something that should be applauded. 

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 7/10