McVitie's Hobnobs: Flapjacks (nobbly)

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (nobbly)
Purchase details: £0.65 for a 170g packet of five flapjacks (tesco.com)
Calories: 151 per 35g flapjack
Country of origin: UK

Tonight’s review will only be short as these nobbly McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks were almost identical to the milk choc ones – they just came in an orange wrapper and without a topping!

Despite the overall product description being the same, the quantities were slightly adjusted in this recipe to fill the gap the chocolate had previously filled: the rolled oats took up 45% of each bar rather than 41%, there was 13% golden syrup instead of 12%, 10% butter over 9%, and 28% ‘Hobnob biscuit pieces’ in place of the milk choc's 25%.

The lack of chocolate (and slightly higher biscuit content) meant the plain flapjack looked a bit crumbier. However, its scent was unchanged.

Although the taste was basically the same, the lack of chocolate actually allowed me to appreciate the base flavour more, and the syrupy kick it had. I wasn’t expecting this outcome since I hadn’t found the chocolate to be very noticeable on the milk choc version but it obviously did make some difference, no matter how small!

I also found that this nobbly flapjack felt a bit moister whilst still allowing an added crisp from the biscuit pieces to break through.

Another enjoyable little treat!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

McVitie's Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc)

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc)
Purchase details: £0.65 for a 170g packet of five flapjacks (tesco.com)
Calories: 154 per 35g flapjack

Country of origin: UK

As a lover of Hobnobs, chocolate and flapjacks, I couldn’t resist buying these McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc) when I spotted them on offer. The appetising photo on the front of the eye-catching pale blue and orange wrapper helped too!

The individually wrapped bars were made by United Biscuits and contained no artificial flavours or colours. They contained 41% ‘rolled oats baked with Hobnob biscuit pieces’ (25%), 12% golden syrup, 9% butter, and were ‘topped with milk chocolate’ (8%). Apparently they were ‘even more hobnobbly’ but I wasn’t sure if this was compared to the standard biscuits or a previous version of this Flapjack recipe!

The flapjacks were a nice golden colour but did look a little dry – I would have liked to see a thicker layer of chocolate too. However, they still looked delicious, and they also had a lovely deep and buttery flapjack scent.

Biting into a slightly stiff, chewy and bitty bar, I loved the buttery and oaty flavour which had an ever-present juicy, syrupy undertone. It was certainly drier than homemade flapjacks, too, but it was still extremely pleasant.

Unfortunately, the chocolate didn’t really add anything, but then this product was tasty enough by itself – money well spent!

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

McVitie's Hobnobs: Choc chip cookies

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Choc chip cookies
Purchase details: £0.49 for a 150g pack of 14 biscuits (Home Bargains)
Calories: 54 per cookie
Country of origin: UK 

‘Nobbly oaty’ Hobnobs are a favourite of mine but they’re so dangerously addictive that I don’t trust myself with them so rarely buy them! When I saw these Choc chip cookies a while back, though, I thought it would be rude not to try them.

Described as ‘oaty biscuits with plain and milk chocolate chips’, this packet contained 14 biscuits, and came presented in a bright red wrapper containing a photo of an attractive-looking cookie. In reality, I was surprise by just how pale the biscuits were – they were the shade of porridge, rather than the golden colour I’m used to, so I though they looked like poorly Hobnobs (although they look healthier on the photographs)! They did have a bit more colour to them in places, though, and this was particularly the case inside. I also liked the way they managed to look like cookies whilst still having the knobbly appearance of a Hobnob, complete with visible oat flakes and two shades of chocolate chips.

I can’t say these cookies smelt particularly special, but they did have a standard biscuit smell with a hint of chocolate. Containing 25% rolled oats, I was pleased that, whilst being very cookie-like (more so than I had anticipated), the biscuits did have the recognisable Hobnob taste.

I thought having two types of chocolate chip was a nice touch and these added a pleasant sweetness and a good amount of flavour to the product. The cookies contained 12% plain chocolate and 12% milk chocolate which I considered to be very good going! Whilst the biscuits’ texture was very crunchy, these chips added a cool softness and, since the chips were also larger than is often the case in cookies, they also added enough moisture to prevent the cookies being too dry.

I’ve always agreed with Peter Kay’s opinion that Hobnobs are amazing for dunking so, although it’s not something I often do, I had to give this a go with these Choc chip cookies. The result was pretty ‘wow’! They absorbed so much liquid without falling apart and still managed to maintain some crunch. Furthermore, a butteriness was released from the biscuit and the chocolate melted nicely, so there was no way I was going back – the rest of the packet got dunked too! For me, this was made even better by the fact that, although there was some biscuit residue left at the bottom of my mug, that is where it stayed and so I didn’t have any nasty, crumby mouthfuls of tea. 

I really enjoyed this Hobnobs/cookies hybrid and was relieved that, whilst they still tasted good, they weren’t as addictive as original Hobnobs. McVitie’s definitely know what they’re doing when it comes to making biscuits that go with a nice cuppa.

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.63/10