Fox's Party Rings: Raspberry ripple

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings: Raspberry ripple
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 125g packet (Asda)
Calories: 27 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I was really excited when I first heard about the ice cream-inspired limited editions of some of Fox’s classic biscuits but it took me ages to track them down. Thankfully, I managed to find them all at an amazing £0.50 a packet in Asda, and the first variety I’m reviewing is the Party Rings: Raspberry ripple.

These excitingly-flavoured ‘iced shortcake rings’ came in colourful raspberry and baby pink packaging which was less ‘busy’ than the standard version but also contained Vinnie the panda. I’ve mentioned before that I found his image a bit unappetising (see here) but he’d had a bit of a makeover, here, and actually looked quite cute with a drop of melted ice cream on his ear!

The packet contained around 20 biscuits that were free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. There was no specific mention of raspberries on the ingredients so, what the flavourings contained, I’m not sure.

The rings looked almost identical to one of the standard Party Rings but seemed a tiny bit smaller – I’m not sure if I’m going mad?! To my delight, they genuinely smelt of Mr Whippy ice cream with raspberry sauce, and I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

I was impressed that the flavour was pretty realistic and did taste like raspberry ripple ice cream, although it was so sweet that there was a slight sherbet element too. They were absolutely full of flavour but also pretty sugary so, unusually for me, I would have liked a little bit more focus on the cream rather than the sugar.

Texturally, these biscuits were as standard for Party Rings, but the icing’s surface was a bit rougher on the tongue, and it seemed to add a juiciness to the flavour too.

This was such an interesting twist on a classic and it’s such a shame that it’s only intended to be a limited edition!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Fox's Velvety: Caramel & honeycomb cream

Product name: Fox’s Velvety: Caramel & honeycomb cream
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 130g packet of biscuits (Tesco)
Calories: 104 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I’m assuming they’re not new but, before I spotted them on offer, I’d never seen these Fox’s Velvety: Caramel & honeycomb cream biscuits. I thought the cream packaging featuring illustrations that showed off a thick inner cream layer and caramel centre looked fabulous so I couldn’t resist giving them a try.

This ‘luv-verly’ product was, in my opinion, on the high side in terms of calories per biscuit, but they did appear to be of the kind that you get in tins at Christmas so I was willing to make the sacrifice!

On removing a biscuit from the pack, I was delighted to find that the ‘soft honeycomb cream with a gooey caramel middle on a shortcake biscuit base’ looked very much like the image on the wrapper. The caramel (4%) looked a bit thicker whilst the cream appeared slightly thinner, although this was due to compression since I felt it squash as I cut it in two. Even so, it was still clearly visible, and I could see through the milk chocolate (50%) that it had been piped thickly into a flower shape.

The honeycomb cream had the strongest scent but this was mixed in with the chocolate, resulting in a sickly sweet aroma. Taste-wise, it provided a generally sweet, creamy and chocolatey flavour and this reminded me a bit of an old favourite chocolate bar of mine – Fox’s Classic: Original.

I really enjoyed the texture and the way the extremely soft centre collapsed into the crumbly biscuit as I chewed. I probably would have preferred the shortcake to be a bit crispier but this wasn’t really an issue.

The caramel was thick and stringy but didn’t have the most powerful flavour in the world. However, just when I was thinking the biscuits would have tasted as delicious with only the honeycomb cream, I decided to dip one of them into a cup of tea. What can I say? It was delicious! As well as the outer chocolate melting slightly, the caramel flavour became much more apparent.

These biscuits were definitely on the more indulgent side for me and they were totally worth the higher-than-normal calorie content. 

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Fox's Party Rings

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings
Purchase details: £0.59 for a 125g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 29 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK 

The day of reviewing the original Fox’s Party Rings is finally upon us! I think I’ve posted about every other variety going but tonight it’s back to basics. I’ve mentioned before that I use these as a ‘filler’ snack due to their low calorie content but I can’t pretend that a little part of me doesn’t still get excited by them. My parents never bought them when I was growing up so they always felt such a treat when I got to have them at other kids’ parties and at my godmother’s house. It’s the little things...

Anyway, these biscuits cam in fun, child-friendly packaging – I loved the shade of blue and the colourful logo that reflected the biscuits within. There were also little doodles of objects to appeal to both genders, such as cars and flowers, so I was a bit confused when all of the ‘colourful, crunchy, iced ring biscuits’ were such girly shades of pink and yellow. I’d never appreciated that before, although I still thought the variety of hues was attractive and provided a bit more interest than the Blueberry muffin version, despite the overall appearance being the same.

Once more, the Party Rings contained no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and, to my mild dismay, I found that they didn’t have the fairly strong and sugary scent I remember – I’d been hoping that was just a characteristic of the Footballs!

Thankfully, the other aspects of these shortcake biscuits remained as I had hoped. They had the exact same taste as the Party Footballs and the same texture as the Blueberry muffin Party Rings – all good stuff.

 

I don’t care how old I get, I’ll be buying these for years to come!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10

Fox's Melts: Mississippi mud pie

Product name: Fox’s Melts: Mississippi mud pie
Purchase details: £1.59 for a 120g pack (Tesco)
Calories: 83 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

Well this is the last of my Vinnie’s Taste of America reviews! It was the only variety I purchased that wasn’t on offer but, due to it being a limited edition, I didn’t want to risk missing out altogether.

Once again, these Fox’s Melts: Mississippi mud pie came packaging featured the American flag and an image of our panda friend. There was also a photograph of one of the bumpy ‘chocolate Viennese biscuits sandwiched with a chocolate cream’. The reverse of the pack warned that this wasn’t actual size but, on opening, I begged to differ!

Both the biscuit and cream aspects of the product came in pretty much the same shade of brown which resulted in a lovely, chocolatey appearance. I also enjoyed the scent which was like a mild chocolate cake batter – yummy.

The biscuits had a really buttery shortbread flavour (butter did actually contribute to 4% of the finished product) with an added chocolate element that hit the back of the mouth. The cream was actually creamier than I expected it to be, and the overall 2% dark chocolate content produced a good general chocolate experience.

The biscuits also had a nice dull crunch which, when dipped in tea, softened a little. I found this method of consumption added a little surprise too – just when I thought the flavour experience had ended, a juicy chocolate sensation suddenly burst out from the cream.

I really enjoyed this take on a chocolate biscuit – the buttery aspect made it something different to your standard Bourbon.

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