Cadbury Picnic

Product name: Cadbury Picnic
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of three bars (Poundland)
Calories: 230 per 48.4g bar
Country of origin: Europe

The Picnic seems to be one of Cadbury’s lesser known products – it’s not a bar I see around all that often and it must have been over a decade since my last one so I could barely remember what they were like!

The purple wrapper boasted ‘a feast-full’ of caramel (32%), peanuts (12%) and raisins (7%) and these three ingredients were each represented around the brand name – I particularly liked the way the caramel was used as a border. However, beneath the chocolate that contained a minimum of 14% milk solids, lurked another significant ingredient: ‘crispy’ rice cereal (10%).

This particular multipack had been produced by Kraft Foods and I couldn’t believe how huge each bar felt on removal from the main packaging. However, on opening the individual wrappers, I realised that, whilst the bars were very long, there were also relatively thin. That said, they had a very rugged appearance, and the caramel was clearly holding the individual elements together. Despite not being mentioned in the main product description, the cereal was definitely a big feature, whilst the raisins were a lot less visible and nowhere near as big as the Nestlé Yorkie: Raisin & biscuit.

The Picnic mainly smelt of sweet chocolate but the aroma did hint at the fact there was more going on beneath the surface and I was pleased to find that each ingredient made its own significant contribution to the whole. The peanuts provided flavour (although not lots) and a bit of a crunch within the crispy chewiness provided by the cereal and caramel. (For the record, this overall texture was perfectly balanced so that the bar wasn’t hard work to eat.) As for the raisins, I found there were more of these further down the bar than first appeared, and they produced an extra chew and an occasional additional sweetness.

Thinking of the Picnic as a whole, I realised that it was essentially a cereal bar in reverse, with a proper chocolate coating rather than the silly drizzles some brands include in an attempt to make a seemingly healthy product a bit more exciting. In this case, though, the overall flavour was a general sweetness that came from the individual components, and the thicker-than-normal chocolate layer provided an alternative method of consumption since the bar was also enjoyable to let melt, and it added a nice juiciness to combine with the raisins and caramel.

This was certainly a decent product but, although individual elements were noticeable, the main flavour wasn’t particularly exciting and, I guess, it felt a bit too healthy for my liking, bearing in mind it was an unhealthy snack!

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

Lu Glico: Mikado (milk chocolate)

Product name: Lu Glico: Mikado (milk chocolate)
Purchase details: £0.69 for a 75g box (Home Bargains)
Calories: 11 per 2.3g biscuit

Country of origin: France

I seem to have a habit of reviewing the original version of a product after I’ve already looked at some of the variations. In this case, although the Daim and King choco (praliné) may have seemed more interesting types of Mikado, I was very happy to go back to the first one I ever tried: milk chocolate.

These ‘ultra-thin, crunchy biscuit sticks coated with wonderfully smooth milk chocolate’ were made by Kraft Foods and came in a simple white box that included an illustration of the product. I won’t go over the basic concept again as I did this with the Daim variety but it goes without saying that I was more than pleased with the low calorie count!

Almost half of each stick was taken up by the chocolate layer (49%) which was spread evenly and wasn’t too thin either. The aroma was standard but good – chocolate biscuits!

The biscuits themselves were the usual plain and crispy kind. The chocolate that coated these felt nice and smooth on the tongue and also provided a lovely chocolate flavour that included a sugary element. The lack of bumps on each stick’s surface meant I was also able to revert to my preferred method of consumption – gnawing them like a beaver!

There’s no pretending that Lu Glico: Mikado (milk chocolate) are essentially chocolate biscuits but their great format and lack of calories make them a big hit with me.

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

Lu Glico: Mikado (Daim)

Product name: Lu Glico: Mikado (Daim)
Purchase details: £0.69 for a 70g box (Home Bargains)
Calories: 11 per biscuit
Country of origin: France

I love the Mikado brand – so few calories! It’s been a while since I’ve had space in my snack stash for them, though, and I’ve only had this Daim variety once before, so I decided it was time to buy them again.

These ‘biscuits covered with caramel flavour milk chocolate with caramel pieces’ came in an eye-catching yellow box that featured red branding for both the Mikado and Daim logos – I particularly liked how the Daim brand had been used to look like an explosion from the bomb in the background. The box also had images of Daim chocolate, as well as the long, thin biscuits – I could totally see the reason for the name ‘Mikado’ which is another word for the game ‘pick-up sticks’.

The clever thing about Mikado biscuits is the way one end is left free of chocolate to avoid messy fingers – I guess the result is not too dissimilar from corndogs! Going by the picture on the packaging, though, the rest of the sticks were coated in a decent chocolate coating and knobbly caramel pieces. Despite these contributing to 43.9% and 5% of the product, respectively, I did find the reality looked a little less impressive – the chocolate layer was very thin in places and the surface wasn’t as bumpy either. However, they were still attractive, and I liked the contrast between the biscuit’s golden surface and white innards.

This particular pack had been made by Kraft Foods and, on opening the inner foil wrapper, released a buttery caramel scent. Up close, a milky chocolate aroma was noticeable too. I was pleased that the caramel infusion was noticeable in the chocolate’s taste, with the overall flavour being quite deep – an almost burnt sugar taste against the sweet chocolate. In contrast, the biscuit was very plain, and was like an unsweetened rich tea.

These Mikado (Daim) were lovely and crispy to chew, and the chocolate melted away very quickly too, if preferred. However, this did leave behind the smooth but hard biscuit which, quite unusually, didn’t really dissolve. At 11 calories a pop, though, you couldn’t really go wrong with these!

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

Nabisco Oreo: Peanut butter creme

Product name: Nabisco Oreo: Peanut butter creme
Purchase details: £4.00 for a 432g pack (Bold Street Sweets)
Calories: 70 per biscuit
Country of origin: Canada 

One of these days, I’ll review a Nabisco product that doesn’t contain peanut butter...but you’ll just have to wait a bit longer!

Despite not having reviewed them yet, I’m a massive Oreo fan, and I’ve wanted to try the Peanut butter creme version for a long time but have always been put off by the high import prices. Thankfully, though, I was able to buy these for half the normal cost of £7.99 when Bold Street Sweets had a half price day for their Facebook fans.

These ‘chocolate sandwich cookies’ came in a large, blue resealable pack containing a giant picture of an Oreo (with fake-looking creme!), and a brown and white colour scheme to represent peanut butter and milk (the drink these biscuits are famous for being dunked in). Since I knew it would take me a long time to get through all the biscuits in this pack, I didn’t dare risk relying on the sealing mechanism alone, so I can’t comment on whether or not it does the job. 

The pack also had a recipe on the back for a Peanut Butter Creme Oreo Milkshake – this looked like a nice idea but I have to confess that I haven’t given it a go (partly due to it using American measurements).  

The biscuits were made by Kraft Foods and contained sugar as their main ingredient. A serving was classed as two cookies and, with around 14 servings per pack, I worked out that it should contain 28 biscuits in total (although I didn’t open it right up to double-check!). 

Hopefully your life is fulfilled in that you know what a standard Oreo looks like. These cookies had the same dark, patterned appearance, but the creme was a pale orangey-yellow as opposed to white. As a result, the creme didn’t look as fresh, but it was still nice and thick. 

The peanut butter scent was instantly noticeable on opening the packet but this wasn’t quite as good in quality as an actual jar of peanut butter. However, the creme was actually quite like peanut butter in texture – it even had a slight crunchiness when eaten on its own but I think this was down to stray crumbs! 

The biscuits were really crunchy and chocolatey and provided the usual, rich Oreo taste, along with a slight nuttiness from being in contact with the creme. The latter was more sugary than actual peanut butter and it had a slightly bitter edge to it but it was still very pleasant. The two components went very nicely together, which is what I’d expect from chocolate and peanut butter, and the creme provided a great moisture which prevented the cookies feeling too dry.

To sum up: these were fantastic! 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10